Today. one of my girlfriends got me to try something I've never tried before

[Svenskaflicka]

Don't get your hopes up. It was sushi.

Not too bad, actually, although I've discovered that I hate wasabi - the thing tastes like window cleaning fluid!

When they placed the tiny rolls on the little plate in front of me, I figured I'd NEVER get full on this apetizer - I was on the verge of mentioning "McDonalds", but I gave it a try, just to be able to say that yes, I HAVE tried sushi.

Not only did it taste pretty good, but I was also very surprised to feel un-hungry at first, then sated, and then I felt that I'll only need a light supper tonight. That rice swells up inside your stomach, making you sated for a long time!

Not to mention how low-fat it is. Now I understand why Japanese and Chinese women are so skinny!

 

[rgraham666]

Sushi is one of my favourite meals. Too bad it's so tricky to prepare or I'd make it for myself.

Did mix the wasabi with soy sauce in the little boat they provide? It's powerful stuff and needs the sweetness of the soy to balance it out.

But I do love sushi.

 

[Nirvanadragones]

I was addicted to Sushi and sashimi during my previous pregnancies. Still love it.

Question - was the Wasabi " hon-wasabi" ? That's the original " real" kind. Many restaurants serve an imitation made from horseradish, mustard, and some kind of green food colouring and it tastes terrible

 

[Svenskaflicka]

I don't know what kind of wasabi it was, only that it was intense green and tasted very, very sharp and chemical - it tasted the same way window cleaning fluid smells like, and then some.

I didn't mix it with soy sauce; I tried to go easy on the soy sauce since it was rather salt. As discretely as I possibly could - was I glad I had chosen the corner seat in the restaurant! - I wiped the wasabi off my rice/fish with a paper napkin...

 

[scheherazade_79]

I really like sushi, but it feels like you belch once, then your stomach's empty again.

As for the wasabi... I put it on a zit once, and it was gone by the following morning

 

[Selena_Kitt]

You are braver than I am...

I still have yet to venture this far into the realms of "weird food."

I'm SUCH a white bread girl!

 

[Liar]

I didn't mix it with soy sauce;

There's your problem then. Wasabi straight up is pretty much torture. It's for putting a little kick into the soy.

Sushi is an enigma to me. I don't dislike it. But I can't find the intense appeal with it that some seem to have discovered. You take something that doesn't taste much at all (rice) and wrap something else that doesn't taste much at all (raw fish) around it. Then you dunk it in wasabi soy and eat it. Which means that all it really tastes, is wasabi soy.

A decent lunch maybe once/month. But more often than that and I get culinary bored.

 

[cheerful_deviant]

Sushi = raw fish.

Raw fish is good for 2 things:

1.) Cooking to make food. This is just one of the many advantages of opposable thumbs. Humans long ago discovered fire which enables us to render our food more palatable by heating it until it stops moving. Would you go take a bite out of a uncooked dead chicken? No? I rest my case.

2.)Small peices of raw fish is used to catch bigger live fish which can in turn be cooked and eaten. (See No. 01 above)

 

[elsol]

Sushi = raw fish.

Raw fish is good for 2 things:

1.) Cooking to make food. This is just one of the many advantages of opposable thumbs. Humans long ago discovered fire which enables us to render our food more palatable by heating it until it stops moving. Would you go take a bite out of a uncooked dead chicken? No? I rest my case.

That's because eating raw chicken can kill you... please note, people to eat things like steak tartar & rare prime rib. (In other words... raw cow... and you think eating raw fish is disgusting? *yack*)

Thus you are clearly prejudiced against the whole raw fish thing.

2.)Small peices of raw fish is used to catch bigger live fish which can in turn be cooked and eaten. (See No. 01 above)

So clearly the animal kingdom, which you and I are members of, has already come in on the 'Hell yeah!' side of the raw fish thing.

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

I've eaten sushi a few times. I like it fine. Just seems like you have to keep eating and eating.

I do have a funny story about sushi that I may make into a story one of these days

 

[McKenna]

Mmmmmmmm, sushi. I love California rolls. My local sushi shop makes some house specialties that are killer.

Not so fond of the sashimi, though. I can only do so much straight, raw fish. I need a little rice and seaweed to break up the taste.

Good for you for trying something new!

 

[Stella_Omega]

I could live on sushi!

I have Filipino markets around me. I can buy a salmon tail- about two pounds of delicious flesh- for maybe two bucks a pound, and I usually buy two of them. One gets cut up and eaten raw by my whole family, with a dipping bowl of soy and grated ginger- usually we don't even make it to the table, but eat it standing at the counter!

But I eat many wierd things- organ meats...

When I was in Japan in the mid-80's I was invited to a dinner at an anceint Suchi house built right on the rocks on the seashore. My hosts fell into a game of "What will teh gaijin eat?
I ate everything. Sea-cucumber, octopus brains (look like rice, taste like... well, octopus...) and Fugu, the poisonous fish...
It was all good to me!

