Refreshing Sushi Rolls

It is getting hot again here in NY and I want to eat something cool and refreshing. I decided to make some sushi rolls.

Since it is not too easy to get sushi grade fresh fish around here, I made those rolls with some easy to acquire ingredients.

I made California Rolls (Avocado & Imitation Crab), Shrimp Salad Rolls (Shrimp salad with some lettuce) and plum cucumber rolls (Plum paste and cucumber). Maybe plum paste is not easy to get at your local supermarket but you can get other ingredients at your local supermarket, I believe.

Our favorite was shrimp salad rolls. I just used cooked frozen shrimp. I chopped them up and mixed with chopped celery, sesame oil and mayonnaise then rolled it with some lettuce leaves in it. You can also add some cucumber or avocado to it if there are some room inside your rolls. But remember, more things inside the rolls, more difficult it gets to roll.

In the beginning, I was making inside out sushi which is rice outside and seaweed inside but I realized that it is much easier to roll with the seaweed outside. So I made seaweed outside rolls for the last few rolls.

These are very affordable dinner with easy to get ingredients. You can be more creative with your sushi if you would like. Since I am not so good at making sushi rolls, it took me about two hours to roll all the sushi. I was so tired after making them. I had to go to bed early :-)

I would like to practice more and be better at making sushi rolls. Those ones in the photos are ones which looked pretty good. Others are kind of falling apart and I couldn't take photos of them :-(

How about making some creative sushi rolls this summer with your family? I am sure that you will find the process very fun!

Cold Somen Noodle

In Japan, eating cold somen noodle is quite popular in summer. Somen is a very thin wheat flour noodle.
My mom made this noodle sometimes during the summer for lunch. I didn't like it too much back then because it was just noodle and dipping sauce and some green onion or something very simple. Plus, I like warm noodle better than cold. However, since it has been quite hot this summer, I have been wanting to eat  something cold and refreshing. I decided to make somen noodle for dinner.

The other day, I saw someone making somen dipping sauce with eggplant and pork. This looks more interesting and flavorful so I made this dipping sauce.

I just cut eggplants and pork into small pieces and saute in a pot. Then add soup base (tsuyu no moto) and water then let it cook until eggplants are tender.

Somen noodle is very thin so you just cook for 2~3 mins. Then wash them under cold water and add some ice to make it even colder.

I should have added green onion for the color but I forgot. Also, I think it would have been great if I added some ginger. Maybe next time.

How about some cold somen noodle for a hot summer day? It is really good!

My mom also made somen during winter with hot soup. This is also good. Sometimes, she add somen noodle into Miso soup :-) This is also pretty good!

A Week With My Sister (Part 2)

The other restaurant I went during the restaurant week with my sister was "River Cafe" in Brooklyn.
It is at the bottom of brooklyn bridge and has fantastic view of down town. This restaurant is pretty famous especially the view from the restaurant. I wanted to go there for a while but this was my first time trying this restaurant.

This is how the restaurant looks from outside. There are lots of flowers also inside and it is beautiful.

Since we went there during the restaurant week, it was pretty packed even on a weekday lunch.

We decided to have a restaurant week three course menu ($24.07). First, we had Lobster Miso Consommé soup with shrimp dumpling. This was very light but really good.

For main course, I had duck. It was crispy outside and juicy inside. I normally don't eat ducks too often but it was quite tasty and I liked it.

My sister had grilled swordfish. It was smoky and very light. Maybe it was too light for my taste but my sister liked it. I wished it had more tangy flavor in the sauce.

For dessert, we had strawberry ice cream, creme brulee and warm blueberry almond tart.  All of them were really good but I think my favorite was ice cream and tart.

This restaurant is famous for their view so I think many people come here at night. I would like to take my husband to this restaurant sometimes and next time, I would like to try going there a night.

By the way, there is a famous pizza place near this restaurant and there is always a line in front of this pizza place. I don't care much for pizza but I would like to try this pizza sometimes also. If people are lining up to have this pizza, this must be really good. Maybe this will change my perception of pizza.

After the lunch, we spent some time in a park like place next to the restaurant. It was such a nice day and we enjoyed nice view of Manhattan.

I wanted to use water taxi to go back to Manhattan side but it seemed like they were not operation during the time we were there. Oh well.

I am very glad that my sister enjoy this restaurant and the view from it.