Just Roll It

Back in October we purchased a Groupon for a sushi rolling class, but being pregnant at the time I was not about to make sushi that I couldn't eat! This past week we finally went downtown for our class and we had a great time! Our pictures didn't turn out so hot seeing as how it was dark (oh yeah, sushi rolling class in a swing bar with red and blue spotlights) and we were just using a camera phone, but hopefully you get the idea.

Everything laid out and ready to go. The spray bottle of water is for your hands and knife so that they don't stick to the rice. Ditto the plastic wrap on the bamboo rolling mat.

The start of our California rolls. You use your thumb and second finger to hold/roll the mat and your third, fourth and fifth fingers to hold the "stuff" inside. This is after we had already spread the rice and sesame seeds on the other side of the seaweed since the California roll is "inside out." Turns out rolling is harder than you'd think since you have to roll until the two sides touch, then pull back and do another 1/4 turn. Learning the technique was fun.

Slicing the roll. Also harder than you'd think in the sense that seaweed is hard to cut and you have to get the knife wet after every cut. Note: here B is slicing his cucumber roll, which is not inside out.

My finished California rolls (and excess at the top). They were yummy!

Here are our spicy tuna rolls. I did an inside out version and B did the normal way. 

The best part of the night was that our spicy tuna plate won 2nd place in the sushi rolling contest! What can we say, they were blown away by our plating design and we suddenly felt like our hours spent watching the Food Network were well worth it. Our prize: free admission to another class offered by the same company, in essence making this the Groupon that keeps on giving. We've decided to go to their Chocolate 101 class on May 28th and we can also get 2 friends in for half price, so for any of you locals that want to spend an afternoon learning about/tasting and making chocolates, let us know! We'd love to have you come along!