Sushi Sakura Style

As I mentioned previously, during sakura season (cherry blossom) here in Japan, sakura literally becomes the center of attention in terms of products, flavors, foods, themes and activities.  So when my friend asked me if I was interested in joining her (and her other friends) for a sushi making class in Yokohama with a sakura theme, I thought nothing of it except to say that I would go.  I had never made sushi before so I thought it would be an interesting experience.  I was a little nervous that I would be awful at it - in a conversation with my mom a few days before the class, I told her that my sushi was probably going to come out very ugly.  She asked me why I would say that and my response was "mom, I can't even make nice looking spam musubi." 

A few days before the class, my friend messaged me and told me that I needed to bring with me an apron, a bandana, a dish towel and a container for the finished product. I didn't have an apon or a bandana, and I initially panicked and wondered where I was going to get them, BUT then I realized my favorite place in the world, The Daiso would probably have exactly what I needed. I already had a container and dish towel, but come on, stuff is ONLY 100 yen at The Daiso (plus, it was Hello Kitty AND I also wanted my stuff to be color coordinated in pink, since pink is the color of sakura).

The class was held at a community center in Yokohama in a room that was obviously meant for cooking classes.  We got there a little early and the class before us was just finishing up so we got to see the fruits of their labor - our class was making rolls but their class had made nigiri.  Everyone was really friendly and helped us get the supplies and ingredients we were going to need for our class (bamboo roller, plastic measuring mat, knife, plastic wrap, plastic gloves).  The sushi rice was already made so all we had to do was weigh out exactly how much rice we would need for our individual rolls.

The class started out with everyone going up to the front of the class and watching the teacher do (and simultaneously explain) a few steps.  I thought that having the mirror above the teacher's area was particularly helpful because there would often be people in front of me (and since I'm short, I couldn't exactly see what was going on). As soon as she was done with her explanation, everyone would run back to their stations and do the steps we had just learned.

The instructions given by the teacher were entirely in Japanese, but luckily someone in our group was fluent in Japanese and was able to translate the directions.  Plus, the teachers (and the aides) would go around the room monitoring the progress and assisting those who needed help.  It seemed like one of them was always kind of hovering around our table which I didn't mind at all because I'll be honest, I kind of needed the help (plus a lot of the women in the class seemed like they had already taken these classes before and knew what they were doing).

It was a very cool process though.  To get the rice pink, we used some sort of food coloring that was also cherry blossom flavored (go figure) and the wrap around the roll was tamago (egg) instead of nori.  There was such a feeling of suspense (and for me, anxiety) when you roll the sushi and then cut it in half at which point you find out whether you have the shape/image you were going for, or you just have a blob of rice and vegetables. Mine was somewhere in the middle.  From far away you can kind of tell that it's a cherry blossom tree but I sort of messed up on one part so the trunk didn't turn out as "trunky" as it should've been.  Oh well, at least it wasn't as much of a disaster as I thought it was going to be, and I totally had fun in the process. Next class on my list, making sushi pandas!

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

I'm not a huge fish person, but I do love me some Hamachi and Maguro every now and then.  Lately I've been craving sashimi and sushi, two things I don't get to eat on a regular basis because Rich doesn't eat either of them.  So, me being the awesome wife that I am, I took advantage of Rich being sick with a bad cold by leaving him home and heading up to Tsukiji Fish Market with my friends Paul and Mina.  I mean, if you want the best, freshest fish, why mess around right?

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under the creative commons cc-by-sa 3.0 license.

Tsukiji Market, the largest wholesale fish/seafood auction in the world and popular Tokyo tourist spot, made headlines in the Star Advertiser (click here for the full article) earlier this month when a tuna sold for a record $736,000 during the first auction of 2012 (craaaazy).  On a normal day, things are probably less exciting there, but if you hope to catch a glimpse of the real action at the market, you have to get there at the crack of dawn.  Let's be real here, I'm not what you would call a morning person and I can do without being around tons of smelly, bloody fish....I suggested we start our trek from Yokosuka at the more reasonable hour of 9:00 a.m.

We got off the train in the Tsukiji area and, armed with our iphones with gps (not to mention the area maps that are all over the place), we set off to find this famous fish market. It really was quite a sight to see - Paul with his iphone out and us trying to figure out which direction on the real time google map we were heading versus which way we were supposed to be heading.  Several times we turned around mid stride, probably annoying the heck out of the locals walking behind us, but enjoying ourselves nonetheless.  In spite of the directional aids at our disposal, we STILL managed to get a little lost and we ALMOST turned around and left without even getting to the heart of the marketplace.  Luckily we made one last turn which turned out to be the right one.  During our exploration of a very narrow and definitely sketchy corridor, we received an unexpected treat when we came across them making blocks of tamago (yum).

Now came the really hard part....deciding where to eat.  Many of the sushi restaurants in this area are small and have long lines, especially at lunchtime, which by this time it was.  Our initial strategy was to stand in the longest line we could find (about 20 people), our thought being the longer the line, the better the food.  After standing in line for 20 minutes with barely any movement and hunger (mine) really setting in, we agreed to change strategy and found a restaurant with a much shorter line.  Looks can be deceiving though because even though only 2 people were ahead of us, we still waited another 20 minutes.  By the time we got in, I was numb - the weather app on my phone said it was 40 degrees but I swear it was really 25.  Mina and Paul had nigiri sets and I had a tuna/crab don with a side of hamachi and toro nigiri (can't forget about the toro).   Once the food came, all conversation ceased as we savored every delicious bite, silently agreeing that these moments were definitely worth the trip and money. 

When each of us was certain we couldn't possibly eat another bite, we paid our bill and headed out.  We had only taken a few steps out the door when in response to someone asking "so what should we do now?" all three of us immediately agreed that coffee and dessert should be the next item on our agenda.  And with that, we set off to find us a coffee shop and eat more food!