weekend in pictures

Weekend = collecting holly and ivy to make Christmas wreaths in Sussex woodland with family.  Pouring over Japanese pattern books brought back by nephew's girlfriend 'M' and wishing the kiddies patterns were in my size too! Lots of talking and catching up and some belated birthday presents including lovely Japanese drawing book and pen, tea, cutest teapot, biscuits from French holiday, make-up bag made by sis B(you can find similar here...her website is new so excuse teething problems and for some reason only showing one post at a time...but you can check out the online shop at the The Cosy Bag Company) and amazing stove also brought back from France for 'A' that was made somewhere very exotic...whoopee...thanks so much B,M,D and M...another perfect weekend...


...please excuse the blurry photo's...

Sushi to blow your socks off!

Making sushi is fun right from the get go....the shopping is fun...
.....the packaging is bright and colourful and buying food in an oriental supermarket is a bit like going on holiday.....
I forgot to take my camera but will definitely be back with it soon, there were some amazing things I'd love to have captured.....like huge packets of cornflour in big white bags with beautiful graphic writing.....
We bought sushi ginger and nori which is roasted seaweed. Rice vinegar, soy sauce, sushi rice and wasabi paste. Then vegetables and smoked fish, ooh and a bamboo sushi mat and not forgetting Japanese chopsticks.

To make the sushi you need to begin by cooking the rice. For each cup of rice, measure one and a half cups of water. Place both in a saucepan, bring to the boil and then cover with a lid and cook for ten minutes. Once cooked place in a bowl and leave to cool a little.

Prepare your working area by unrolling the bamboo sushi mat and placing one sheet of dried seaweed on top. Have a small bowl of water close by. You will need this when you start to work with the rice.

Next prepare a vinegar dressing for the rice. For two cups of uncooked rice you will need one quarter cup of rice vinegar, two tablespoons of sugar one and a half teaspoons of salt mixed together in a small bowl until the sugar is dissolved. When the rice is cooled, pour this mixture over it.

Whilst the rice is cooking prepare all the vegetable by chopping finely and cutting fish into small pieces. I think a little bit finer than I did would be appropriate! If you'll be using omelette now is the time to make it too.

Place some of the rice along one edge of the seaweed. Then place some of the other ingredients on top.

Roll the seaweed sheet plus filling using the bamboo mat forward until you make a long sausage shape.

Slice the roll into small portions. You will need a fairly sharp knife for this. Then place each little roll on its end on a serving dish.

We did it....we made sushi....thanks mostly to H......maybe not perfect to look at....especially the ones I made. They are the huge ones at the front of the plate. The pretty little delicate ones at the back were made carefully by H. Which is a big achievement when you consider that sushi chefs train for eight to ten years!!
They tasted delicious with preserved slices of ginger and soy sauce and of course the obligatory Wasabi paste, to blow our socks off.....which it almost did!