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Tuesday, January 17, 2006

"sushi! sushi! sush! ...mmm I smell sushi! There in that bag! I can't read! Please, Please give me what's in the bag.... chewy, nummy, healthy sushi!

Okay for the title I tried to copy the Beggin' Strips commercial. It kind of worked. It was my favorite commercial back in the day. (Most sushi isn't "smokey," so I left that part out, and most appropriately substituted for it.) In case nobody knows this, I LOVE SUSHI! But, over the course of my affection for it, I have learned that not all sushi is created equally. Take basic salmon for instance. The first time I had sushi, I was a little timid about getting something raw (my nutrition and microbiology classes both taught me what kind of organisms can live in raw food), so I got something that was smoked. A smoked philly roll. (A specialty at Dave's.) The salmon was okay, but since it was smoked, i wasn't entirely sure if I didn't like it because it was smoked or if fish didn't float my boat... Ahhh Ha Ha... get it, fish don't float my boat, eh! That was a knee slapper! Moving on... I also tried a spicy tuna roll (raw). It was pretty good, but I'm not a fan of spicy stuff. I like to taste my food for the sake of the food itself, not necessarily the spices on top.

The next time I had sushi, I had a philly in the raw...with raw salmon. Oh my gosh it was so blissful! I love that roll, and now whenever I go to Dave's I always get that. End of story.

How boring would that be though? I figured that since that was so good and I had gone out on a daring limb to try it, maybe there were other kinds that tasted even better? So, I started sampling different kinds. Started with Yellowtail, and that was again, awesome! Then I tried Shark... (I think), and it was okay. I tried cooked eel in a barbeque-like sauce, and it was okay. Then I tried Mackerel...it was the most disgusting thing ever! It tasted like you stuck your head in a really dirty fish tank and licked the side of the glass. It was so nasty! I found out later that it is pickled, and maybe that had something to do with it. But it was so gross! If you take one thing from this post, NEVER EVER EVER EAT MACKEREL SUSHI! I was so disgusted, my stomach hurt for the rest of the evening and part of the next day. But, I wasn't entirely turned off to trying new sushi, so I got a hamachi collar one night. I figured since I liked the Yellowtail (aka Hamachi) I would like the collar. But, there is a huge difference, the hamachi collar is fried. So it is like fried fish. But it left a funky feeling in my stomach yet again.

Now, I'm afraid to say, my daring streak with sushi has ended. I know what I like, I have tried almost all the different types of fish, and in some ways I'm glad, but I'm absolutely positive that I could have lived without the mackerel. But, I always wonder, what if I felt that way about everything? What if I never tried anything new? But what if everything that I tried was horrible compared to what I know I like? Where do you draw the line? What is better? To try new things for the sake of finding something else that brings you joy? Or do you stick with the tried and true?


Oh yeah, I also tried a roll called the Bayou with spicy crawfish, and that was pretty good, but a little spicy for me. You should see me trying to dab a pin sized drop of wasabi on my rolls, it is probably hysterical. I haven't tried roe yet. (The little beads of fish eggs.) I've heard they are good, but those people also told me the collar was good. I will eventually try them, but not tonight or this month. Maybe in March I'll do it. Any other good sushi recommendations are always accepted!

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