Skip to main content

DrunKitchen: I ate too much

I made so many mistakes tonight that I can't count them. The last was probably the worst: I ate way too fucking much. 
I kept things "simple" enough. The only cooking tonight was some rice. Turns out, that actually takes a little effort, which is bullshit. First, I rinsed it, which I usually do. Then I put it in the rice cooker, which I usually do.
Then I mixed some rice vinegar, sugar, and salt in a pot and heated it a bit on the stove, which I don't usually do. It didn't take long, it wasn't difficult. It was just different. Once the rice was finished, I poured the vinegar mixture in and mixed it around into the rice for quite a while. Once the rice was done, it was just art project time.
I started off with a block of tuna (never mind the fingerprints). I just took some thin slices off the end and moved on.
I put a piece of seaweed on my glass cutting board (I needed a smooth surface), and got to work with that.
I spent way too fucking long spreading a thin layer of rice across the sheet. I had to dip my fingers in water to keep the rice from sticking to them, but it wasn't the end of the world.
Once the rice was how I wanted it (more or less), I laid a couple slices of tuna down, then got to rolling.
I don't know if you've ever rolled up a sleeping bag, but it was a pretty similar process. Just gotta keep it tight and even as best you can.
Afterward, I took my little sushi rolling mat and used it to help shape things up more evenly. 
It worked out pretty well, so I was quite pleased. Granted, it was a boring-ass roll, but it was a roll nonetheless. A little slicing, and my maki (rolled sushi) was good to go.
Next, I wanted to make some nigiri, so I made a few packed elongated rice balls. Once again, dipping my fingers in water helped dramatically.
A little wasabi on top, then I was able to stick my fish on there. I went with octopus and cockle (pictured), plus some cuttlefish.
A quick arrangement on the plate with some ginger, and we were good to go.
Next up was packing my lunch, which just meant putting some rice in my bowl, then piling a bunch of fish on top. Easy peasy.
Last, but not least, I still had some rice left over, so I wanted to use it all up. First up, I chopped up some octopus, cuttlefish, and tuna. I packed the last of the rice in the bottom of my 3" PVC (which, incidentally, I ran under some water to help keep the rice from sticking), then packed the fish on top of that.
After the fish was packed down, I dumped in a few spoonfuls of tobiko (black flying fish roe), spread it around, and packed it in. I then held my breath and pulled the pipe up.
All breath holding was successful: It didn't collapse into a pile of rice, fish, and eggs. It could use a little extra color, but it tasted great, so I'm not bitching.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

I don't understand food

Part 1 the morning after, while eating a sausage, egg, and cheese everything bagel from Bergen Bagels Last night, I had the pleasure, privilege, and audacity to eat at a Brooklyn restaurant named Aska . I know it's cliche to refer to a fancy restaurant meal as a life-changing experience, but this was straight up paradigm-shattering. I've written before about food being a medium of communication, about how I strive to reduce food waste as much as I can, about sharing our cultures and stories with each other through the meals we create, but seeing how Chef Fredrik Berselius is able to do this at such an intricate, elegant, and elevated level is both humbling and inspiring. The experience started before the first bite. I walked into the 10 table restaurant, and they knew me by name. I was shown to my table (right in the middle of the place, looking directly into the open kitchen), and they even pulled my chair out for me and pushed it up under me. I was a little uncomfortable with...

The hibiscus flower has bloomed, day 3

Now y'all know I love to experiment, and I generally go into my experiments with a plan, an experimental design, if you will. But after playing for a few days with squid and not royally fucking anything up, I was feeling a little restless, so I decided to just say "yes" to whatever popped into my head. Dry fried ginger, pattypan squash, and red onion? Sure, that sounds like a good combo. Purple sweet potato, shishitos, and sweet onion dry fried? Why not? What if I dump some some butter into that ginger/squash/red onion pan? I bet that will taste good. How about I dust some chopped squid with salt and oat flour and squirt it with some fresh lemon juice? I'm sure that will be fine. And I bet what will be even better will be tossing that squid into the ginger pan. That's when I remembered how much I loved that squid that was cooked low and slow. Unfortunately, I was out of white wine, so I looked in my fridge and saw some high pulp Simply Orange orange juice. I poure...

Why not give a shit?

About a month ago, I cooked up a big pot of a miso vegan stew. It was a Sunday evening, so I knew I needed to cook enough for Sunday night dinner and Monday's lunch. A vendor was taking us out for dinner on Monday, so I needed enough to cover Tuesday's lunch, too. I had plans with a friend on Tuesday night, so I wouldn't have time to cook, so I needed enough for Tuesday dinner and Wednesday lunch, too, so I said, and I quote, "Fuck it. I'll just cook enough for the week." Unfortunately, as I packed away my leftovers that night, I realized that I cooked enough for a week and a half. Normally, that wouldn't be a huge issue, except that I was leaving town Friday morning and wouldn't be back until Monday evening and did not have room in my freezer to store more than a bowl. Luckily, I was able to pawn a few bowls off on coworkers, so it all worked out alright. However, when I told this story to someone close to me, they said I should think about donating t...