Confidence in the Kitchen: Sharing Cooking Experiences with Your Preschool Child

My first encounter with sushi was many moons ago when I was spending a summer in San Francisco as a coed. I was a guest in someone’s home, and was  eager to try and enjoy this cool food. I bit the roll and immediately gagged. I choked it down with a smile, and that California Roll was not followed by another in that sitting. After analysis of what had happened, I determined that my visceral reaction was to the seaweed.

My husband is a sushi aficionado and wishes I shared his fishy passion. We were graced with a night to ourselves and I decided to bite the bullet and give sushi another try. I was lucky to have an in, a lady in my pottery class spends her working time as owner and restaurateur of a Japanese restaurant and sushi bar. I had asked her what I might try to get over my sushi fears and she suggested I come in and she’d help me over my mental blocks.

I was eager to like sushi, but a bit wary from my prior experiences. We sat down at the sushi bar and Minji asked me a few questions and then placed my order. My husband selected his own delicacies and we watched the chefs prepare our sushi while enjoying a bowl of miso soup. Minji selected two special rolls for me- Heart Attack and an Avalanche roll.

I trusted her completely and didn’t even look to see what I would be in for. The Heart Attack roll was ready first. When it was placed before me, I found it contained jalapeño, shrimp, cream cheese, and spicy tuna. It was deep fried with eel sauce and spicy mayo. It was certainly a gentle entry into sushi waters with the palatable shrimp which would be cooked. Given my past reactions, I thought this a wise place to start and mentally thanked Minji for her deeming me a hard sell. It was delicious! It was very spicy given the jalapeño “wrap” for each piece. I really enjoyed it and felt empowered to tackle something more adventurous.

The second roll was already in front of me, ready to be tasted. This one was called an Avalanche Roll. It was crab, shrimp, eel, onion and cucumber; baked, with creamy Masago sauce. This was fishier tasting and I felt my gag reflex coming to the fore. I mentally powered past that and did enjoy that as well.

My husband had gone for the real McCoy- sashimi composed of a nice big fresh, cool piece of white tuna over rice. I was guarded, but tried a piece anyhow. It was harder to down, but I felt a sense of accomplishment that I did eat it.

I can’t call myself a sushi lover, but I have overcome my propensity to write off the possibility of a night out including the sushi bar. Marriage is about give and take. Thanks to Minji, eating sushi is now an area where I can give.