Sushi (Inside Out Upside Down Up Yer Butt Roll)

After a 15 minute lecture that covered the entire breadth and history of Japanese cooking, we took a quiz made up of true/false and multiple choice (-sigh-). Before class, rice was set up to drain a few times before it ran clear, then left in colanders to dry.

Sushi is not so much about cooking than preparation, and every group prepped the mise for a couple of different rolls -- maki, not actual sushi which is simply pieces of fish over tiny pillows of rice. Rolls involve the nori, pressed sheets of seaweed, and sliced into rounds.

Rice is the foundation. We cooked the rice in rice cookers. Ours started smoking, smelling like burned rubber, then started sparking and flaming out the bottom -- that was kinda cool, actually. Once the rice came out, it was put into big untreated cedar wood bowls, which I wiped down with a rice vinegar solution. As I poured a mixture of vinegar, sugar and salt over the rice and folded it an, Roundhead fanned the rice to cool it down and prevent it from steaming.

The group who were cutting up tuna gave us the unsquare scraps to make spicy tuna. The marinade's recipe was a list of ingredients, all to taste instead of measures: sesame oil, sesame seeds, mirin, tabasco, lemon juice, soy sauce. Mixed in with the finely diced tuna, it tasted nice after adjusting some of the flavors.

Assembling the rolls using all the ingredients teams made felt a bit unsatisfying, like we were all just playing at sushi instead of really making something special. Limited by what was around me to make something interesting, I made an inside-out roll and coated the surface with black sesame seeds, hence my specialty, the "Up Yer Butt" Roll -- it really looked like a mouse pooed all over it! Fneh!

Tomorrow, our end of module practical exam.

ADDENDA:
Was just not feeling it today -- the sushi chef who demoed yesterday took 10 years just to finish her training, and what she produced was intensely fine. What we produced, was almost as good as a cheap Japanese delivery in NYC. On top of that, I enjoy raw fish but really have to be in the mood for it -- seeing people like Dora handle the food just doesn't make for an appetite.

Made good of my afternoon, made salad and baked shortbread, prepped for tomorrow's practical, which gives the student more rope to hang themselves with. My friend C called on a whim with some hours to burn so she came over, had dinner together, vegged in front of the TV, then I tossed her on the back of the tandem to get to her next appointment. Glad I chilled out today.

BREAKFAST: 6:30am, good granola, good milk, .5 bowl, hunger 3/5

AM TASTINGS: 10-11am, marinated tuna, sushi rice, a few bites of rolls here and there, .5 bowl, hunger 3/5

PM SNACK: 1:30pm, 5 or 6 pieces of homemade shortbread, quarter of a pint of vanilla cashew-cream vegan gelato, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
To relax, I made shortbread: wholewheat pastry flour, organic powdered sugar, expensive and intense Irish butter, a dash of vanilla, a dash of sea salt. YUMMM! Was intending to eat the whole container of cashew gelato and a few bites of shortbread, but it was just too good.

DINNER: 6:30pm, large green salad simply dressed, 1.5 ears of boiled corn dressed with butter, Parmesan, lime, salt, pepper, 3.5 pieces of shortbread, small amount of vegan gelato, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Dinner with C at my house, very fun, inspired me to dress the corn cobs like the South Americans, not nearly as good, but I kinda understand what they're doing with balancing the acid, the sweet, the salty. I need to boil a bunch and go to town with different dressings.