Maki Sushi for Beginners

[Maiden attempt at Maki Sushi]

Inspired by a simple sushi rice recipe from Mumu's food blog, I ventured into reproducing the always tummy-satisfying and taste-buds-relishing maki sushi. Like my friend amP, whom I was playing hostess to the past few days, I can eat sushi all day long and I won't get sick of it.

amP has a super interesting job. He is the stage manager for a touring Cirque Du Soleil show, which means he gets to call the shots for all the hundreds of shows they put up in each major city around the world. The only downside in my opinion is living out of four suitcases in hotel rooms and not having homecooked food. Nevertheless, I can attest to the culinary offerings of the in-tent dining services provided on-site all day long. It's no Michelin-starred, but certainly a far cry from mediocre cafeteria food.

Since he has some buffer time on his hands as Cirque changes city, amP came to Barcelona so he could do some shopping and gobble up some decent international food -- read: sushi. It looks like he really does have a perpetual craving for sushi since he didn't mind having his second sushi round for the day.

I knew I was going to have company and to make things merrier, I invited a few friends to join in the fooding fun. I decided to make the theme Asian, since it almost never fail to delight my friends here when I make food out of the ordinary i.e. nothing west of the Occident. I also recently learnt how to make Satay, the Malaysian national dish, so that was my segundo plato.

For the maki sushi, which worked really well as a primero plato, I rolled it up with strips of omelette, cucumber, avocado, and crabsticks, which despite its name, is made of fish. If you've patience to assemble everything together, these tiny morsels of vinegared compressed rice can be served up in a flash. Except that I panicked a little, when instructions calling for a wet knife to cut up the maki rolls defaulted on me. I had a pretty sharp chef knife but it didn't do the trick. I sufficed with a serated loaf knife, and at the very least could serve up my little makis. With no wasabe on hand, I improvised by using Coleman's English Mustard. The result is amazingly similar as it gives that same pungent punch that promises to clear out any nasal congestion.

For dessert, we savored to the last bit, a scrumptious Spanish dessert that my friend Emilie brought. The dessert is made out of milk simmered in real vanilla beans and then made into a sort of flan, with a tiramisu-typed sponge cake base. It was sublimal. It reminded amP of rice pudding, which I beg to differ because I didn't think much about rice pudding. Then again, to each his own *à chacun son goût*. Emilie promises to share the secret recipe she inherited from her almost-sister-in-law from Valencia, which I'll be delighted to share with you right here on this blog.