My First Sushi Making Experience

I have always really liked sushi rolls...

...and when one of my Mom's Japanese friends brought sushi to our Thanksgiving lunch, it inspired me to learn how to make it!! So today was my day. I made one of my favs, a California roll. I used Alton Brown's recipe and dove right in. First, Jacob and I went to Wal-Mart after church to purchase the ingredients. The ingredients were about $15, but several of the items (sushi rice, rice vinegar, bamboo rolling mat, seaweed wraps) can be used multiple times.

First thing I made was the rice, which is VERY sticky. I had to prepare this much earlier because the rice has to cool completely, to room temperature.

Next, I prepared the "innards"- cucumber, avocado, and crab sticks and put them each in bowls.

Then, the sushi roll assembly line began. I was actually quite surprised how easy it was. The recipe made 8 total rolls and as I went, my sushi rolls got tighter. So, I've learned for next time :)

When I finished, I had 8 sushi rolls cut into sixths! I was quite impressed with myself.

Moral of this story: If you like sushi, try making it yourself! It was easy, relatively inexpensive, and DELICIOUS!!!

"Ringing" in the New Year with a Trip Down Memory Lane

As Jacob and I were taking down our Christmas decorations today, I took some time to look at our Christmas cards again. I usually keep all the cards I get, but they get so scattered. So I took a second, to organize our Christmas cards from this year.......which also led to the organization of last year's Christmas cards. All I did was order the cards from shortest to tallest. Then I hole punched the cards and put them on rings. Here is what the final product looked like:

I'll eventually go back and make a "header sheet" for each set so I know what year they are from!

As I was digging out last year's Christmas cards, I also fell on a plan to eventually organize all of my greeting cards from over the years (thank you notes, birthday cards, engagement/wedding cards, etc.) by the year they were given. In the mean time, I stumbled across some sweet and funny cards that took me on a little trip down memory lane.

A sweet card from right before my Grandad passed away.

A birthday card from one of my best friends.

A birthday card from my parents for my 19th birthday.

A card from Jacob which is HILARIOUS! I don't know if you can see his quote in the writing, but in the card he wrote, "Being married to you is like breathing: Sometimes I get choked up and think its going to kill me but then most of the time its completely natural!" LOL.....and he was so proud of that....

This is actually one of Jacob's birthday cards from his brother, Parker. But we definitely got a kick out of it while we were looking back through our collection.

So, for all of the people out there who don't want to spend a dollar or two (or seven now-a-days) on a card, just know that there are people out there who keep them and enjoy looking back at them! Now, you should go "ring" in your new year by organizing your Christmas cards. You never know....it just may take you on a sweet journey as well!