Hey, Maki...You're so fine, you're so fine, you blow my mind!!!

 My father loved sushi way before it was trendy.  When he told me what it was, I was less than enthusiastic about trying it as a child.  It took him years of endless begging before I finally agreed to take the leap into the unappetizing unknown.  I think I was in high school when I tried it for the first time.  I'm not sure what it actually consisted of, but I AM sure that I immidiately let my napkin have it.  It was so horrible that I vowed to never try it again...ever.  My father loves odd foods, so I don't doubt that he chose to give me the sketchiest (is that a word?) sushi out there.  You know what I am talking about?!  It is the sushi that even the most fanatical sushi lovers try once and claim they like but never order it again.  

(image from Zhong Qiao)

For years, it was easy for me to avoid the sushi-craze because my friends liked it, but they didn't LOVE it.  All of that changed when I had Caleb.  Suddenly, I was spending less time with my friends who didn't have kids and developing closer friendships with other moms.  For some reason, that I have yet to figure out, moms are the biggest lovers of sushi.  Thru these developing mommie friendships, I was catapulted into the scary world of sushi.  Lets face it...sushi is terrifying for newbies.  You have all these crazy foreign terms that are NEVER explained on a sushi menu.  Sashimi, maki, nori, hamachi....it is enough to send any uneducated sushi patron running to the nearest TGIFridays.   Even if I wanted to venture out of my comfort zone and try it again, how would I know what to order?!  Doesn't anyone offer SUSHI-101 for those select few who somehow dodged the sushi-wave when it swept the nation in the 90's?!  The only thing I really knew about sushi,  I heard in an episode of  Friends.  Thanks to Ross, I learned that Unagi is NOT a state of mind, it is freshwater eel.   That is where I was two years ago until Katy, Yak, and J-Kro entered my life. These girls LOVE them some sushi.  It was sink or swim time.  If I was going to be a part of their highly exclusive group, I had to develop a love for sushi and I needed to develop it yesterday.  I downloaded the sushipedia app for my phone, I started doing some research, and I asked a TON of questions.  They were so patient with me and I will always be eternally grateful for that.  If I had been denied entry into this selective group due to my sushi-ignorance, I would have never forgiven myself.  Katy started me off slowly with fully cooked sushi and I, just recently, graduated to the raw catagory.  I actually like the raw better than the cooked.  To my surprise, the raw sushi did not have a fishy taste which I originally thought.  I now understand what the big fuss is about.  Sushi is not an acquired taste...it is a little piece of heaven, naturally.  I am upset that I wasted so many sushiless years.  Now, I crave it all the time.  To say that I love it, is an understatement on the grandest scale.  I still have no idea what some of the words mean on the menu, but I haven't found a type of sushi yet that I don't like (save the trainwreck that my father made me try).   I've come a long way, baby and I am not finished yet.  So, bring on the Tako, the Maguro,  the Fugu (ok, maybe not the Fugu...I'm not that adventurous yet) and plenty of Sake to wash it down.  This mom is officially a Sushiholic.

Next step:  Convincing my husband to try sushi...just once.