Sushi 101

Sushi class last night was fracking amazing.

I arrived, hung over and exhausted from a sleepless week that I couldn’t seem to catch up from. A three hour cooking class, immediately after work, felt like someone was asking me to climb the Himalayas while stoned, with only one leg and a blind mountain guide. Basically – how am I EVER going to make it through this?!

But, it wasn’t long before the energy in the class ZINGED me wide awake. I found myself joking around with the other people in the class, laughing a lot (my favorite), smooching my boyfriend when I could sneak it in and rollin’ some of the best damn beginning sushi rolls I’ve ever seen, if I do say so myself.

The best part about our class was that it was also a sake-tasting class, so we had about 20 bottles and five different types of free-flowing sake. That stuff isn’t as bad as I remember it being after playing drinking checkers with sake bombs for Mardi Gras in 2002. (THAT was a bad night). The instructor also bumped music while we all hustled and bustled around the kitchen. Tunes from Led Zeppelin, Fiona Apple, Kanye and other randomness kept us moving while we learned how to make basic sushi rolls with some really amazing ingredients – anything we wanted out of Whole Foods, basically. Tuna, shrimp, real crab, fake crab, veggies, cream cheese, yellow tail – even Copper River salmon. We also made a number of other Japanese dishes, including miso-glazed eggplant, gyoza (pot stickers), steamed clams with sake, udon noodle soup, Agadashi tofu and a green tea shortbread cake. Then afterward there was A GREAT BIG FEAST, obvs. It was so fun.

I learned some very key tips about making sushi – like how to make the perfect sushi rice (did you know you have to add a mixture of water, rice vinegar, sugar, sake and salt to the rice??); that inside-out rolls (rice on the outside) require you to use saran wrap on your rolling mat and sesame seeds so the rice doesn’t stick; that you MUST wet your fingers down before touching the rice cause that shiz is sticky; and how to perfectly cut the ingredients.

Here are some pics:






[BTW - Did I mention this is the FIRST thing to officially cross off my Bucket List? (!!!)

Currently Feeling: SO freakin excited to pick up my new bike from REI today.
Currently Anticipating: A weekend away at Osoyoos Lake. We decided to try something new this Memorial Day – I’m looking forward to wine tasting on our new bikes!
Currently Loving: That I seem to be dropping pounds without trying too hard now? Weight lifting is the best. You burn calories even when you’re not working out!