The Oz (Nostalgia) Files

Portable Sushi

Sushi hand rolls can be seen displayed in shop front windows atleast 2-3 times on each city street without fail.  The first time we ate at the excellent little Japanese dive by our apartment during our first week in Melbourne, we each ordered a sushi roll and a some other things.  After ordering we were told it was cash only so I sat down and Jaime ran to get some cash.  The sushi rolls came out on a plate in a whole roll, just as they were in the window where I picked it out.  Of course I thought to myself, how am I supposed to eat this?  So naturally I took the rolls up to the counter and politely asked if they could cut them for me.  When Jaime returned, I told him not to worry, as I had taken care of the giant sushi roll issue.  However, lucky for me, Jaime has been to Japan and was able to help further my cultural food education by explaining that you are actually supposed to eat it whole.  You just hold the roll in your hand and bite into it like a sandwich.  Soon after learning this exciting new information I tried my first sushi roll on-the-go. I was hooked! It has been my favorite fast food…it can be lunch or dinner, a quick snack any time of day, a post-workout treat, eaten in the café or while walking down the street.  You can get tuna (if you get there early), salmon, eel, prawns, crab, seaweed, white rice or brown rice and even sashimi.  They give them in a little bag that you wrap around the roll and a little portable soy sauce that you can put on top. Everyone likes them and rolls are usually made every hour.  I once had a little 4 year old behind me in line with his dad chanting “Sushi roll! Sushi roll!” (My kind of kid..chanting always conveys excitement).  I was very impressed, I didn’t have my first sushi roll until I was 19! But I have made up for lost time enjoying my conveniently portable sushi during my year in Melbourne and will be looking forward to adding sushi-making to my (really long) project list after returning home.

On the Asian food note, switching to Chinese, tonight we had one last dumpling dinner at our favorite place in Chinatown. Soup dumplings were also a whole new exciting world of deliciousness for me.  They come steaming hot in the bamboo box and you pick them up with your chopsticks and put it on your spoon and top it with  ginger soaked in soy sauce.  Bite off the top and suck out the warm broth and then eat the rest of the delicious dumpling.  They are so good and its so easy to find them here that I have a feeling Jaime might go a little crazy with my incessant chanting when we can’t find them at home. “Dumplings! Dumplings!”