Making Sushi or California Rolls

Fun to learn something a little bit different!

When I go to NC State to visit Robert (or to take him something, as usually the case)...we often visit one of his favorite little hole-in-the-wall restaurants Akari Express off Western Blvd in Mission Valley....ahh....now I'm being nostalgic for my NCSU days of long ago....

Any-hew...

He and I both love sushi rolls. Robert has a friend at State that taught him to make the rolls - here he is - making them for my party a couple of days ago!

Start with the right "sticky rice".


Obviously, Robert doesn't want his photo taken....



Take the Nori (seaweed sheets) and lie flat on foil.



Cook the rice per the directions. Robert adds rice vinegar to give it a nice flavor.

Slice cream cheese into long pieces.



Spoon the rice onto the Nori...it really is sticky!!!


"Work" the rice until it's flat - leaving some space at the "top"



Start placing your "filling" about an inch or so from the "bottom". You can be creative - what ever combinations you like. Cream cheese, avocado, carrots, cucumber, fish, crab meat....



Just layer whatever you want as the "center" of the roll here.



Robert sliced nice raw tuna for some of the rolls...



This one is ready to roll up tight.



Start at the "bottom".... squeeze it gently and roll.




Peel the foil back and repeat. The idea is to keep the roll tight - no air spaces left. Fold the extra foil to keep it out of the way. Remember, keep the roll tight!!! Squeeze it - it won't hurt!!



Keep rolling....



The finished roll - the last little bit of exposed Nori will seal the "log" .


Wrap the logs in the foil and put in the refrigerator to chill thru. This makes them easier to slice.


Ready for slicing - nice and firm.


Isn't that pretty? The end usually is ugly and gets eaten on the spot!!


Add some wasabi paste, pickled ginger and soy sauce.....YUM!!!

Caroling Neighbors

Last night, Pat and Diane pulled a "haywagon" around behind their tractor. All the neighbors were serenaded by some lovely Christmas music.

I know the video is dark....you can see their Christmas lights on the side of the wagon and hear their lovely song (turn up the volume - the tractor is running in the background!!)

Cardinal Air Christmas Party!!

Oh, yes, it's that time of year again!!

I've spent most of the past week busy, busy getting ready for my annual company party.

First, I had to make little goody-bags! I made some of my favorite cookies. I needed to make 20 bags - wow, that's a LOT of cookies!!

First was the Girl Scout peanut butter cookies - Do Si Does, they call them. I call them yummy! Here's the recipe - Homemade DoSiDoes

I wrapped a few cookies in each cute, Christmas themed cellophane bag.


Next were the Rum Balls.....about as easy as they come!


Because I didn't want the powdered sugar rolling around in the bag, I first put the balls into a clear plastic cup....and then put the cup inside the cello bag.


Isn't that pretty? Looks like a bunch of Poinsettias....


Next up were my "Garbage Cookies" , of course. Oatmeal, choc. chips, coconut, raisins, nuts, wheat germ and the kitchen sink....


And last was the Ginger Cookies that I've grown very fond of.


I put it all together in a nice little Christmas gift bag (fittingly, with a Cardinal on the bag!) They also each got a "boat bag" with the Cardinal Air company logo on it.


Lots of goody-bags to go under the Christmas tree at Bobbi's house.


We continued the tradition of having the party at Bobbi and Joe's house because it is more centrally located. She always does a wonderful job of decorating (and telling Joe what to do, of course!)



Here's a snapshot before the crowd arrived - mostly ALL GONE in just a few hours. Fun prep over the past week. The usual fare - appetizers, dips, cheese, etc. All as home-made as I could manage.


Just a few random photos I took around the house.


Everyone seemed like they were having a good time.


Jerry and Becky - Jerry runs the Avionics shop.


A motley crew of airport rats....gotta love'em!!



Our sweet little band from NC State appeared again this year.


Tom and Janet run the maintenance shop at Siler City.


