There has been many a time when either Mark or I have gone to Whole foods to get a pack of california rolls (I still can't bare the thought of "true" sushi). Come to find out, making sushi was not as difficult as we thought and oodles of fun. I got the gist of ingredients and method from Mark Hutchenreuther's fabulous site. I new that there was a special grain of rice used, but not that rice vinegar is added to the warm cooked rice.
We were able to purchase the 3 special ingredients (nori- seaweed, sushi rice, rice vinegar) from our local grocery store- but when in doubt, Whole foods has everything. I recommend the use of imitation crab meat and Mark loves adding avacado to the rolls. We both liked the color of julienne carrots in the rolls too. And when using cucumbers, I cut out the gelatenous and seeded center to avoid getting too much water in the rolls. For some tips on what to expect when visiting a sushi resturant, check out Eating and Making Sushi.
While I would have thought making sushi was time consuming, once the rice is cooked (while it is cooking you can prepare the other ingredients to go inside of the sushi roll) each roll takes at most 5 minutes to make. One catch is to make sure that you have a sharp knife for cutting the rolls and that you clean it often since the rice can "gum" up your knife.
We also had the fortune to make Pork Teriyaki inspired by recipes at RecipeSource.com. A excellent recipe that should work well for chicken or beef too. I noticed that you should add a substantial amount of Teriyaki to ensure the flavor comes through. Just be careful when you add the seasame seeds- if added to early they tend loose their distinct flavor, and if too late then they taste raw and stand out.
To conclude our week of exploring asian meals (and the need to work late on Thursday when I have to finish my grading my 8am Friday), we took a trip down the street from work to SukhoThai. I enjoyed my shitaki, white button and straw mushroom thai dish, while Mark sampled the sweet & sour chicken with bell pepper.
