Valeria Out Loud

I was going to blog about a delicious basil and Parmigiano frittata I made yesterday before heading to The Nutcracker with the kids, but the pics came out blurry. My photography skills..which are none btw.

So, I will talk a bit about my obsession.  Sushi.  It’s Friday, which means it’s SUSHI NIGHT!

As you will get to know me you will learn that I obsess about a variety of things…. wrapping paper, my blue hair, falafel, pretty bras, sparkly things, sugar skulls, the holidays, the movie Amelie, green eyes, my mother’s food, coffee, tights, plastic Japanese food, Jason Segel, and, well, gosh there is way too many to list at this moment; but find me on pinterest and you’ll see I am an obsessive loon.

My obsession with sushi; I crave sushi at least 5 days a week.  Do I eat sushi 5 days a week? Well, this summer I was on a roll of a straight 7 days one week!  And my husband is on board with me, too. We are obsessed!  90% of the time, if we are going out for dinner, we pick sushi!!  But my parents on the other hand, they think I am deranged and don’t get the concept of Japanese eating anyway.  But that’s too bad for them!  The thought of sushi right now is driving me batty.  I want to taste wasabi and ginger, and I want it now!

Sushi is so delicious, and the way I feel after eating it is great too.  I never feel guilty after eating sushi.  I never feel like a bloated, fat pig after eating sushi. The way the dishes are presented are always a feast for the eyes, and make me feel special. It’s perfectly wrapped bites of food that you eat with chopsticks. Another obsession of mine! Eating with chopsticks really slows you down to appreciate your food.  Except noodles, I always look a fool eating noodles with chopsticks..they are too darn slippery! Which I did two weeks ago at my new fav sushi place.  My God, I couldn’t get a bite of noodles in my mouth, and cause I was laughing so hard at myself, and might have been tipsy from some wine, that I just made a mess and put on a show for our table neighbors.  heh  But not with the sushi, that all fit right in my mouth perfectly with those chopsticks!

Sushi is serious business!

Jiro Dreams of Sushi.  If you haven’t seen this documentary you must, another obsession of mine, documentaries!  It’s about this 85 yr old Japanese man, Jiro, whose whole life has revolved around sushi and his business, which now his oldest son is looking to inherit.  His son is stressing because he is afraid of not following in his father’s footprints in the same manner.  But his other son, who has a restaurant of his own, went that route so he didn’t have to follow in his father’s steps.  Great story.  Apparently, Jiro is a renowned sushi chef in  Tokyo. His restaurant is a super quaint space with a waiting list weeks and months long, seats something like 8-10 people.  It’s located in the basement of an office building! Which is very common in Tokyo..restaurants in obscure locations.  Well, my husband and I were in Japan in 2004, and seeing a restaurant in an office building setting or in a random place was common.  I am dreading to even admit this.. but I was not into sushi when we were on that trip. I was ..as you might say, a bitch about eating raw fish.  UGH I KNOW!, how could I go to the land of sushi and not even adventure to try it?!  WELL, in my defense, I was a mess during that whole trip.  For some reason I couldn’t get my internal clock going from the second we got there until the day we left..14 days!  The trip seems like a dream at times. I was so out of it I SLEPT THROUGH A TROPICAL STORM!

I have been kicking myself ever since for not going beyond the norm of noodles, yakitori and tempura the whole time we were over in Japan. We keep saying we will venture back to Japan when we are older, not only for ourselves, but for our girls.  I really hope we do.  If we ever do, I’d make a huge sacrifice by getting myself all time changed up here before the trip so I can take the girls to the Tsukiji Market at 4AM to witness the seriousness of sushi, and then eat the eff out of that place as fresh as we can!!!

MAGURO AND SASHIMI ME!!

I am by no means an expert on sushi. Still a total novice, and there are some raw foods I just refuse to eat. Like scallops.  But, there are so many forms of sushi that you can’t ever be tired of it.  My personal favorites are Nigiri (fish on top of rice) and Maki (rice/fish/or veg wrapped in seaweed, or reversed, and roe).  Not a sushi person, or afraid of trying it? If you want to be adventurous and want to start getting into sushi I have some great advice.

First, start with foods you are familiar with.  They offer tons of maki rolls that are cooked or vegetarian.  Being comfortable in what you are eating is what makes it enjoyable. I started that way.  I would go in for only the avocado rolls. Then, once I was comfortable with the tastes of the rice and seaweed, cause there is a flavor to them, I added on another component. Since I really like tuna carpaccio, I went in for the tuna/avocado maki.  Then once I got familiar with that I moved onto the spicy tuna rolls, and then to the straight forward maguro (tuna) sushi. And now try to eat a new combo of sushi often. Though I still love the staples I started with.  There is just something so wonderful about a fresh tuna and avocado roll.  SOOOOO YUMMY!

Well, now that I have induced myself into a frenzy thinking about sushi, I will stop writing and just post some pics.
Have a great Friday!