Monster Sushi

Posted: December 9, 2010 | Author: Alyssa | Filed under: Alyssa | No Comments »

Sushi makes me happy.  From what I can tell it seems to be one of those things that people either truly love or truly hate.  Let me assure you I am in the first category, except…..if I’m going to be completely honest with you all (and myself)  I’m kind of a candy ass.  By that I mean I tend to shy away from the crazier stuff on the menu like fish eggs, octopus…etc.  I love my spicy tuna, salmon rolls and yellow tail, but throw me a crazy curveball  and I will usually do everything I can to avoid it because there is nothing worse in my mind than this scenario:

You finally work up the courage to try something new (or someone tricks you into it), but just as you are in the middle of that first bite it hits you that you are eating something that normally you would deem gross.  Then, if you have my awesome sense of timing, you start REALLY thinking about it and thats when it happens….that gaggy feeling that does not allow you to keep food in your mouth at any cost.  So then you go into the awkward dance of trying to figure out how to be very discreet while simultaneously getting it the hell out of your mouth. 

I like to do my best to avoid this horrible scenario, although I have to say for those around you it provides some impressive entertainment. 

Anyway, I got a text the other night asking if I was up for sushi, and seeing as it has been an excessive amount of time since my last good sushi meal, I was on board.  See, the beauty of sushi is that even though I love every second of the meal, I can walk away feeling a lot less guilty (and sluggish) because for the most part it isn’t so bad for you.  Sadly, the evening in question fought hard against my ‘sushi is a healthy treat’ theory. 

The place we went was new to me, so I was super excited.  The coctails were good (and strong) and everything on the menu looked good.  My friend ordered a sushi boat (seriously it comes on a boat) and for some reason I got it in my head that this was the night when I was going to be adventuresome and try something outside of my comfort zone.  Little did I know how that decision would rock my world.  It may have been the four liquors in my drink, but when the waitress came to our table and described something called a tuna volcano, I couldn’t resist!  So I ordered the special volcano roll and a Boston roll.  I knew what to expect with the Boston roll, but the volcano?  Ohh the volcano.  Let me tell you what was in this bad boy: Spicy Tuna, salmon, jalapeno, asparagus, cucumber, avocado and tobiko (flying fish roe).  All of that was rolled up and then deep fried and topped with sea scallop, eel sauce and tempura flakes. 

So apparently I had only heard about every third word that she had said because I did NOT expect this gigantic mountain of crazy.  It was freaking huge and I was a little intimidated, so I made my friend try a piece with me, because if you can’t beat em, make your friends look stupid with you .  Once I got past the challenge of actually eating it, I realized that even though I was eating fish eggs, I didnt get the terrible gaggy feeling.  It was delicious! 

As cheesy as it sounds I was proud of myself for trying something new, and as a foodie, I feel like I need to constantly be pushing myself to try new things.  My sushi was really delicious and I am pumped that I had the guts to eat it even though it looked like it could take me in a fight.  The only problem is, now I’m craving sushi again…

In other news this weekend begins my holiday bake-straviganza, so keep an eye out for some yummy recipes and possibly some hilarious but epic failures.