Celebrating The New Year!

It was a year ago Jan. 3rd that Jon asked me to be his girlfriend so we celebrated with a nice home-made dinner by candle light! We have expensive taste so making dinner is always fun and a little bit of a stretch!

The Anniversary Menu:
• Tomato & Avocado salad with Carrot Ginger dressing
• Yellowfin Spicy Tuna Roll with a Wasabi Soy sauce
• Seared Wild Caught Tilapia with a Ginger Teriyaki sauce
• Fresh Vegetables sauteed in a wok with garlic, ginger, lemon grass, and sesame oil
• Fat-Free Frozen Yogurt with a warm Maine Blueberry sauce and Crushed Ginger Snaps






I wanted to show the new followers what yummy items can be prepared when using fresh ingredients and living a nutritious lifestyle. This is not our usual dinner; however this was a splurge offering spicy, sweet, salty- incorporating our favorite flavors! The dinner was satisfying without leaving us with guilt.

Sushi is emphasized more in Japanese cooking techniques. I learned to prepare sushi during my internship at the Greenbrier Sporting Club, an premier luxury resort located in White Sulphur Springs, WV.

You can either use a rice cooker or cook it on the stove. On the stove, you first rinse your rice until the water remains clear. By rinsing, you are removing the talc or glucose. Shake your pan to spread the rice evenly. Add enough water so that it covers the rice and comes to your first knuckle when finger is pointing down and touching the pan or an inch. Cook for 10 minutes or so. No science just watch it. You want the water to be dissolved and stir frequently. After it is cooked, remove from stove and fold in rice vinegar. Then transfer to a wet towel and cover with a wet towel. You want it to stay moist.

Here is another recipe for cooking sushi rice for those who feel more comfortable following a recipe.
Rolling Your Own Sushi Rice

Nutritional Facts about Rice

Side note: The U.S. processes rice differently than in Asia, Middle East, Latin America and the West Indies. Since you can lose some nutrients from the rice during the milling process; America has the grains enriched with a powder coating. There will be a warning on the label advising you to not wash the rice if this is so.

In addition to unique cuisines from Asia, western cultures were also introduced to the unique tools used to prepare Asian foods. The wok is the most important piece of cooking equipment in southeast Asia and China. Because traditional Asian households did not have resources to make or buy several different pans for different types of cooking, the traditional wok was developed with a unique rounded bottom that provides a range of cooking temperatures in one pan, thereby becoming a nearly universal staple of Asian households. I got a wok with wok spoon for Christmas from beloved IKEA. It works great! It really just needs to be heavy, not expensive.