Beer + Sushi + Jack-O-Lanterns

This morning’s workout was a good one. The 5-4-3-2-1 Treadmill workout courtesy of Kristin at Iowa Girl Eats. I was a bit nervous about the 1 minute segments at 8 mph since I haven’t been running too frequently lately. But I actually still felt energized at the end of the workout! 5.65 (yes that is the precise distance) miles… check! I love getting my workout out-of-the-way. I feel like I have so much more time left in the day.

Rewind to last night…

I think Wednesdays are my new favorite day of the week… first its WIAW.  Ok technically I posted on Tuesday. But work with me ok? Last night Ryan and I continued the celebration with a little party of our own. It started with me new favorite beer.

Wells Banana Bread Beer. I am definitely more of a wine than beer girl. I tend to be drawn to the fruity and girly beers. I admit it and am not ashamed! Give me a lambic and I’m a happy camper. I am always drawn to beers with fruits in the title but am then disappointed when it doesn’t taste like what the bottle says! But this beer… actually tastes like banana bread. It will blow your mind… promise.

Then it was time to break out the sushi making kit! Ryan’s roommate bought him a sushi making kit months ago as a thank you gift and we finally bit the bullet and decided it was time to give sushi making a whirl. Ryan had made sushi once before. We read a little bit of the book in the kit but quickly abandoned it after realizing it was overly complicated and all the measurements were in metric units. So it was time to wing it!

Sticky sushi rice. After a quick search online, we decided to season the rice with a mixture of vinegar, honey, and salt.

Shrimp sautéed in a bit of sesame oil.

The infamous sushi rolling mat.

Ryan took on the role of head sushi chef.

No question the rice was sticky! We followed the book’s instructions and cut the nori sheets in half.

First attempt… not too successful. The rolls just didn’t stay closed! So Ryan decided to use a whole nori sheet.

Much better!

Look at how fast sushi chef Ryan cut up the roll! I told him he should consider a career shift:)

The first plated roll.Inside: shrimp, carrot, and red bell pepper. It was delicious dunked in soy sauce but was a bit dry.

We added cream cheese to the second roll…success! After making two rolls we were starving so we put down the camera and chowed down on the “broken” roll and leftover rice and shrimp. Now we understand why sushi is so expensive… it’s no easy task! Next time we will start before 7:30 pm:) And I will check out Jenn’s sushi making tutorial that I discovered one day too late!

After sushi… it was pumpkin time! I carved my pumpkin in record time and with minimal mess. I normally end up covered in stringy orange with seeds all over the floor. But this year I managed to stay relatively clean. Ryan was impressed.

And no I present… bat cat.

He looks much better in black and white.

I think I could get used to these kind of Wednesday nights:)

Question: Have you ever tried making sushi? If not, what is the biggest cooking challenge you have ever tackled? My next challenge is making a pie, including crust, from scratch.