Stop Blogging and Cook

All men are equal before fish. ~Herbert Hoover (1874-1964)

The Second Avenue bus goes into Chinatown, so I hopped on to go for sushi.  I try to eat as much sushi as I can because I love it.  A colleague once asked me if I wasn’t afraid of parasites from eating so much raw fish and my response was simply, “I don’t want to live in a world where I’m afraid to eat sushi.”

If fish is good for you (and it is!) raw fish can only be better.  And wasabi was originally eaten with sushi to kill bacteria.  Clever, those early sushi eaters.

I buy it in Chinatown because this vendor — located in the Dynasty Supermarket — has the freshest sushi I’ve ever eaten.  I always get salmon;tuna on rare occasions or salmon & tuna sashimi when I’m feeling really hungry.  None of the faux sushi for me.  If it’s either vegetable or cooked, I’m not interested.  It’s SUSHI, for fish sake!  I love shrimp, but if I want shrimp, I will probably not have it on rice, thank you very much.  And I love vegetables, too.  Just don’t call it sushi.

I make a ritual out of sushi.  I bring it home and with my chopsticks lift up the salmon strips and apply a thin coat of wasabi to the rice.  Then I put a slice of ginger and several cilantro leaves before replacing the salmon on top.  I then dip the bottom of the rice in sesame seeds.  Either white or black, the Chinese supermarket has large packets of sesame seeds for about a dollar.  Accompanying my sushi whenever possible, is an avocado.  I slice it in half, remove the pit and eat the ripened flesh right out of it’s skin cup with a spoon.  A bite of sushi is followed by a bite of avocado.  If I had to eat one meal for the rest of my life, it would be this one.

What, no soy sauce, you ask?  No, I think that soy sauce is much too strong and salty for the delicate, buttery flavor of fresh salmon.  I am always amazed at how many people I see eating sushi with soy sauce; just about everyone, it seems.  Sometimes I have roe with sushi, but more for the texture than the taste.  I like the unique crunch that it lends to the total meal equation.  After a meal of sushi, I generally have either fresh fruit or nothing, preferring the flavor of the meal to linger for as long as possible.  The combination of cilantro and salmon is as close to flavor perfection as I can imagine.  Add avocado to that and I’m in food heaven.  So I try to have it as often as I can.  If I told you how often, you probably wouldn’t believe me.