Beware! And aw. (RL)

[thistlechaser]

Beware! This may be the cutest thing I've ever seen. Eee!

And the aww: The Vegan Lunch Box blog is over. I figured she'd just take a break for the summer, but nope. This is pretty much the end. I'm going to miss seeing all the pretty pictures and fun descriptions each day.

And hey, sushi made without any fish? Just rice? I'm so there! That's a great idea! (Except if those black nori rollup things have some sort of funky flavor...) Mmmm, rice.

EDIT: Stuff On My Cat has been boring me lately, but I find this picture to be really cute for some reason.

Comments

[kelen.livejournal.com]

o.o I love that little airline food set!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I have a couple little food sets, but man, that one's so cute! The sets are so cute, but they're so tiny -- hard to display and not lose parts.

[gconnor.livejournal.com]

There are a LOT of veg. items at the sushi place, such as cucumber, carrot, pickled plum, inari, tamago, avocado, negi, etc. They make shrimp tempura into a roll, so I bet if you ask nice they would make other kinds of tempura into a roll too.

If you don't like the taste of nori, that will take away half or more of those options... some people say it tastes fishy, I think it just tastes like sea salt. Also I have seen some sushi places wrap things in other wraps like rice paper.

[fealu-bryne.livejournal.com]

*nodnodnods!*

Oh, so totally! Sushi places are great for healthy, good-tasting food. One of my favorite things to do. And it's not all fish, either. California rolls, for example, don't have fish in them I don't think. And then there's the miso soup which has different things in it depending where you go. Mushroom, green onion, tofu. Or the salad, which has this wonderful ginger dressing. It's TO DIE FOR. Sweet and a little tiny bit spicy, and absolutely wonderful. If you like honey mustard, you'd probably like that.

I agree with the nori thing, though. If you associate salty with fish, I guess I understand the idea. But really, it's nothing terribly noticeable (at least to me) in comparison to the other flavors you're eating at the same time.

Oh oh oh! And if you like rice, you'll LOVE sushi places. They've got the wonderful sticky sweet rice, which has totally spoiled me to any other sort of rice. I can't stand the way most Americans cook it now. XD

[barahir-ffxi.livejournal.com]

Shushi is my new LOVE... I completely prefer Nigiri sushi over rolls but, after getting over my fear of seaweed, rolls are really growing on me. California rolls are great, and while you're correct, they don't have "fish" in them they do contain crab meat.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

You all are making me hungry! Stop it~!

:D

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Or the salad, which has this wonderful ginger dressing. It's TO DIE FOR.

Oh man, I wonder if it's the same dressing I know of? I take my mother to a sushi place when she's here, and I could just drink the dressing straight! I have no idea what the flavors in it are (I've never tasted them elsewhere) but I love it!

I agree with the nori thing, though. If you associate salty with fish, I guess I understand the idea.

Well, I like salty things, so maybe I'd like that, too...

Oh oh oh! And if you like rice, you'll LOVE sushi places. They've got the wonderful sticky sweet rice, which has totally spoiled me to any other sort of rice.

Whine! Yes! I LOVE LOVE LOVE their rice! So good! I keep meaning to look into if I can make it at home...

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Huh! I never thought of tempura in a roll. I bet that'd be good!

If you don't like the taste of nori, that will take away half or more of those options... some people say it tastes fishy, I think it just tastes like sea salt.

I've never tasted it before. I've never tried any sort of sushi of any kind. (People are always shocked to hear that.) I'm going to try it one day though!

Thanks for the info!

[laurelwood.livejournal.com]

Hey, I have the matching picture to that Stuff on My Cat pic!

And I'm really mourning the end of the Vegan Lunchbox entries, too. When I first discovered that site, I was just aghast that anyone would spend that much time making a kid's lunch every day. But then I caught on to the spirit in which the posts were intended, and got totally hooked on them. And I appreciate the fact that they're written skillfully and mild-manneredly enough that even people not interested in veganism can enjoy the posts.

As for the nori dilemma, have you considered buying some of those cute little rice molds they sell at Mitsuwa and just making whale/teddy bear/elephant-shaped rice balls? It's like sushi, only without the seaweed OR the filling!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Hey, I have the matching picture to that Stuff on My Cat pic!

Hee! That's just too cute! (Wasn't there some saying about every family getting "a chicken in every pot"? :P )

And I appreciate the fact that they're written skillfully and mild-manneredly enough that even people not interested in veganism can enjoy the posts.

I know what you mean. Even though I don't eat meat, I hate "preachy" veg* people. There's this car at work with a "bumper sticker" (one sticker covering from one end of the bumper to the other) telling people eating meat is like eating your family pets. It annoys me, I can imagine how meateaters feel...

As for the nori dilemma, have you considered buying some of those cute little rice molds they sell at Mitsuwa and just making whale/teddy bear/elephant-shaped rice balls? It's like sushi, only without the seaweed OR the filling!

Wow, that sounds perfect! I keep meaning to make another trip there.. This would be a good excuse!

[quasilemur.livejournal.com]

Sushi actually refers to the rice, which is a specific sort, prepared in a specific way. While it frequently contains seafood, that's in no way mandatory.

Man, I want some unagi now.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I love rice so much, and I love soy sauce! If I could make that special sushi rice (it's better than "normal"/American rice), I could just eat rice dipped in soy forever! And then die of high blood peasure or mega-carb overload or something!

*whine* So hungry now...

[quasilemur.livejournal.com]

First off, it's a different kind of rice. There are more varieties of rice than you'd probably believe, and they've all got their own traits. The broadest categories, though, are short/medium/long grained rice. The rice most westerners are used to is long-grained, whereas sticky rice is short-grained. Then, there's a specific and tricky process used to make sushi rice. It has to be washed extensively, cooked properly, cooled very quickly, and treated with sushi vinegar (a specific sort of sweetened vinegar). Some of the steps (especially the cooling), though they have rational explanations, seem like some kind of crazy hoojoo when you're doing them.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Then, there's a specific and tricky process used to make sushi rice. It has to be washed extensively, cooked properly, cooled very quickly, and treated with sushi vinegar (a specific sort of sweetened vinegar).

Is all that to give it a special flavor? Or just to make it stick together well? I like how it sticks (so you can pick up clumps with your chopsticks), but I never noticed it having a special flavor...

[quasilemur.livejournal.com]

It has to be washed to remove the various starches and such it's shipped in. Otherwise, it'd turn into a gooey mess when cooked. Proper cooking is important for any rice, moreso for finicky sushi rice...use a rice cooker if you can. The last two are really what make it sushi rice, though...You spread it out in a nonmetal vessel (metal will react with the vinegar), normally using a wooden paddle, and you cut in the vinegar mixture (never mashiing or stirring), normally while fanning the rice to speed the cooling and set the coating.

The sticking is a combination of the short-grain rice, and the preparation method. Incidentally, if you refridgerate sushi rice, it will fall apart. And yes, I did work in a place that made sushi. :)

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Bah. Well, thanks for the info. I may try this one day. I'll be sure to make a post so that everyone can laugh at the results.

[tersa.livejournal.com]

FYI, since no one else covered it...

Nori is a type of seaweed or algae (I forget which). The funky flavor is likely caused by the fact that it grows in the ocean, and has picked up the briney sea flavor (or, as gconnor said, the flavor people sometimes associate with 'fishy').

Me, I like nori so much, I like eating it plain (in small doses). Mmm, salty.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Well, I like salty, so maybe I'll like it! Hopefully. :)