Sushi

      So I've been getting sushi at Winco, where it's cheap, Safeway (where it's pricy), and Red Bento, where it's delicious! But I wanted to make my own, so a few months ago (like, November), I got a bamboo mat and some nori sheets. And they sat in my cupboard, lonely and forgotten. Until today! I had assumed that the hardest part would be making the rice. I can never make good rice. But I found some good recipes, and after sifting through all the tips, I ended up with some killer rice. I had to stop myself from eating it all before I made the sushi.

Just a note on the equipment - I've heard that you can use tin foil, plastic bags and wax paper to roll sushi. Maybe so. But I like how the bamboo rolled the rice nice and tight, so for six bucks, I think it was a good investment.

The knife is a sharp, serrated bread knife. It worked perfectly. But you really do need to keep it wet between cutting. I cut two rolls, then wiped it with a wet towl. Worked like a charm.

These here are veggie rolls - not quite California rolls, since I hate the smell of imitation
crab meat. I used carrot, cucumber and avacado.

These are tuna salad rolls! I should have done a little more work on the tuna, but they still taste great. I mixed  tuna with
garden veggie-flavoured cream cheese, and added half of a minced shallot. I put cucumber in, too. Next time, I'll add my pickled ginger to the tuna.

Here's the rice recipe I used. It's super good, and would be great with any stir fry :D

Sushi Rice:

2 cups short-grain white rice (actually, I used long-grain, and it probably makes no difference.)
3 cups water
1/4 cups rice vinegar (you can adjust this to taste. A little less if you're not a vinegar fan)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil, or sesame oil for a heartier flavour
1-2 tablespoons of sugar, depending on how sweet you like your rice
1 teaspoon of salt.

Rinse the rice until your water is clear. I'm sure that this was the missing step in all my previous rice attempts. I've always had mushy rice, and this time, it was exactly like restaurant rice. Imagine my joy!! Add it to a pan with the three cups of water and bring it to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to medium-low, then cook for 20 minutes. Cool it enough to handle.

In a small saucepan, combine rice vinegar, oil, sugar and sale. Cook over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Cool, and stir into the cooked rice. The rice will soak up the liquid as it cools, so don't worry if it looks too wet at first. I tasted my liquid mixture until I thought I had a good sugar/vinegar ratio. But once it cools, it's sticky and delicious! However, this makes a ton of rice, and I only rolled two sheets of nori, so I had a bunch of leftovers. I couldn't really eat it all for lunch, so I made Rebekah some rice balls for her bento box.

Here are some tips I found extrememly useful! 

When you're spreading the rice over the nori, keep your hands wet. That'll make it one hundred percent easier to handle the rice, and it will spread evenly.

When I added the filling, I kept it about 3/4's of the way up the mat, towards me. So when I rolled it, the first fold got the filling, and it was right in the middle.

I've heard that you should pour the vinegar over a spoon when adding it to the rice, for more even distribution. I did that, but I think that if you dump it in, and mix the rice well, it will be evenly coated. I've also heard that you should not use a metal bowl, because it will react with the vinegar. Okay, so I used a ceramic bowl.

I think you could put absolutely anything in these rolls. I'm excited to try some smoked salmon next time and/or sweet potato next time!

Muffins

Baking passes the time. I'm waiting for my sisters to get from Boise to Moscow, and so I baked them muffins! My dream of perfect blueberry muffins did not pan out, but I expected that. What I did not expect was that my topping would sink! But I guess I should've know better. . . that leftover wine should have stayed in the bottle until tomorrow night!

These are frozen. Soon, summer. Soon.

Is pastry flour worth it? Mmm. . . I'm just a peasant.  I can't tell the difference!

I nearly ate this with a spoon. . . But I had a dream. A dream of a sweet, sticky muffin that was dense and light at the same time. A magic muffin. So I just licked the spoon. (As you can see, this batter is nowhere near as thick as the 'glue-like consistency' that those fancy cooks hold up as your muffin Mecca). 

Hmm. That Strussel topping looks good. Maybe too good?

*SOB* Where'd my topping go?! I sure miss it. . .On the plus side, however, there is a nice crunchy top on my muffins, sort of what I always thought a brulee topping would be like. So it was not a total loss. Next time, I should probably follow the recipe more closely. . . I used about 5 times the amount of butter needed! Me and my butter lust. . .

Ah, muffin! You were worth it! Even if you are basically a fruity cupcake.

Ham Night

We are alone on the ocean known as the Palouse, and danger lurks behind every wheat field and coffee shop. The life of an Alaskan Pirate is not easy. But we hold fast to the simple comforts in life, the little things that reaffirm our places in the universe. Things like: Ham Night. 

Ham Night included cheesy garlic potatoes and stir-fried asparagus. 

The ham was huge. . .promising many mini-ham nights to come. Also, there's the
crazy-good sweet and sour sauce that comes in a can at Winco. The brand is Contadina
and it has chunky pineapple in it. I can see me pouring this on a vast array of things in the future!

It was a shame when I realized that I had forgotten what a clock sounded like. It's a very steadying sound. But I don't need a clock to tell me that it's Spring! Sunshine is presenting itself at 7 am again, and I can finally be excited to get out of bed.

Just Waiting

Tirzah's Cup is waiting for her.

Spring was in the air today! Now that I have a spiffy new camera, I feel obligated to get out there and find things to photograph. So, I hope I captured a little of the spring-like qualities of the day here in Moscow, Idaho.

Snowdrops in East City Park

Pussywillows on the banks of Paradise Creek - which is probably a fifth of the size of Campbell Creek back home, so I have a hard time acknowledging it as a creek at all!

This Mourning Dove was obviously of the opinion that he was King of the pine grove. 

There is a huge field across the creek, and I always say 'hi' to my cow-buddy! There are some horses in the field as well, but they aren't so good for conversation.

Just some Canadian Geese in the pasture.

Acts 14:17

Nevertheless, He did not leave himself without witness, in that He did good, gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.

An Adventure Of Scones -

Inspired by some young fellow Redwall fans, I decided to make scones to send with Rebekah for teatime at school tomorrow! I have recently been going through a wonderful book that I found at the Hope Center: Having Tea, by Tricia Foley. To be honest, I've never found a more comforting or inspirational cookbook! So, I tried the recipe for buttermilk scones, to which I added about half a cup of currents, because that seemed like a Friar Hugo thing to do!

Alchemy at work!

A scone, in it's pre-pastry form

A fully formed scone, baked to perfection, and ready for tea.

Actually, these didn't turn out as sweet as I wanted. Next time I'll add more sugar and try dates instead of currents. Still, a successful scone is nothing to be sorry about. I hope these last long enough for Rebekah to get them to school. . .

Norther Flicker

Northern Flicker

Trying out my new camera Saturday afternoon. He was obliging enough to root around for ants across the water. Needless to say, I love my zoom.