Sushi Party 25 November

Last saturday we had a sushi party at my girlfirends house. It was all orchestrated by her Japanese flatmate- and was a totally fun and delicious experience.
We got up extra early to go to a cafe called Lisboa which makes traditional Portuguese custard tarts, magdalenas and serves great caffe lattes (Galao) yummy yummy yummy.It is on Golbourn St in London - very close to Portobello rd and also to a great fishmonger (and my work). We bought super fresh tuna, salmon, prawns and clams- freshness of the fish is really important if you are going to eat it raw!
I went off to work and when i came home that evening it had all been done!
She had prepared the sushi rice in a rice steamer and then mixed it with special sushi vinegar. Also- she had premade tempura prawns and sweet potato, as well as japanese omlette. The tuna and salmon was sliced finely, and avocado and cucumber was also sliced into batons ready to be rolled. We all learnt how to make a hand roll- which as you can see from the pics, you put a piece of sushi seaweed wrapper in your hand, make a bed of rice, and then fill as you please- finally making it into a cone shape to eat!

Why i am here.......

The idea for this blog started when I realised that pretty much every night of the week I was eating something new and wonderful. I live divided between two households- mine and my girlfriends. The combined households are an amazing multicultural mix. We have - one Australian (me) ,one 1/2 German 1/2 Camaroonian (my girlfriend), one Japanese (my girlfriend's flatmate, one scottish (the other flatmate), one English (flatmates girlfriend) and my flatmates- one Irish and one Welsh. We are all mad, keen cooks and eaters- and not to mention, a bit competitive.

All this means that on any given night we could have - Sushi and tempura with miso soup or risotto with prawns, a gratin of fennel, served with parsnips and freshly made herb bread, or plantain with a spicy tomato sauce and a peanut sauce, or a simple pasta dish of brocolli and anchovies.
I think in the last month i have not eaten the same dish twice- and i haven't been to any restuarants at all! That's not to say we don't eat out- that's where we get some of our best ideas from after all! But at the moment we are all in serious cocooning mode-and as the two housholds are fairly new-we haven't run out of repertoire. I am going to include restaurant reviews when we do eventually get out into the world again.
And so- let the eating begin..........