No, those aren't onion rings....

[Kogarashi]

That sounds really good!

I'm more or less a sushi newbie; never been to a sushi restaurant, I've mostly had the California roll-type sushi you get at grocery stores (quality varies, but is usually decent). I'm a little nervous about the raw fish type, but I do know that not all sushi is raw and some of it isn't even fish. Don't like wasabi or ginger slices; is it okay etiquette to eat sushi and skip that?

The sushi recipe book I have suggests that those who don't like wasabi can leave it out of their rolls completely, and that as ginger is a palate cleanser, it can be substituted with water to sip instead. It's meant mostly to clear out the flavors of the previous roll so you can better appreciate the next.

And plenty of sushi leaves out the fish completely, so just keep an eye on what's being prepared at the restaurant you go to and you should be able to do just fine. I still need to visit a proper sushi place here before we move (since I have no guarantee that there'll be any, let alone a good one, at our next place of residence), but I'm waiting until after we have our next kid so I can feel free trying out the raw fish at a place I trust to handle it well.

What I love most, though, is rolling our own sushi. There's a little Asian grocery near us that has a really great deal on the nori sheets (the seaweed), and my recipe book came with a bamboo rolling mat. We got tips from someone else in the complex who frequently rolls her own sushi, and love throwing in things you probably won't find at most sushi restaurants. Like steak and onions. Yum.

[thansal]

making rolls is great fun. I have tossed in my hand at it to help a friend when she was prepping for a party. To bad that I don't even like Nori ;P

However I am now tempted to attempt making inside out rolls, with out the nori, and with, you know, no fish :P

[Cazzi]

making rolls is great fun. I have tossed in my hand at it to help a friend when she was prepping for a party. To bad that I don't even like Nori ;P

Instead of Nori, you could substitute soy wrappers?

I got some in to try, along with a boxful of other goodies by mail order, but so far have been having fun making onigiri (plain and filled) and boiled egg bunnies and things; although I haven't got the hang of apple bunnies yet!

I'll get round to sushi again soon, and even try those wrappers while I'm at it

[Kogarashi]

For other nori alternatives, my recipe book suggests lettuce leaves at one point in place of the nori sheets, and the lady who gave us tips used swiss chard as the wrapper for one of her rolls. My husband's also trying to figure out how to make dessert sushi with something sweet instead of nori, and I've seen dessert sushi for a kid's party online using fruit roll-ups. basically, if you can roll sticky rice up in it, you can probably use it in place of nori.

Or there's the last chapter of my book, which is bowl sushi. No nori involved, just a bowl of sticky rice with the sushi fixings on top of it, arranged artfully of course.

[ArcticChicken]

My husband's also trying to figure out how to make dessert sushi with something sweet instead of nori, and I've seen dessert sushi for a kid's party online using fruit roll-ups.

A friend of mine recently made a bunch of candy "sushi". I seem to recall fruit rollups, rice crispies and gummy fish.

[Kogarashi]

A friend of mine recently made a bunch of candy "sushi". I seem to recall fruit rollups, rice crispies and gummy fish.

Sounds like the one I saw online.

[LadyAndreca]

Th Like steak and onions. Yum.

The place I mentioned that makes the sushi tempura roll also has a beef teriyaki roll (beef teriyaki, scallion, and cucumber, I think it was). I tried it, but chilled teriyaki was kind of disorienting. Or maybe it was the 'sweet' when I was expecting 'vinegar'.

[Andara Bledin]

As I'm chewing on my third roll of the sushi, the GF tells us with a grin: "It's eel."

Unagi.... *droool*

They have unagi nigiri at a seafood buffet the boyfriend and I like to frequent. They make the sushi and sashimi up fresh, and the unagi always disappears within minutes of being put out.

There's a sushi restaurant downtown that's supposed to be really amazing (and requires a reservation if you want in the door in under an hour) that I plan to try sometime in the not too distant future.

^-.-^