After a great afternoon at Ryukyu Mura and a quick trip for Anna to pick up some souvenirs, we ended the day at Yoshi Hachi's sushi restaurant. Something Anna had requested before her visit was that she would like to eat a lot of interesting Japanese food and Matt and I were more than happy to comply with her request. As I was loading our pictures, I realized I haven't said much about sushi on the blog and thought now might be an opportune time to discuss one of our favorite Japanese delicacies.
The word sushi actually refers to the rice which is prepared with rice vinegar and sometimes other ingredients such as sesame seeds and sugar or salt. In Japan, the word sashimi refers to raw, sliced fish served by itself without rice. Raw fish served on top of a hand-formed mound of rice and sometimes banded with a strip of nori (dried seaweed) is called nigiri, and if it is served in rolls it is referred to as maki. Maki is probably the most popular form of sushi outside of Japan - think California rolls (cucumber, crab and avocado) or Philadelphia rolls (salmon, cream cheese and cucumber). There are a zillion different names for the specific ways the maki are prepared, but I figure I won't throw out more Japanese words than I already have in this blog.
Though both of our sushi experiences started with rolls back in the States, I would have to say that Matt and I really enjoy nigiri (particularly eel and salmon) because you get a better sense of flavor, but maki also remains a mainstay of our order at any sushi restaurant. Nigiri tends to be easier for me to eat because sometimes the maki are large and difficult to maneuver gracefully with chopsticks from plate to soy dish (loaded with ginger and wasabi) to mouth. We also like trying new and exotic types of nigiri such as octopus and blowfish (but we will never again order uni!).
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