I was eating a salad in my school’s cafeteria today because only three weeks in and I’m sick of the food here. It is the same thing everyday, with limited healthy choices. Last semester it was a little more bearable because I’d always get the cheese sticks. I am an avid fan of cheese. The taste, texture, and smell is so mouth watering to me but, I know the saturated fats and cholesterol aren’t good for my heart.  So unfortunately; this semester I’m giving up cheese for lent. Now the choices are even more limited at cafeteria de Southwick.

Depressed and bored I was sitting there with my salad when a sushi craving hits me like a parent of a A- average student in an academically strict household. So I said to Biffle, “I want Sushiiiiz”!

Biffles replies, ” Me tooooo but we haz no monies. We should make our own and save money”.

Thus, the birth of this post.

In my few experiences with sushi rolling we never could get the rice just right. Actually, my friend who makes sushi quite often still thinks his rice never comes out right. The severity of the difficulty in cooking this perfect rice has even inspired their band to call themselves “The Rice Affect”. From what I understand “The Rice Affect” is the mind set that what ever your produced yourself, isn’t as good as if someone else produced it. Whether it be music or sushi rice.

Now let’s explore just the rice making portion.

According to eHow sushi rice is called, Shari or Sushi Meshi. Best to use short grain rice because of its starch properties says, sushifaq. You can buy the rice at most Japanese or any other asian markets. Once you’ve selected the rice you should cook it according to the instruction that it came with. If there are no instruction then,1. rinse the grain in cold water to clean, 2. Add water to the grains until you have about an inch from the tope of the grains to the surface of the water, 3, cook in either a rice cooker or in a pot under close attention to not let burn.

Now the tricky part is the seasoning. To each their own here but recommended is:

• 100mL of Vinegar
• 2.5 teaspoons of sugar
• 1.5 teaspoons of salt

Mix these ingredients together completely and leave it at room temperature. Wait for the rice to cool a little before tossing the rice and seasoning mixture together in a large bowl. Then place a wet towel over the rice until you use it to keep it from drying.

Phew, we’ll have to tackle the sushi toppers in another post of its own, along with assembling a sushi roll.