*** Quoting Cindy Haglund from a message to Carol Shenkenberger ***

CH> mannerly and call the fare by the right  name.

 CS> Hehe not to worry, it's so commonly misunderstood in the USA,
 CS> restraunts almost have to follow the mis-name to be understood.  If
 CS> it's rolled with seaweed (nori) on the outside and mostly rice inside
 CS> with a center core of 'something else' then it's sushi.  It's made
 CS> like a cheese log and then sliced to usually about 1 inch thick parts.


CH>  AH NORI asin nori roll! Nori is the seaweed wrap! I have to get after
CH> George now cuz he got me all confusulated calling Nori sushi... PIece
CH> fish atop blob of
CH> rice'. that is saashimi!

Smile, be easy on this.  George I think said Negeri Sushi.  Thats not often
¨served where I live but i am pretty sure it is rice made witht he same
¨flavorings of sushi rice, but lose and in a bowl, with the toppings placed
¨above but of the same type as would go in sushi.  Fish normally cooked.

The term Sashimi is very very specific.  It means the fish is totally raw. 
Not ¨even cooked by chemical means such as adding vinegar and marinating it
in ¨advance that way til 'cooked'.  What you described at first, sounds not
like ¨true Sashimi but it may have been if you are sure the fish was *raw*.
 If it ¨was *raw* fish, then it was just served a bit odd as it wouldnt
normally be ¨ontop of the rice, but at the side (more oft, in a separate
bowl/plate).

(I'll send you the recipes in a later message so you can see what I mean).

CH> thought maybe try to make the Nori roll. But the directions were
CH> strange. The way the directions read you'd end up with a jelly roll
CH> type roll insted of one or two layers of nori to the filling. hmm.

Nori is just the name for a seaweed that comes processed into a solid
sheet.  ¨You place this on a mat, load sushi rice (rice with vinegar and
sugar, made so ¨it 'glumps well') and put a line of filling in the center
then 'roll it'.  Done ¨right, the filling will be almost dead center, and
the nori will overlap a bit. ¨ It wil be mostly 'sushi rice' that you see
with a small core of 'other' and a ¨thin layer of nori holding it together
just on the outside.

 CS> that has fish at the center, 'sashimi' just because most would figure
 CS> out that means 'fish sushi'.  Dont expect a Japanese person to figure
 CS> that out though.  They wont.

CH>  hehe... I won't eitehr. :)

CH> You are right most people think sushi is the raw fish. That's what
CH> we've all been taught. I only learned from George Pope about a year
CH> ago what sashimi is... (blush).
CH>  
 CS> Not to worry!  It's probably the most common mis-name there is about
 CS> any Japanese food.

CH>  I tell anyone who is interested! :) Spread the word. I don't expect
CH> the habit will change any time too soon but at leaste people will
CH> know. The problem is we only know what we're told and got used to that
CH> mis name.

Again, really common.  So common even the restraunts have little choice but
to ¨follow this unless it is very upscale (50$ a person withthe simplest
meals, ¨think 100$ a person as average).  Very upscale will be accurate and
expect you ¨to know such things.  Exception to that price?  Hawaii.  So
many Japanese ¨settled there long ago that the terms are fairly accurately
used.

 CS> raw cucumbers and put a bit of sweet-sour salad dressing on them, and
 CS> we had a fiest worthy of royalty.

CH> Thanks for the recipe.

Hehe I'll post it later.

 CS> Now sushi?  I can easily never have it again and not miss it.

CH>  yeah I find the nori rolls not as tasty. (Though the Americanized er
CH> Texanized nori roll with cream cheese and jalapeno peppers was good).

Depends on the setting.  I am just not fond of sushi rice enough to really
like ¨that one food.  One thing about living abroad is that it lets you
experience ¨foods of other places in their natural settings.  My favorite
Japanese food of ¨all is probably 'rice porridge' which sounds horrible but
you'd have to try it ¨in *japan* to understand.  It's a rice based 'stew'
with 15-30 other things ¨tucked in there (Kitchen sink type cookery) and
it's absolutely fabulous.  ¨Comes in 10 versions based on the basic 'main'
flavoring out here.  Best is ¨'chef's choice' at the local Gueymon's.


 CS> As to making a Texan cry, try *real* wasabi.  It's habanero level plus
 CS> quite a bit.  You cant get the real stuff outside Japan as they water
 CS> it down.  They have to.  It's too hot for Texans and Thailanders.

CH>  OH OH I knowww that! Yikes. And I'm not even Texan. And didn't even
CH> have the real thing prolly...

Very very doubtful.  It's some outragous figure like 50$ an ounce outside
¨Japan?  You can get the simpler version but it's not the full thing. 
Works for ¨me though well enough. (Thats raw wasabi price, not a thin
little tube cut with ¨other things to stretch it).

CH>  I read somewhere that the Japanese eat about only one cup of
CH> steamed/sir fried veggies/meat to 5 cups rice and it's reversed in the
CH> USA. I can believe it too as the take out here- they give you a lot!
CH> for a portion. I usually have enough left over for lunch the next day.

Japanese portioning is truely 3-4 oz meat a day, the rest being rice or
veggies ¨or fruits. 5 cups rice to 1 cup 'everything else' is not what they
eat, but if ¨you replace that to almost even amounts of fruit and veggies
to the rice, you ¨are about in line.

Your rice is almost certainly americanized too so it has individual
grainlets ¨that lay separately 'fluffed' which here, you'd find rarely if
at all. This is ¨a factor of long-grain rice and it is far less tasty that
other versions as ¨well as harder to eat with chopsticks, so is not made
here.

                                       xxcarol

--- Telegard v3.09.g2-sp4