Sushi Q, baby I love you

In Mexico we have a word for sushi: Bait.
Jose Simon

I can hear my mom (and a few other family members) nodding their heads in agreement with this statement. Fine, that just mean more for me (and maybe my cousin's family who live in Columbus). Going to a sushi bar by yourself is boring (by myself, since said family members dont like sushi), so I brought the sushi home to me!

For the sushi purists out there - ok, ok, I didn't do sashimi (heck I didn't even do nigiri) - I made the California roll. I know it has no raw fish in it, but I wanted to test my rolling techniques and didn't want to drive to Jungle Jim's (the only place where I'd trust a fishmonger in the Cincinnati area, though Mitchell's Fish Market might do, too). Purists complain ll you want, but this is my first step on a long (lifelong?) journey.

So BYON (bring your own Nori) and come on look at the pics!

First of all, I need to perfect my rice (i have a rice cooker, courtesy of incessant pleading from Cara), but it was a little too gummy - any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Secondly, I learned the importance of being earnest (hah!). No, I learned the importance of having fresh produce available - see pictures. The brown of the avocado aint supposed to be there (Kroger usually has good produce, but I got a bad deal with these). Once I cut into these mushy fruits and swore I'd never buy avocados from Kroger again I made a mad dash to Country Fresh - a small market near Kroger with awesome produce selection, i even made off with some wasabi paste - proof is in the pics...

I think I tried to be too American and tried to fill my California roll with too much stuff - minimal is better (at least when rolling). Oh yeah -What is a California roll - it's cucumber, avocado, and crab rolled inside out (rice on the outside) with sesame seeds (i did get good crab at Kroger, 4.99 per #)

But, my first California roll turned out ok...
Such presentation - iron chef america here i come!
Can you find the hidden mickey?



Tasting it was better.

Cara thought the Nori smell was going to make her puke... (not a good sign)

Bottom line - it was good. Cheaper than going out. I need a better knife. I want to try nigiri or more rolls with raw fish (tuna, especially), I need to fine tune the rice...

also, a shameless plug to a good pop (ha! soda) - we found this at Costco and it is definitely good- no aspartame, no caffeine and quite good... Diet Hansen's... Black Cherry is also good.

Til next time...

Sushi rocks