Sushi Salad

OK, before you start typing in another address in your browser's bar, let me explain. 

This really isn't all that bad. 

This recipe for Sushi Salad I found on the back of a bag for Nishiki rice.  Nishiki rice is Japanese rice that's used for sushi.  And I love it.  Even my mom's gotten to love it.  But I love "fake" sushi (i.e., the California roll- no raw fish, etc.).  She doesn't.  So... I read the recipe and decided to try it.  I wanted to put in a few additions to it.  It calls for the Nishiki rice, green onions, shrimp, rice wine vinegar, celery, and sesame seeds and avocado for garnish. 

I cooked the rice, let it cool, and added in the ingredients.  I didn't have any celery at the time, so I used shelled edamame- keeping with the Japanese theme.  I didn't have green onions either, I sort of forgot to buy them.  What I wanted to add to the recipe was Nori- dried seaweed.  But Target, Walmart, Randall's, and another store didn't have it.

Grrr. 

I didn't have cooked shrimp, either, so I substituted Krab.  You know, that stuff.  It's used in the California roll.  I should have just gone ahead and bought the shrimp. 

At one point Mom goes ahead and tells me that one needs to be careful in just adding things to a recipe off the top of his or her head.

Regarding the sesame seeds... they were really dull, even after toasting them.  Maybe I didn't toast them long enough.  There was a bottle of sesame oil, so I added some to the seeds, and that did the trick.  A little goes a long way, and it smells great. 

After mixing everything together, I let it chill for a bit, then added sliced avocado on top. 

It tasted pretty good.  Even Mom liked it.  Adding the vinegar made it good.  It's got potential.  I see where it could be tweaked in the future.

And I still want to find the Nori. 

Lazy Snickerdoodles

Tonight I had a hankering for something sweet.

Ok, I'll be honest. Mom readily agreed with me.

We went off to the pantry to see what we could use. I first thought about peanut butter cookies, but I wanted to save the PB for sandwiches. So... Snickerdoodles it would be.

Now the traditional way to make Snickerdoodles is to roll the cookie dough balls in cinnamon sugar. We didn't do that. Plus, we added chopped walnuts, also not a traditional thing.

After we scooped the dough, we just plopped them on the cookie sheet, flattened them a little, and sprinkled cinnamon sugar on them- hence the "lazy" part.

They aren't pretty, but they taste good.

The Odds Weren't in My Favor

OK, so for the last couple of days I had this idea to go see a movie by myself.  I had to walk about a mile and a-half to the theater, but I'd done it once before.  I knew it was doable.  I was going to see The Hunger Games again. 

My trip was delayed about a half hour or so because we'd had rain this morning.  I finally left and was about twenty minutes into my trek when I realized.... I'd dropped my phone.  Usually I have it tucked in "backwards" in my pocket- with the belt clip facing out and clipped on the pocket, but it must have worked its' way out because I'd had my shoulder bag on that side.  So I walked about a couple of "blocks", retracing my steps, and THANK GOD I found it about at the intersection close to where I'd started from.  Phew. 

About forty-five minutes later I got to the theater.  Had to wait another half an hour for the box office to open.  But it was okay.  I bring a book with me for such emergencies.  (Well, usually I bring a book with me everywhere I go, but anyway....)

So I asked for a ticket for the next showing: "Do you want one for one o'clock?" "No, that's okay." I didn't mind waiting because of said book. 

Went in the auditorium and waited.  Would this be a private showing? Groovy!  Alas, another person came in (smile). 

All right, here we go.... we had the previews (Breaking Dawn 2!).... intro, the reaping, meeting Cinna, the tribute parade, and the trainin--

Huh?  The projector and lights cut off.  The other occupant stood up and walked out.  After a minute, I did too. 

Other patrons were filing out into the lobby.  The power had gone out, and it seemed, so did that block.  A woman who must have been the manager, was busy giving out passes. 

Since I had no idea when the power would be back on, I just ended up walking back home.  Putting two and two together, it wouldn't have been a good idea to go to that earlier showing, because I would have been right in the middle of that movie during the outage. 

Oh well.  I'll try it again in another week.