Thai Sushi Roll

25. Create My Own Recipe

I heart sushi, big time! I knew from the moment I decided to create my own recipe it would somehow involve sushi and Thai food, my two all time favorites. So I created the Thai Sushi Roll: I used a basic salmon roll and added a peanut sauce as a base.

Making sushi is extremely time-consuming. There is so much to prepare for. It would take a book to explain all the different rolls and styles. So, I will give you the basics, and the additional flavor I experimented with.

You need:
- Your desired vegetables (sliced carrots, cucumber, avocado, etc)
- Fish (salmon, tuna, crab)
- Nori sheets (seaweed)
- Sushi rice
- Sesame seeds, toasted
- Shiitake mushrooms
- Rice vinegar
- Salt
- Sugar
- Japanese mayonnaise
- Kombu
- Wasabi paste
- Soy Sauce
- *Thai peanut sauce
You will also need specific tool to prepare the rice and rolling mat for the making the actual rolls.

You have to prepare the sushi rice before anything else. You can find recipes for that online or in sushi books. While the rice is cooking, I usually cut up all of my vegetables into tiny strips and fish, depending on the style roll I wish to create. In the photos I included, I cut the fish into strips. Once the rice is prepared and I have everything set up in front of me, I cut the nori sheets into halves.

On my rolling mat, I place one half of my nori sheet, shiny side down. I layer a thin strip of rice pressed down off to one side of the sheet, leaving plenty of room for the nori sheet to meet. I pressed a thin well in the center of the rice. This is where I am going to put all the vegetables and fish. I line the well with a very delicate amount of wasabi. Then I draw another line of the Thai peanut sauce. On top of the sauce, I layer cucumber and avocado this time. I prefer salmon over tuna so I place two strips on top of everything. With my fingers, I gently press all of the fish and vegetables into to the rice and I begin rolling. With the rolling mat, I press it together as tightly as I can, making sure to press the ends in so nothing will fall out. With a little bit of vinegar on a sharp fillet knife, I slice the roll into six pieces.

I made several different type of sushi that night but the Thai roll was the most fun and delicious to make. The peanut sauce complimented the salmon very nicely.

Finally, the Day Had Arrived!

39. Have a Star Wars Marathon

Probably since we were kids, my dad has always promised all the “kids” in the family that he would have a Star Wars Marathon for us; a weekend when we would watch all the movies, put on our Star Wars gear, pull out all the toys and get to see the Star Wars treasures he has collection since the first movie came out in 1977. Now the “kids” in the family are in their 20s and 30s and we still had not had our weekend. I didn't care how old we were when we finally had our weekend, just as long as we had one.

The perfect opportunity came when my cousin Ken came home from Germany to visit for the first time in probably two years. I decided to round up all my guy cousins, and one of my guy friends Dave, and FINALLY have my weekend! A few of my aunts showed up too and the cat was down for watching a bit. Of course, with everyone’s schedules, it could only be a one day thing, and we would only get through two of the movies (episodes four and five).

As promised, my dad pulled out all of his collectables. Suitcases full of action figures, all in its original packaging. He had even made someone design display boards for all the figures that didn’t have packaging. Puppets, t-shirts, miscellaneous weird stuff. It was an absolute blast!