The Sushi Kit: how we discovered homemade sushi

Because we are in the middle of moving right now, I thought I’d post a story I wrote quite a while ago (before our last move!) which got lost in my computer files. This is how a sushi kit started our adventures into making (and eating!) sushi.

My husband ripped off the wrapping paper, read the words on the box, and then gave me a dubious look. “You got me a sushi kit for Christmas? You don’t even like sushi.”

I was rather disappointed. I’d found the Sushi Deluxe Book & Kit about three months earlier, while wandering through Chapters with a girlfriend. It seemed like a perfect gift—he loves sushi and he has fun creating things in the kitchen. So, after some debate (I was slightly broke at the time), I bought it and managed to keep it hidden in our small apartment for the ensuing months (despite the fact that he knew I had a surprise for him somewhere and occasionally went looking for it). I couldn’t wait to see his face when he opened, but I’d anticipated a better reaction.

Wondering when he’d ever use it, he put the sushi kit aside. It remained in the kitchen, unopened, for the next several weeks. Then we invited friends over for the evening, and my husband had a brilliant idea. His friend like sushi, so why not make some? He poured over the book, made an ingredient list, and we were off to the grocery store. Much to our surprise, our local Safeway had most of the ingredients he needed. We were soon home again and he went to work in the kitchen, concocting sushi.

It turns out that making sushi is a rather time-consuming process. While us wives chatted and watched their baby, our husbands worked in the kitchen. A couple hours later, the sushi was finally ready. My husband’s friend turned out to be a wealth of information on sushi, having not only often eaten it but also watched it being made. He had a few suggestions that made the process quicker and easier. The sushi they’d made disappeared in much less time than it had taken them to make it!

In my defense, I had scarcely eaten sushi before meeting my husband. I grew up in a family of Alberta farmers; we ate chicken, lamb, beef, and turkey, not seafood. While I’m not a fan of huge chunks of raw fish on rice, I found I did enjoy many of the simple crab and shrimp rolls my husband made.

A few weeks later, my husband again made sushi, using up some leftovers that we’d had in the fridge. Last week, as we were preparing to have some friends over for my birthday party, he decided to make some party food. After whipping up a bowl of guacamole, he pulled out the sushi kit. Again, he and another fellow spent most of the evening in the kitchen, while I and my girlfriends occupied the living room, admiring Sunshine and catching up on all our news.

So, just as I knew, he did like his Christmas present. Now I need to find him a birthday present…