 

[rgraham666]

You need a special license in Japan to prepare fugu.

Good thing too. The slightest nick of a knife in the wrong organ and the customer will not be making a return visit.

I quite like the Yunagi, barbecued eel, myself.

 

[McKenna]

I could live on sushi!

I have Filipino markets around me. I can buy a salmon tail- about two pounds of delicious flesh- for maybe two bucks a pound, and I usually buy two of them. One gets cut up and eaten raw by my whole family, with a dipping bowl of soy and grated ginger- usually we don't even make it to the table, but eat it standing at the counter!

But I eat many wierd things- organ meats...

When I was in Japan in the mid-80's I was invited to a dinner at an anceint Suchi house built right on the rocks on the seashore. My hosts fell into a game of "What will teh gaijin eat?
I ate everything. Sea-cucumber, octopus brains (look like rice, taste like... well, octopus...) and Fugu, the poisonous fish...
It was all good to me!

While I was in China this summer, I tried cow stomach, sheep tendon, and gelatinous duck-blood. I figured if I could handle haggis in Scotland, I could handle about anything!

 

[The_Fool]

Sushi is a good summer dish for me....Light and filling.

I'm with Rob on the Unagi...

 

[Francisromantic]

wasabi is awesome, I love the way it clears your sinuses and makes your eyes water when it is just right, and combined with sliced ginger, it is amazing

 

[Stella_Omega]

While I was in China this summer, I tried cow stomach, sheep tendon, and gelatinous duck-blood. I figured if I could handle haggis in Scotland, I could handle about anything!

MMM... Duck's bloo-d-d-d...

A bunch of us went to a Vietnamese restaraunt once. There were two westerners, one Japanese woman, and our host was Vietnamese.
Me and our Japanese friend asked for duck's feet soup, one bowl between us, to try it. The waitress refused to give that to us- she told us Americans don't like that.
We aren't exactly Americans, we said- we would like to try it even if we didn't like it, we would pay for it.... Our Vietnamese freind argued with her for a while, too, to no avail. We did NOT get that soup!

But I tasted the best Spring Rolls of my life, made with shiso, a kind of "Japanese Basil" that is incomparable in flavor, and rolled in the most delicate rice wrappers- so thin you could hardly pick one up without tearing it in your fingers.


I DO like food...

 

[McKenna]

But I tasted the best Spring Rolls of my life, made with shiso, a kind of "Japanese Basil" that is incomparable in flavor, and rolled in the most delicate rice wrappers- so thin you could hardly pick one up without tearing it in your fingers.

<drool>

My favorite Thai place makes spring rolls with basil. Don't know if they're comparable with the ones you mentioned above, but I do love the flavor of the basil combined with all the rest of the ingredients!

Food. <sigh> Don't get me started ...

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

<drool>

My favorite Thai place makes spring rolls with basil. Don't know if they're comparable with the ones you mentioned above, but I do love the flavor of the basil combined with all the rest of the ingredients!

Food. <sigh> Don't get me started ...

Basil? Is that something the Asians learned from the Italians? Basil is supposed to be an aphrodesiac in Italy

 

[SeaCat]

Living on Cape Cod we did a lot of fishing. Many times we would catch Spanish Makeral. (One of the mildest cold water fish.) As we were pulling them in, and when we had enough for dinner that night, my Father and I would take one off the hook and Filet it right there on the boat. These Filets we would thin slice then rinse with Seawater. Add a touch of salt and we had our lunch. (I don't eat fish either cooked or raw that I didn't see moving quite recently.)

In Germany I used to eat a lot of Steak Tartar, I love it, but not here. I don't trust most of the meat I see here. (In Germany I only ate it at certain Butcher Shops.)

Cat

 

[McKenna]

Basil? Is that something the Asians learned from the Italians? Basil is supposed to be an aphrodesiac in Italy

Note to self: Stock up on plenty of basil.

 

[elsol]

Unagi!!!

 

[Stella_Omega]

Basil? Is that something the Asians learned from the Italians? Basil is supposed to be an aphrodesiac in Italy

*note to self: eat more basil*

Shiso is not basil at all, actually. What's interesting is that the plant is called by a lot of comparitive names, like Wild Coleus (it's not a coleus) and Wild Sesame (it's not sesame) gotta love wikipedia!
I wish I could convey in words the delicate aromatic flavor of this herb! It's like the very first time you tasted cilantro... The flavor comes back when you breath out, like some notes do in white wine.
I've had the Korean variety and I don't like it nearly as much...

By the way, here's an amazing spice pages website!

 

[WaltsFrozenHead]

Ahi Sashimi with wasabi (mixed to a paste with a little soy sauce) and a strip of ginger and sprouts.... add a Guinness and I am sitting back on the porch at Jamesons overlooking the Pipeline on Oahu.