A Little Lesson In Sushi

I don't know when I started liking sushi, all I know is that I've loved it for as long as I can remember. When I became old enough to go out to restaurants with my friends, trips to sushi restaurants became quite confusing. What can be so confusing about this raw fish dish, other than the utensil used to eat it? The naming! When it comes to ordering sushi one must be very careful with the terminology they use.

When we hear the word sushi, I think it is pretty accurate to say the image of the sushi roll pops in our head. Well this is in fact a makimono. In the past I've heard that the sushi we eat in North America is not at all like the sushi that is eaten in Japan. One of the biggest differences lies in the makimono rolls found in North America. Take for instance the very popular California roll. This roll was created in North America to serve western tastes better. Now think about the Philadelphia roll, that consists of smoked salmon, cream cheese, and cucumber. Although I am only speculating on this one, I don't think the japanese created this roll and decided to name it after an American city. One of my personal favourites is the Tex Mex roll, which consists of California rolls topped with tuna, avocado, tomato and spicy sauce, and surprise surprise it is also named after a North American city. Therefore, the makimono rolls we find and eat in North America, although extremely tasty, don't exactly mirror the makimono rolls we would be eating on a visit to Japan. But that's the beauty of makimono rolls in North America, you can be as creative as you want to be with them. Anyways, on with the lesson...

On the other end of the spectrum lies sashimi. Those who are new to eating sushi tend to avoid this type because it is simply raw fish slices. For more experienced sushi lovers this is a great way to enjoy the taste of the fish without it being masked by the flavours of everyday grocery items such as avocado and cucumber.

Although sashimi is often served with a side bowl of rice, there is a way to get the fish and rice served together. This would be called nigiri sushi. Served this way the fish tends to be sliced thinner than sashimi and lies on a small bed of rice, just a bit bigger than the size of a thumb. If you are not the biggest fan of spicy flavour be careful, many sushi restaurants hide a dash of wasabi between the fish and the rice.

Yet another way to order sushi is in the form of temaki. This type of sushi is a hand roll, meaning it is served as a large cone or roll. Similar to the makimono, all the goodies are stuffed inside but the difference is that this type of roll is not cut into bite size pieces. And just as the name implies, this roll is eaten with your hands.

I hope I have helped all of you sushi amatuers out there and PLEASE don't be afraid of the sashimi! Stay tuned and I may blog about all the different and fun variations of sushi flavours out there. It will make your mouth water!

I think I have to go pick up some sushi now...

Image taken from: sushipalace.com

Olympic Attire Chic

It's finally here! The Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games! For the past 2 years the hype surrounding these games has been inescapable...that is not to say that I am trying to escape it, but we can't deny that wherever your day has taken you within the past 2 years it is likely you heard or saw something about the Olympics. Obviously it's a big deal to us Canucks since the Games are taking place on our home turf...and you know what that means for the big corporations - money time! One of the biggest commercial opportunities surrounding the 2010 Games lies in the apparel. Several clothing companies have used the pride Canadians have for the athletes to their advantage and why not? More often than not, by purchasing this apparel some proceeds will go towards supporting the athletes. Imagine being an athlete representing Canada during the Olympics and seeing a sea of millions of people wearing Team Canada attire. Would it not give you that extra bit of drive to strive for the gold?

This year the Hudson's Bay Company has taken on the task of designing the 2010 Olympic apparel for athletes and supporters. I must say even though the apparel comes from one of the same designers, this years attire is way more fashionable than the famous Salt Lake City beret (yuck!). This years Olympic attire has taken off like nothing else, so much so that it is nearly impossible to find the signature red Olympic mittens. Creative Director for the Olympic collection, Suzanne Timmins, along with two designers, Tu Ly and Adrian Aitcheson, discuss their inspiration for the collection on the Elle Canada website. But it's not only the Hudson's Bay Company that is selling Olympic attire. I was walking in the mall and happened to pass Bluenotes, which was selling Olympic graphic tees at very reasonable prices, so I bought one! My only concern is that after the Olympics are over, and with the exception of Canada Day, are people going to wear this apparel again? I hope so!

Image taken from: http://www.ellecanada.com/fashion/home-game-hbc-s-olympic-fashions/a/32430

If It Ain't Broke, Sometimes You Should Still Fix It

The other day I was sitting in my kitchen staring at the shelf of cookbooks my mom has collected over the years. I began to think about how some people tend to cook what they know how to cook really well and hardly try anything new, kind of like an "If it ain't broken, don't fix it" type of thing. So it was somewhat of a shame to realize we had about 100 trees worth of cookbooks (well, that's a bit of an exaggeration but not by much) and were rotating between the same chicken stir-fry, beef stew, and shrimp pasta week after week. This prompted me to choose a cookbook at random (actually it wasn't that random, the word "simple recipes" stuck out to me) and look for something that I've never tried my hand at preparing. I stumbled across a recipe in a Canadian Living cookbook for Portobello Burger Melts (click the link for the recipe). I'm definitely a carnivore but my love of mushrooms made this vegetarian recipe jump out to me. It was quick, easy and most importantly DELICIOUS! Most of the ingredients are things many people have in their fridge anyway. If you want to add protein to this meal, I'm pretty sure a beef, chicken or turkey patty would taste great in the middle of this burger. I also learned not to be afraid to experiment with this recipe. Try a different type of bread or add some cayenne pepper for a little kick. If you get a chance and feel adventurous try this recipe!

Image from this post taken from: http://www.canadianliving.com/food/portobello_burger_melts.php

Not Too Sure About These...

Just because these shoes are walking the high fashion runway does not mean they are nice! Check out the shoes featured in designer Alexander McQueen's Spring 2010 Collection on the runway! Monikered as the "Alien Shoe", this footwear was meant to be strictly for show during the collection's runway display, just as dramatic hair and makeup usually are at these types of fashion shows. Once they made their appearance on the runway the "Alien Shoes" proved to be a bigger hit than the designer had anticipated. Lady Gaga even wore them in her music video for "Bad Romance".

A spokesperson for the fashion label reports that there has been great interest in buying the shoes after they were shown during the Alexander McQueen runway show and that there are even people who want to buy them as pieces of art. Auctioning them off for charity has been discussed as an option to make them available to the public but they were never intended as retail items. The spokesperson also indicated that these shoes are so innovative that they have copyrighted the process that is undergone to create these shoes.

Not sure about you guys but I'd likely only wear these as part of a Halloween costume.

Image taken from: http://fashionbombdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/20091112_mcqueenshoes_560x325.jpg

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog about two of my favourite things - food and fashion!

These are very general and broad topics so essentially I will just be writing about whatever comes to mind that deals with food and fashion!

Stay tuned for my first post!