Sushi in Ames

A couple weeks ago we finally made sushi (california rolls, to be exact), with the results above. Alex had given me a "how to make sushi" book/DVD/bamboo mat kit at Christmas 07, and we didn't do anything with it until a couple weeks ago.

Anyway, I'm not going to post a recipe here b/c I wasn't crazy about the one we used (partly b/c ingredients were listed in grams, which are hard to translate to American measurements), but I will post a couple hints from our experience.

• It helps to watch a DVD (or short video on the web) of how to do the rolling part; seek one out.
• Contrary to our recipe, you do not need to make a whole bag of rice for two people.
• Cooling and vinegaring the rice takes quite a long time (especially with a bunch of rice).
• Next time, I'll spread the rice thinner so as to give the other ingredients a chance to shine.
• For presentation, it is nice to have both black and white sesame seeds. I also added some red roe (available in little jars at Fareway for somewhat reasonable prices).
• You can get decent California rolls in Ames, from at least four places (in descending order of quality): Fuji Steakhouse, Shogun, Super WalMart, and Hyvee.

I've become quite a lover of sushi over the past few years. I think it started when I was in a chicklit bookclub and all the heroines lived in Manhattan and got takeout sushi all the time. I guess I learned one good thing from those books! :)