Make My Own Sushi

I love sushi, and it easily deserves a spot as one of my top 5 favorite foods.  I had always wanted to learn how to make sushi, but I thought it would be one of those foods that I would just always have to get at a restaurant because it was out of my culinary reach.  As I was browsing through Living Social Adventures, I found an offer for a local sushi making class plus sake tasting.  I bought two vouchers, one for me, and another for my sister as a birthday present.

We headed towards downtown San Diego, and once we got to the Sushi restaurant we were greeted by one of the Living Social employees at the parking lot.  As soon as we entered the restaurant we were given a sake shot glass to keep, and were instructed to go into one of three rooms that we would rotate through throughout the night.  The restaurant had a very New York City feel to it.  It was a brick style loft, with big tall windows.

Sister with her shot of sake

The three rooms consisted of a sushi roll room, specialty roll room, and a hand roll room.  We went a bit out of order and started in the specialty roll room.  The room quickly filled up, and as soon as everyone arrived we went around the room to introduce ourselves.  We then got our first sake tasting, and our first taste at some sushi.  The specialty roll was the only room that was purely a demonstration.

 Making a Spicy Tuna Roll

We then went into the sushi roll making room, and first watched a demonstration by the owner of the restaurant on how to roll sushi.  We were then given a choice to make a Spicy Tuna Roll or a California Roll.  My sister chose the California Roll, while I choice the Spicy Tuna Roll.  To make us a little more comfortable rolling the sushi we were given another shot of sake.  Score!  Rolling sushi is definitely not as easy as those sushi chefs make it look.  Spreading the rice on the Nori (aka seaweed) was the most difficult part for me.  As soon as I finished rolling the sushi I liberally sprinkled it with sesame seeds, and then it was time to eat.  Nom nom nom!

My sister's California Roll

My Spicy Tuna Roll

The last room was my favorite, the Hand Roll Room!  We first got a history on sake, and then got poured our last and third shot of sake (I was not too drunk cause I was still able to count!).  The Sushi Chef then showed us how to roll a hand roll.  We were then given a glove, and some pieces of Nori.  I walked towards the table and found a beautiful array of different items to put into my hand roll.  I quickly found my favorite, salmon skin!  I know that doesn't sound particularly tasty, but lemme tell ya...it was so flavorful!  By then, we had all become tipsy on-the-verge-of-drunk little sushi makers, and since it was the last room we were able to make as many hand rolls as our stomachs could handle.  You know when you have had just a little bit to drink, and your dining etiquette just goes out the window?  Well...that was what happened to about 80% of the people in the room.  There really is no way to look classy after having three shots of sake.   We had soy sauce flying everywhere, and bits of rice falling all over the place.  After my stomach had enough salmon skin, and my hands were covered in eel sauce I knew it was time to head home! 

A few days later, I went to the local Japanese supermarket and got enough supplies to make sushi.   I texted my brother and told him that I was having sushi night.  He was having a friend over, and thankfully I had made enough sushi rice.  Making the rice proved to be the most time consuming part, but it came out perfectly!  I did a decent job rolling the sushi, but I quickly discovered my knife wasn't sharp enough to make clean cuts slicing my rolls.  So I decided to just make hand rolls.  I made a huge plate of sushi, and by the end of the night the plate was wiped cleaned!  It was a success, thanks to my newly acquired sushi making skills!

Date Accomplished:  August 10th, 2011