Sushi rolling experience in NYC on 10/10:
The meet up for this was at Morimoto restaurant outside. Its a little cold in NYC and the winds blowing off the river so everyone has to wait and be buffetted by wind. They let us in right at 1:30.
The sushi making demonstration was at the sushi bar which didnt have enough seating for the whole group so we stood around the sushi bar.
When Morimoto emerged from the kitchen it became obvious that he would not personally be rolling any sushi for us.
Morimotos a funny guy. He had two explanations for his injury first he said he was doing a tiger act in Vegas and the tiger bit him, then he changed that to he went fishing and was trying to land a 300 lb tuna just so hed have enough tuna for us to roll sushi. One of his chefs rolled the sushi for us. Morimoto called the shots. He really wanted to make sure they didnt leave out the fresh wasabi. We watched them break down some fish and make a tuna roll.
Their professional finished product (accompanied by a roly poly fish head). The green thing in the middle is the fresh wasabi.
Then they had us sit at tables and each table had a bamboo sushi mat, plus a plate of fish and a supply of sushi rice, scallions, spicy mayo and shakers of sunflower seeds. My table was led by a chef named Kwon.
First step is to take a piece of nori (seaweed) and put it on your sushi mat like so. Its suggested that you cover the sushi mat with plastic wrap first.
Then you have to work with the sticky sushi rice. The key is apparently to get your hands wet enough so that the rice will not stick to your hands. There was a bowl of water on the table for that purpose. Some of us still neglected to get our hands wet enough. It is very difficult to put the rice onto the nori while most of it is sticking to your hands.
Once you have your nori covered in rice, you flip it over onto the mat and put some fish, scallions and some spicy mayo on. Mine is pieces of tuna and hamachi. Really nice fish, too.
Then, you roll the sushi up using your mat, squeezing it to keep the ingredients and the rice packed. You can sprinkle the rice with sesame seeds either before you flip it or after you roll it.
My roll is too big I used too much fish and too much sauce. It looks like the Doomsday Machine. Kwon cut the rolls for us with a big knife but he squeezed them in the sushi mat first to keep them from falling apart, and tuna and sauce came out the end. A professional sushi chef would know better. My roll sliced:
Kwon also made us a few rolls to eat and put them on the table to pass around. We had white wine with the sushi. It was pretty boring wine but there was enough of it to have two glasses.
You could get in line then and have Morimoto sign your sushi mat and take photos. It was a pretty neat event, mostly because of the hands-on sushi making and the celebrity schmooze. The sushi itself wasnt really special because they had us making simple rolls, but the fish was very good fish.
I've been on a cruise that ends this week with my family. I just wanted to make sure I popped in and said "bon voyage" to all the friendies leaving this week for Tastebud Tour '09. I expect lots of photos and trip reports since as a solo dinner I could only hit about 1/2 the booths myself. Travel safely everyone!
He talked to his mom yesterday and she "forgot". But had the nerve to ask if we went out to dinner, and when he said yes, she said why didn't you invite us, too? 
Remind me that these are the people I was appreciating last month.
My mom is pretty good about remembering, as is Jay's, but that's about it. 
I felt kind of guilty accepting it ... she's going to Vegas later this month and I'm sure she could have had a gambling good time with that money, but she told us to use it for something fun since you only turn 40 once. 
