I love learning to use new ingredients!

Does your favorite Hibachi chef use "DOCTA PEPAAAAAH" or "COCA COLAAAAAA" when he's cooking your fried rice???

Sad to say its probably neither... (I'm betting on root beer =P)  

I've always enjoyed going to Japanese and Sushi themed restaurants, especially the ones where the customers are seated around the chefs who are standing over that griddle like a rockstar juggling eggs with spatulas, making cheesy off color jokes, throwing shrimp and veggies at their customers, and producing delicious food right before your very eyes.  

Also found at these magical establishments are mysterious delicious morsels known as sushi! YES!!!  Little bits of fish (sometimes raw), fake crab, and veggies wrapped in vinegar soaked rice and seaweed!!!  Sounds awesome right??? WELL IT IS! If you've never tried it you should think outside the box one time and get yourself a California roll. It just might change your life... it did mine.

As I've said in my previous post, I live in a rural town, and the nearest one of these establishments is 90 miles away.  I tell you folks this really put me in an awkward position.  Japanese/Sushi has become my favorite eat out food, and because I rarely am near one I want to hit one up every time I am fortunate enough to see one.  This is a problem in a couple of ways.  Number one, I don't get to try out other places I would otherwise like to try because I'm blinded by the rice.  Number B, not everyone likes Sushi in my social circle.  The fear they will be putting an uncooked piece of fish in their mouth (even though most rolls in American sushi restaurants use cooked fish, shrimp, and crab) makes them avoid such places, so me being good guy Kitchen Nerd Boy will accompany them with a fake plastic smile to the Olive Garden (GAG) (*side note question... What's the deal with the Olive Garden anyway???  Mediocre over priced frozen pseudo American-Italian chain stores sure do drive consumers crazy it seems... I just don't get it... I'd be just as well eating at Taco bell... same quality food for a heck of a lot cheaper) But I digress (sorry for the OG rant) You can see the problem my infatuation with Japanese food that I can't get has caused me right?  So what's a young acolyte kitchen warrior trainee to do???  Glad you asked...

I've started learning to make my own sushi and other Japanese style dishes.  It takes some specialty ingredients and hardware but it's fun and totally worth it, especially when you have no other options.  

All that said... I don't get out of my small town much, but I had an appointment out of town a few days ago and was able to visit an Asian market while there.  

Ingredients bought:

Hondashi (it's like the bullion cube of Japan)
Red Miso paste
White Miso paste
Panko bread crumbs (probably not too exciting for you, but we can't get them around here)
Tempura batter
Fish Sauce
Kombu (edible Kelp[seaweed])
Crumbled seaweed
Hoison sauce
Sesame seeds (white and black)
White peppercorns
Mirin
Rice vinegar
Nori Sheets
Bamboo rolling mats
Wasabi
Sriracha 
A 20 lbs. sack of Calrose Botan premium rice

There may be something I missed in this list... I'm just remembering what I bought off the top of my head, but I think this pretty much covers it.  

Things I want to cook with this stuff includes:

Sushi
Japanese Fried Rice
Miso Soup
Stir Fry Meats and veggies (Beef, Chicken, Seafood, Pork, Onions, Mushrooms, Asparagus, etc.)

If you have any suggestions let me know in the comments.  I'll be making some posts in the future about how these attempts turn out.

 -Kitchen Nerd Boy