Sushi Roll Out

I remember my first experience with sushi. It was prior to becoming a vegan, and it was at some little restaurant my friend took me to in Coeur d' Alene. I felt grown up and brave trying raw fish for the first time, but I also experienced some of my first convictions about eating animals. Those same convictions later lead me to become a vegan years later. I guess something about grinding up animal in its raw form made it clearer to me that I was harming something that had once experienced life, just like I am experiencing life. Nevertheless, I had a positive experience with sushi. That is why I was excited at my realization a few years ago that not all sushi had to violate my animal friends. Shortly after becoming a vegan, I discovered a show called The Post Punk Kitchen where I fell in love with Isa Chandra. On the first show I watched, the ladies were making sushi, and it was then that I coveted Isa's cooking ability and her ability to look so cool doing it. I also started desiring to make sushi. Being the coward that I am, I never tried.

A few days ago I slipped my big toe into the water. I made Sushi Roll Edamame Salad.

Do you see the shelled edamame? They're green and look like beans.... Oh, that's right, I forgot to put them in the salad! Ugh, this was the second time in two months that I forgot to serve edamame I prepared. Why am I so spacy sometimes? To my own credit, I re-read the recipe, and it never spelled out the "put the edamame in with the rest of the salad" step. I prepped it like it said, but when I went to clean up dinner, I found it still sitting on the counter screaming "What about me?!" So I ate several large spoonfuls, added the rest to the leftovers, and it was super yummy.

Other than that, I had a fabulous experience with the sushi salad. I had fun chiffonading the nori sheet. Actually, I had a rough time at first because I didn't roll it up tight enough. Steven also recommended using a serrated knife, which seemed to work much better. It was worth the trouble to have that added fishy seaweed taste. I have a feeling I will be repeating this recipe several times this summer... if the weather ever improves... and maybe one day, I will dive in head first and make real honest to goodness vegan sushi rolls.