A "funner" time

Friday was a lovely summer day.  The sun was shining, the temperature was not too sweltering, and a gentle breeze stirred the air—a lovely day for padding barefoot through my crispy lawn to greet Chef Kellie at her car.  It had finally arrived.  July 15^th was sushi day!

Chef Kellie and Chef Jeannie

We embraced and exchanged pleasantries (Kellie: “Yay!  A real person!”).  And, after putting the Purely Decadent Cookie Dough Ice Cream she had brought into the freezer, we jumped right into sushi preparations.

Sous Chef Kellie
working magic

I had already made the brown sushi rice since it has a long cooking time and because I wanted to make sure it got cooled down before we started using it, so we began with rinsing the white rice.  The rinsing process is tedious.  The more starch rinsed off, the less clumpy the rice.  One is supposed to rinse the rice until the water is clear.  I have never made it that far.  After eight or nine rinses, I figure it is good enough.   I soon hope to acquire a mesh strainer so I can rinse the rice that way rather than in the measuring cup like I have been.  While I was engaged in this process, Sous Chef Kellie deftly chopped a delicious apple into matchsticks and removed the spine from some romaine heart leaves.

"This is a knife!"

Once I got the rice on the stove,  I had Chef Kellie move to her new work station where she formed mango sticks (after intimidating one of the world's most succulent mangoes into submission), buttery avocado strips, and luscious strawberry segments.  I was concerned we weren't going to have any fillers left for our sushi because of how perfectly yummy our ingredients were!  As she worked on those, I peeled and cut a cucumber, a couple carrots, and a small bunch of green onions.   Our green onions were thin enough that all I had to do was cut some of them in half, others just needed one of the green straws peeled off.

We ended up having a lovely tray of sushi ingredients about the same time our white rice was done cooking and resting uncovered on the stove for 15 minutes.  It was time to make it "sticky."  I used the recipe of 1Tbsp Rice Vinegar, 1 Tbsp Honey, and 1 1/2 Tsp kosher salt per 1 cup of prepared rice.  Some people heat it up on the stove top, but I prefer to warm my vinegar mixture in the microwave.  Simply put the rice vinegar, honey, and salt in a microwave-safe bowl.  Stir it with a fork to combine it a little bit.  Then, microwave for 30 seconds, stir to combine as much as possible, and then microwave for 15 seconds if necessary.  At this point, you should be able to combine everything.  Put the cooked rice in a large bowl so you can spread it out to cool faster, pour the vinegar mixture over the top, and use some flat implement to fold it into the rice (I used a rubber spatula/scraper thing).

Smoothing out the rice

During our prep process, I came across a few basic tips to share.

1.)  Use a vegetable peeler to get the skin off a mango, Then proceed to cut down one side of the stone and then the other.  I know many people suggest leaving the skin on while you pit it and then wedging the pieces out of the mango skin, but I find this process to be easier, albeit a bit sticky.

2.) The easiest way I find to get a pit out of an avocado is to make sure you have a sharp knife of a size you are comfortable using.  I like a mid-sized santuko knife.  Cut it down the middle, twist it, then take the side with the pit in it and with a confident whack, hit the center of the pit with the knife.  Twist, and remove.  Now...wear an oven mitt or cover your hand with a kitchen towel before doing this so as to protect your hand from a glancing blow.  Trust me.  Sticking a knife in your palm is not what you want to do.  Also, if you cut the avocado in the skin, you don't get gooey stuff everywhere.  Bonus tip: if you only need half an avocado, leave the pit in the avocado--it won't oxidize! 

3.)  Epic sushi discovery!  I have the hardest time getting my carrot match sticks thin enough.  So, I made use of the peeler and made my initial cuts that way!

Peel long-ways, then cut thin slices long-ways. I felt so smart!

Ta-da!

We moved to the table, and I proceeded with sushi making lessons.  Our first roll was a sweet one because we were compelled to have dessert first.  It was a brown rice roll with strawberry, mango, apple, and cucumber.  We drizzled a bit of honey on top and a bit of my soy sauce mayonnaise mixture.  It was good, but the apple over-powered the roll.  It was a good starter, though.  

Chef Kellie adding soy mayo to her first roll.

Then Chef Kellie and I began to craft our concoctions.  

Some of our rolls were better than others, but our two favorites were a sweet roll with white rice, green onion, cucumber, mango, strawberry, apple, and avocado with honey and cinnamon, and a brown and white rice roll containing cucumber, avocado, apple, green onion, and the soy mayonnaise mixture.

A happy roll 

When we began cutting up our sushi, my wonderful boyfriend arrived with flowers for me (he's so good to me)!  As we progressed through the slicing of our sushi roll pyramid, we enjoyed seeing how the insides our rolls looked.  Some were vibrantly colored, others had fun patterns.  The second to the last roll we cut up looked like a smiley face!  As I finished cutting the last roll, Kellie and I were overjoyed to discover our perfectionist nature could be satisfied. Our finished slices of sushi filled the tray exactly!  Then the feasting began.  Between all of us, we consumed half the sushi we'd prepared before eating the yummy ice cream and cookies Kellie provided.

Kellie modeling the sushi

I had a lovely time being able to relax and be creative.  Kellie made it even better by encouraging unconventional combinations and being a joy to be around.  Below are a few more pictures from the evening. 

My first roll (apple, mango, strawberry, cucumber)

The lovely Kellie. 

Kellie's a gifted photography as well!

She saw the light on the timer.  :).

Aww!  He likes me!