Sushi Deconstructed

I love sushi. By that I mean I love a good California roll, add some cream cheese and turn it into a Philadelphia roll and I'm pretty happy, happier still if you add some spicy seafood sauce.  According to my husband and evidently all of Asia this is not sushi.  His definition involves raw fish, sometimes things are still moving, and not a bit of cream cheese to be seen. SO what does a white girl with chopsticks do?  I've made California rolls at home and it's messy and frankly a lot of work but recently when I was cruising pinterest I came across a recipe for a California roll bowl. Brilliant!

I took the recipe I found and tweaked it to fit my taste and what I could find.  You would think sushi in Asia would be easy...nothing is easy.  I will share the basic recipe and then you can make it yours, that's the best thing about cooking, it's not an exact science. So with no further ado...here it is!

Deconstructed Sushi Bowl

8 oz Lump Crab Meat
1 Avocado
1/2 Cup Carrot match stick sliced thinly
1 Cup Cucumber
3Tbsp soy sauce
2 cups of Sushi Rice
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 Tbsp toasted sesame seeds
1 Tbsp Sugar
5 Tbsp rice vinegar
Nori cut into thin strips

Rinse the rice in cool water and put in a pot with 2 cups of water.  Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer and cover for 15 minutes.  Turn off heat and let stand for 15 minutes. In the meantime bring 3 Tbsp of rice vinegar to a boil, remove from heat and stir in the sugar and salt until dissolved.

In a bowl mix the veggies and the crab.  Once the rice has cooled down pour the vinegar mixture over the rice and toss.  Divide the  rice into 4 bowls and then top with the veggie/crab mixture.  Sprinkle with sesame seeds.  Mix the remaining vinegar and the soy sauce together and drizzle over the bowl. sprinkle the nori strips on the top.

**This recipe makes 4 good sized servings.  I was the only one eating this when I made it so I  only cut up part of the avocado so that I could save the rest and not have to look at a brown avocado. I also did the soy sauce a little different...I put a little soy sauce on my rice prior to topping it with the veggies.  I also made some  spicy seafood sauce (recipe to follow) and drizzled that on top.   I didn't do  it, because I couldn't find any, but some chunks of cream cheese would be yummy mixed in as well.

Spicy Seafood Sauce

1/4 cup of mayonnaise
Sriracha to taste...I like it pretty spicy so I add a lot, but whatever works for you.

I hope you enjoy this as much as I did.  I would love to hear if you tried it and what you changed to make it yours!

What Are We Reading

Z LOVES to read ( or be read to).  John and I both are avid readers and we started collecting books for Z before he was even born.  We each bought some of our favorites from childhood, gathered up some of the older boys favorites  and also found some new ones that we hadn't heard of before.  One of the best gifts we got when he was born was a big box of books from Ken and Virgina Pickle and Melissa Pickle Taheri.  I think this is an awesome gift idea for new parents, they said that they have a list of books that they love to give.  There were some books I  had read before and some I had never heard of.  One book in particular became John's favorite book to read to Z before bedtime, It is by Nancy Tillman called On the Night You Were Born.  The story is simple, about how nature reacted to the child's birth, the wind whispered, "Life will never be the same."  The pictures are amazing, soft and detailed telling a story even without the words.  We read this book at least once everyday, usually more.  We don't always read all the words, there are details in the pictures on each page that Z gravitates to.  The Moon on the first page ( he loves the moon), the frog, the ladybugs.  He does this funny  UH OH every time we get to the page with he picture of a tree who's leaves are falling off. The familiar cadence of the words lets him know what is about to happen.  He has other favorites, I have taped and retaped the spines of several books that he has "loved" too much. We have bought several others by this author and while they are sweet and he enjoys them, he always comes back to On the Night You Were Born, it holds a special place in our nightly routine.

Does your child have a favorite book?  Do you remember your favorite from childhood?  I would love to know what they are, we are always looking for a new story.

Cooling Off

I am so grateful that we found a great indoor playground close to our apartment.  The heat and humidity here make it impossible to have Z outside for very long  and makes for long days. This is a great alternative.

The Boys

This is The Tiny American.  At not quite 2 Z is a bundle of Energy.  He is loud, curious and all boy!  He tags along with us on this crazy adventure every step of the way. His fair skin and silly attitude make him a rockstar in our new home.

The Brothers/AKA the Big Boys

T and T are our 2 older sons.  They live in the States.  Taylor will start his Junior year of college this fall and Tucker will be a freshman.  Leaving behind a big chunk of my heart in the U.S. was the hardest part of this adventure for me. We miss them everyday.

Laura And John

I am Laura mom to 3 boys and wife to the love of my life.  In January 2015 we moved to Taiwan For my husbands job. Read about that here http://johnandlaurawolf.blogspot.tw/2015/01/waitwhat.html I am a SAHM to the Tiny American.  I love to scrapbook, cook, read and see new places.  I am happiest when I am with my boys, add the beach and I'm in heaven! Through our blog I enjoy sharing this amazing journey with our friends and families and anyone else who might stumble across us.

My Husband is John, the leader of our pack.  The locals think he looks like Colonel Sanders, I think he is super handsome.  He works hard so that we can play hard.  He will blog from time to time when he has a thought he wants to share.