Friday, September 10, 2010

First Sushi Experience

What a lame title, right? At least you know what you're getting yourself into. This is not a post about what I'm learning in anthropology right now or a How To make a trendy scarf or anything. This is me talking about my first real sushi experience. Go figure! According to more than one of my friends, the one time I had a bite of a Costco sample a few years ago does not count. Back then I spit it out into the garbage can, surprised that any food could make me gag. This time I did no such thing. Instead I masticated and swallowed like a normal person, and my taste buds weren't even cringing. 

As a side note, I just want to say that I'm very energized right now, and I still have accounting homework and the rest of this post to finish before my personal goal of getting to bed by midnight. Which is in about 20 minutes. And also, I had another great night with Intervarsity which I would love to blog about more than food, since it is the true experience that's making my life fantastic right now, but since this is not a private journal, I won't delve into religion a whole lot. Let's just say that I am falling in love with Jesus, and leave it at that. 

Back to sushi: Danielle and I went to Tona tonight for dinner and went all out with trying new things and picking the most exotic items. Danielle wasn't a total noob at Japanese food but I was, so every time I was able to even get rice into my mouth with chopsticks was an accomplishment for me. I've used them before, but with rice it's a lot harder. It kept slipping through, you know? Those darn pieces of wood. Anyway, here's what we ordered (to share, cause we were on a date ;) ) -
Vegas rolls: salmon, tuna, and cream cheese. with the rice and seaweed of course. deep-fried. yummmm.
Rock 'n Roll rolls: "barbeque eel w/avocado"
Bento Box with Tempura and Ton Katsu: "fried prawns and vetables in light tempura batter" and "tender pork loin coated with panko bread crumbs, vegetable-fruit sauce"

Yeah, that's right, I had eel. And prawns. And raw fish! Do those dishes not sound delicious and totally foreign? Ok so the titles of the sushi were actually very American-sounding, ironically, but it was all very different from anything I've ever tasted. My favorite things were the pork dipped in the sauce (Ton Katsu) and the Vegas rolls, which are not actually on their menu. If you go to this restaurant looking for them, you'll have to specially ask the waiter. Another new thing I tried tonight was Miso soup. I'd heard about it a lot but never had it. It's nothing too extremely special. I liked it. The end.  

My favorite new part about Japanese food is the dessert. Tonight marks the second time I've tried Mochi ice cream, which is basically a ball of ice cream wrapped in rice pastry that sort of has the gel-like consistency of a gummy bear, but not as sticky and hard to chew. We had the strawberry flavor with raspberry sauce, which was the perfect ending to a great meal. For those interested in the restaurant itself, our meal ended up being split to $20 each, so it's a little pricey. The service was good and we both enjoyed the ambient live instrumental music. I would definitely go again. 

Here's what I want to know: why was eating sushi not on my bucket list (or 20s)? I keep doing things that warrant List Status instead of the stuff I'm actually supposed to be accomplishing. Oh well. It all leads to an interesting life. Oh, also, I now know I do not like the taste of Wasabi at all. It can go crawl into a sewer and die, and it'd probably fit in with whatever other nasty chemicals are lurking down there. I don't see how people like that stuff ... 

In all my excitement about trying this abundance of new foods, I had to take a picture of every dish. Props to the iPhone creators who gave it the best camera ever (check out the close-up photos). I am continually amazed by this thing. It knows how to focus all by itself! Good job, buddy. *gives iPhone an affectionate noogie*


Remember, you can click on each photo to see the full-size. It lets you see all the details ... like HD television! 










1 comment:

Lyssa Rose said...

I love sushi! Like you, I'd only had the costco samples before. But two weeks ago a big group of us went out for sushi in Logan and it was amazing (:
I love how you took pictures of all your food. Now I really want some. mmm.