Sushi at Home!

To make sushi the way they do in the restaurants is not as hard as it seems. To get rice on the outside of the seaweed all you need to do is place down a piece of saran-wrap on top of your sushi roller, and pat the rice onto the seaweed, then flip over onto your roller. Place filling all together near center and roll up.

Making your own sushi is a great way to feed a party of friends or family with out spending over a hundred dollars at a sushi restaurant. You can make a dozen different rolls and you have the choice of what goes into them!

Some rolls I made have ahi tuna, cucumber and jalapenos for a home version of spicy tuna, and other rolls have cucumber, carrots, ahi, salmon, crab, cream cheese with shrimp on top. You can put as much or as little in a roll as you wish!

Sushi Related Japanese Words and Phrases

• Sushi - Literally, "sticky rice," but in general, refers to anything made from the sticky rice.
• Nori - Dried and pressed sheets of seaweed.
• Maki OR "norimaki"- Regular old seaweed on the outside sushi roll.
• Futomaki - Super big maki roll using a whole piece of Nori, rather than half.
• Ura Maki - Inside out roll.
• Temaki - Cone shaped hand roll.
• Nigiri - A topping laid over a small bed of rice. Usually, this is fish, but you can use any veggie you like. 
• Onigiri - A plain old rice ball filled with fun stuffin's.
• Kappa - Cucumber (Kappa maki = cucumber roll).
• Kombu - Kelp

Power of Ginger!

Ginger has long been used in Asiato treat everything from the common cold to the plague. although there's no scientific proof that ginger helps fight colds, recent studies show its effectiveness in treating other ailments. Research conducted by University of Adelaide in Australia and published in Obstetrics & Gynecology in 2004 confirms that ginger can help reduce nausea in pregnant women. According to a 2004 article in Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition, ginger contains high levels of antioxidants which can help protect against heart disease, cancer and stroke.  

Christine Gerbstadt, a physician and dietitian with the American Dietetic Association, recommends sipping tea made by steeping slices of ginger in boiling water!

Lemon Marion Berry Tye Dye Cake

This master piece of a cake was one of my school projects for culinary school in my cake station. I have always wanted to do something different, and I like to stand out when to comes to baking, I always want to make something someone else in my group hasn't already made. By doing something crazy also has the possibility of someone not trying to replicate it and take credit for my idea.

Making this was a lot of fun, I started out with a simple white cake batter, and poured the batter into several Dixie cups then added small amounts of food coloring to get the color I desired, some colors such as pink and turquoise and green involved mixing of dyes to get the color right.

Pouring the batter in to the cake pans, first spray the sides, and line the bottom with parchment paper, to prevent sticking. Once the pans are ready pour the patter into sections until entire bottom is covered. Feel free to make designs with the batter, and pour colors on top of each other, the more fun you have with it the cooler it will look when you cut into the cake.

Once the cake is baked and cooled, trim the top of the cake so it is smooth. When you trim you might fine a sweet surprise inside. Place on of the flat sides facing down on a cake stand on first layer fill with Marion berry filling. To make all you need is 2 cups of berries, 1/2 cup of water, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tsp. lemon juice and 3 tablespoons of cornstarch. you first have to cook the berries down with the sugar and half the water, once berries are smashed down and seeds are separated, strain and pour back into pot, add in the rest of ingredients and cook until thickens.

Place the other cake on top of filling with the flattest side up to make it easier to top. I frosted this cake with a simple butter cream that I flavored lemon and added food coloring to to make yellow, pink, and blue frosting. I first covered the entire cake with lemon frosting and smoothed the surface of the cake and combed the sides, then I added the border by placing 2 colors of frosting in the same piping bag.

To garnish the cake once cut since it is already so bright and unique it doesn't need much to jazz up the appearance  so I added I slice on lemon to each slice, since it ties in with the flavor of the cake. I choose to plate the cake lying on its side to show off the inside of the cake, and still make the frosting admirable as well.