Welcome! Stay a bit, have some sushi with us!

Well, hello! Welcome to my new cozy little spot on the Internet. I hope that this will be a place to show you a little bit of fun from our lives each week. I might miss a week here and there, apologies in advance. In the future I hope to be sharing news about my series of books, Korrigans Nine! For now, I'll just bring you some "Dragan Tales" as they come up!

Last week the little Dragans were asking to make sushi, a fun project/meal that we've made before. We learned how to make rolls from some friends while they lived here for a few years before moving back to Japan. I was intimidated by making it before they showed us that it can really be fun and pretty easy so I hope you feel inspired to make some, too! We are lucky enough to have a great Japanese section at our local grocery store, so that helps for buying the nori, roasted seaweed wraps, and sushi rice, which is much stickier than long grain rice. We made ours today with avocado, carrots (purple carrots, naturally, because purple is the best color of anything and everything), and cucumber. You can use all sorts of ingredients and really get creative with it!

First, we prepared our ingredients. I had some excellent helpers in the kitchen. I also use that rice cooker, which honest-to-goodness cost thirty bucks and I probably use it every other day. It's a bit of a colossus on the counter, but it cooks rice (or really any grain), steams vegetables, is a slow cooker, and does your taxes. Well, maybe not that last one.

Once you've got everything prepared you can start rolling up your sushi. 
Spread about a cup of the cooked rice onto the nori. 

 Add your ingredients to the middle of the roll. 

Roll it up from the bottom. These bamboo mats are really useful for making a tight and smooth roll. We got them as a unique wedding present, along with sets of chopsticks and the beautiful platter you'll see later, and really love them! 
Cut the roll using a moistened knife and there you have it!

We made four rolls, which was way too much food for the three of us, and had plenty of leftover rice, nori, and vegetables for another day. Well, all but the avocado which was mercilessly poached by sticky little fingers during the rolling process. No names.

In Japanese, the phrase itadakimasu is said before eating, similar to how we might say bon appétit. It literally translates to, "I humbly receive." Here's our best version of the pronunciation!

Hope you enjoyed this first Dragan Tale! Stay tuned for more!
BONUS BYTES FROM B:
Hi, Its me B,
I had a great time experiencing making sushi.
Have you ever made sushi? Tell us about it and reply!
Toodle-oo!
B