Happy Birthday with Sushi.

Tim and I have learned so much about each other in Chicago. I have learned to control my temper, and Tim has learned that I value gifts where time and thought have been used in large amounts, instead of a book from Barnes and Noble.

So for my birthday this year he cleaned the entire house (!!!), made me a pan of brownies, and asked our friend Mai (a real oriental! ha ha, she loves it when I say that) to teach us how to make sushi, something I've wanted to do since I bought him a sushi making kit in 2005. She took him shopping and then came over last night. IT WAS AWESOME. And I'm having sushi for lunch. Here are some of Mai's tips for sushi:

Meat: get frozen tuna steaks. Tuna that is thawed has already been frozen at least once, so the frozen stuff will taste better. Imitation crab is cheaper at an Asian Market than your usual grocery store.
Veggies: Avocados and a cucumber are good to start with. Cut them so they will look pretty when they are cross-sectioned in the sushi roll.
Rice: Buy the good stuff at a food market, it's the most important part of the sushi roll. We got Nashiki medium grain rice, five pounds for $6. I made two cups and it was enough for about 10-12 rolls. Also, get Japanese rice vinegar---the taste is important.

Step by step: I made the rice as the package directed. After it was done, we spread it out and cut it repeatedly to get the heat out. Mai also poured in several tablespoons of the vinegar and cut it in, just so we could taste it but it wasn't overpowering. The rice was really sticky.



I started cutting up veggies and meat. The imitation crab was cut into strips, but most of the tuna was minced for a spicy tuna mixture, using mayonnaise, soy sauce, and Srirachi chili sauce to taste.



Now came the tricky part. We layed out the bamboo rolling mats and cut out a small sheet of Seran Wrap, folded a sea weed sheet in half, and placed it shiny side down, so the rice is on the rough side. Then we spread the rice out thinly and evenly, leaving a little overhang on the longer sides so they would bond together better. See? Aren't we cute?



The next part gets a little tricky. Basically, you use the Seran Wrap to keep your rice from sticking to the mat. We flipped the seaweed/rice over after patting it down, and then we were ready for our ingredients. We did combos of everything we had, and then Mai showed me how to fold the roll so the edges meet while keeping the meat and veggies in their rightful place. The hardest part then is packing the rolls together, sort of in a square shape, so that the rice sticks together and doesn't fall apart after you slice it.



See also mixed in some wasabi with the soy sauce, so delicious. After about I had a couple rolls under my belt (heh!) I attempted a trifecta: tuna, avocado, AND cucumber. And it worked! I am the queen of sushi.



Tim had already left to see a Bill Frissell concert, so after we ate about three rolls each and cleaned up, Mai and I finished off the wine and birthday brownies with Kaye and watched those snazzy Isabella Rosselli biology films on Sundance.com everyone is so excited about. What a great way to celebrate another year of life! Happy Birthday to my one and only twin brother Aaron (I'm bringing your very humble birthday gift to the Fargo Marathon) and baby Ben, who still craps his pants. YOU LOSE!