Rosie Makes Sushi And Shrimp Rolls.

Daughter Hawthorne and Giada headed back to Greenville Saturday afternoon after a nice visit with Maxine. Youngest Hawthorne headed back Sunday morning. And Mr. Hawthorne left early Sunday morning to go bear hunting in Northern Virginia. Middle Hawthorne, Beau, and Maxine remain at Casa Hawthorne. Maxine treated Middle Hawthorne and me to lunch at one of the local restaurants, and remind me never to go to a restaurant that has like 20 TVs scattered all over the walls on a Sunday afternoon during football season. Service was slow, and the place was LOUD, people were OBNOXIOUS, and there were several different football games going on all at the same time, and it just was not our cup of tea, so to speak, or our bottle of beer either. In fact, the beer was flowing quite freely, most of the patients were feeling no pain, and one man in the group at the table across from us kept turning around and leering at my son, which made me just a tad uncomfortable. Thanks again for lunch, Maxine! When we got home, after a quick detour to Harris Teeter, I decided to start on supper for Maxine and me, which will be leftover Lobster and Shrimp Bisque, sushi, and spring rolls. Hey, if Mr. Hawthorne can do it, certainly Rosie can.

My ingredients: shrimp sticky rice lettuce from the garden jullienned carrots, sliced avocados sliced cucumbers sliced assorted peppers sliced radishes from the garden

According to directions, I lightly seared the shiny side of the nori over a flame. And yes, that's the dull side on top.

I spread out some sticky sushi rice on the seaweed sheet, spread some wasabi sauce down the center, and added cucumber slices.

Next, I added some sliced peppers and radishes.

This one has some pickled ginger slices in it.

WHOOT! I can roll sushi.

Now, I'm working on the spring rolls. Rice, wasabi, and ginger.

Lettuce, radishes, peppers, carrots, and avocado. And just what is it about buying avocados? That's why we went to Harris Teeter, because I wanted an avocado for my spring rolls. (Even though I am gastronomically sensitive to avocados beginning during my pregnancy with Daughter Hawthorne and can only have a few bites, I still love 'em.) But back to avocados in super markets ... They're either hard as a baseball or super soft to the point of brown mush, which this one was fast approaching. Why can't you ever buy one that's actually ripe? When I want an avocado, I want it now. Not 3 days from now.

I topped the rolls with sliced shrimp. The spring rolls on the green plate have the avocado in them. The ones on the coral plate don't, so I'll know which are which and not accidentally eat too much avocado.

And here are my sushi and my spring rolls.

Not bad for my first attempt if I do say so myself, but, like everything, this is going to take some practice.

Pretty little shrimp spring roll.

And pretty little sushi roll.

I served them with my assortment of dipping sauces and they were darn good.

Mr. Hawthorne Tries His Hand At Sushi.

Mr. Hawthorne was delighted to receive a Sushi Making Kit

from Dixie for Christmas. So, for Saturday lunch with the XmasKaties, he prepared sushi and spring rolls.

First he sprinkled a bit of the sushi vinegar over his short-grain, sticky rice.

Then he spread his rice evenly over a dried seaweed sheet, the shiny side of which he briefly toasted over a flame.

Wasabi paste and cucumber strips went down the middle.

Then he rolled it up using the bamboo mat.

Ta daaaaa!

And here's Mr. Hawthorne's first attempt at sushi rolls.

Mr. Hawthorne's second sushi roll attempt.

The pink inside is pickled ginger.

Next, he started on his spring rolls. That's a nifty little mini-mandoline in the background which he uses for slicing his carrots.

Here's a tip for cooking shrimp to keep them from curling up on you. Skewer them lengthwise.

Perfectly cooked skewered, straight shrimp and free, curly shrimp. The curly shrimp I chopped up and used in my Shrimp and Lobster Bisque.

Mr. Hawthorne softened his tapioca sheet in a plate of water and sushi vinegar.

Then he added his veggie strips.

Spring roll. After first trying to roll it with the bamboo mat, he decided it was better to just use his hands for this.

Lastly, he garnished each roll with a butterflied shrimp.

And here's lunch for the Hawthornes and the XmasKaties.

I made several different dipping sauces: On the left is a Tamari/sesame oil/toasted sesame seed/ rice vinegar sauce.

On the right is a sweet hot mustard/Tamari/rice vinegar sauce and a Tamari/garlic/ginger/vinegar sauce.

And here's Katie, Dixie's cousin.

And here's poor Dixie, wondering when the hell all these other dogs are getting out of her house. All in all, I would say this was a pretty excellent lunch.