Rene and Janet from Pittsboro - Rene has a Cessna 310 at Siler City.


Bill and Kay - Bill's last day at Siler City will be next week. We won't hold that against him - they'll have to come back to town (from the beach house) and come to next year's party!


Wayne and Trish - Wayne built his own plane and keeps it at Siler City


Ha! Here's the only photo snapped of us from my camera -




And now - for the finale - a little clip of Robert and the band....I think they were sight reading this music (aahhheemmm no rehersal....) but everyone enjoyed.

Red Wine

Last night was our "yet-unnamed book club" meeting. I forgot to take the camera again! (gasp!)

I came home with a bottle of my favorite wine - Marianne makes this and it's absolutely yummy!! (You can tell that I'm not a snooty wine connoisseur 'cause I don't think "yummy" is a wine term except in the World of Karen!!) Thanks Marianne!!

Poor Santa, having to tote all that wine.....

Dinner out with one of Duane's Co-Workers

Monday evening we went out to eat with one of Duane's co-worker's - "Roland" from Taipei, Taiwan. He is finishing a 3 year assignment in RTP - similar to what we did in Boca Raton many years ago. His family (his wife and three teenagers) were with him. They have moved back to Taiwan and he has finished closing out his house here and flew back Tuesday morning. Now Duane will deal with him on the nightly conference calls (their early morning).

He seems like a really nice guy and spoke really good English. I forgot my camera (gasp!!) so the waiter had to take our picture with the cell phone.....and it didn't turn out well. But, it's all I've got!


Hard to see in the photo, but I have a scarf around my neck. Roland (not his real name by the way - they chose a name that we can pronounce and use it professionally) brought a gift to the dinner as is their custom. It's a very delicate silky scarf with some sequins. The package is almost as pretty as the scarf! No English characters on the packaging, so it's definitely not made for shipment to America. Neat. Now I need to think of something to send to him (something very lightweight!)

Hushpuppies!

Every year on the first Saturday in December, our friend Lonnie has a "customer appreciation" day at his business (B&L Supply for those of you in the local area needing mulch, stone and gardening supplies!) He cooks pork bbq and chicken and all the fixin's for a crowd of 100 or so. I've volunteered to do the hushpuppy cookin' again this year. I asked Robert to come help - we cooked the little corn cakes for a hour or so straight. Good fun - and good food too!




It was drizzly but fairly warm as December days go...




Lonnie sold lots of Christmas trees - we got one too. A first for us in several years.



No one went hungry!

Photo of Robert

Thought I'd share this photo someone took of Robert at the NC State football game. I "stole" it from his Facebook page. I think this is from the recent NCSU vs. Carolina game, but I'm not sure....enjoy your bowl game, Miranda!!

Slowly getting ready for Christmas

I got out some of the Christmas decorations - blue lights for the ficus this year!!

Turnips and Brunswick Stew

The Sunday after Thanksgiving is always our sweet neighbor's day to treat all their friends to a "Brunswick Stew Bash". It was beautiful weather and quite a crowd.

Here's Jackie stirring the cauldron!




I forgot to put a photo up of the turnips Cordy gave me down at Sharon's house this weekend. Here is a sample....several were HUGE - and very good still. I put the spoon there so you could see how big. They brought me a whole bag - nothing like turnips boiled in salt water with a little pepper on a cool fall day!

Thanksgiving Trip to Greenville

We had a nice drive down to Greenville to Sharon's house for the McCraw Thanksgiving meal. All the kids were there - but no grand-kids - scheduling conflicts of the young....

A great meal was had - and way too much, as is customary on Thanksgiving!!

I kindof forgot to snap many photos - Carolyn preparing something yummy...(it was all yummy)



and this is the only other photo - before dinner, Sharon was doing some quilt pattern fabric cutting. We all got to try our hand at arranging a multi-color quilt square. Beautiful colors - amazing how many combinations you can come up with! Fun day - back to work tomorrow!!