Superbowl Sushi

There a number of excellent qualities about being in the Bahamas on a boat for months on end. While the local cuisine can be excellent it does lack in a very important aspect; sushi.  We have become quite attached to having a good sushi meal from time to time and if given the opportunity, could make it the mainstay of our diet. So the urge for some has been growing for sometime now that broke through yesterday .  We might be well into island time mon but there are limits. This culinary break out just happened to coincide with Super Bowl Sunday.
Having consumed quantities of fresh and expertly prepared sushi in restaurants too numerous to count, we decided to try OUR hand at this highly revered art form. We certainly knew what we wanted and, in a fit of type A personality characteristics, we researched the process through both several well written books, and of course the now ever useful you tube video. Ray, Captain of our sister ship Copeing is seen studiously reviewing the methods and committing to memory the step by step process,  quickly becoming the master of sushi making.

While never one to be outdone, I diligently amassed the finer technical aspects of the dos and don'ts of the process. I mean, after all, this is serious.  We began by spending some time sharpening our knives to a fine razor's sharp edge. It took a few hours and a dark and stormy but we did it and there are no reports of injury, at least that we would admit publicly.

We amassed all the basic tools and ingredients, including tuna and salmon frozen (sadly), but what the heck, sushi rice, wrappers and veggies.

As in most Asian cooking, a big part of creating the meal is in the preparation. To make our rolls complete we had not only fish but cucumber, spring onions and avocado all sliced thin and long to fit the rolls just right.

Fresh veggies to be cooked later tempura style......

and of course rice, all expertly prepared by Susan.  Now this is not just any rice, but a special rice cooked a slightly different way that when finished includes adding small amounts of seasoned Japanese vinegar.  It needs to be slightly sticky so it will adhere to the seaweed wrap....of course.

It was decided early on upon a division of labor. The guys with the approval of the ladies would do the bulk of the sushi construction and of course the eating. The ladies would do prep work and make sure us guys did not:  a) hurt ourselves with the very sharp knives  b) would limit the D&S consumption until meal time and  c) assure we did not make too big a mess in the galley.  They were successful in some aspects though doubtful about the mess part and we did challenge the D&S limits a couple times.

Susan was so smart in setting us up with two sushi preparation stations with all of the ingredients in between us for easy access. Worked quite well.

Quite pleased with my first assembly I proudly display my mastery...only the paper needed to be flipped so it is on the inside of the roll, got it backwards...I had to take it apart and turn it over and re-add the  good stuff....oh boy.

Such intense concentration and a nice looking roll.  Ray's cool Hawaiian T-shirt added to the show!

Uh-oh got that one turned inside out, oh well it will still taste great?

Meanwhile the girls are starting to prepare the tempura veggies. I mean where else do you use your fry daddy but on the dock between the boats.

As the laughing got louder Jeannie and Renee poked their heads over the galley counter to see what the heck was going on....not quite a sushi bar but it works somewhat?

In the late afternoon Tomahawk pulled in after a day's run from Eleuuthera adding  Tommy and Renee to this brew.

All in all we had a great time and laughed a lot at our own missteps along the way. Normally we should leave this to the experts but there are none around so necessity is the mother of invention.

The rolls were, after all, quite tasty but will not win any awards for presentation as some fell apart from too much rice or just plain beginner's lack of rolling skill. Makes you really appreciate how many Japanese restaurants can whip out rolls in a few minutes that taste and look great.  We will keep at it until we really get the hang of it and become Bahamas Sushi Masters....

Oh we did enjoy the game too, the real entertainment however was in the galley!