Sushi

For the past several weeks my dh has been working in a little town about an hour's drive south of us, called Quesnel. Because he has to be on the job early, and because the company pays out of town expenses, he had taken a motel room there. Last week he brought one of our sons down for a little road trip and son spent an enjoyable two days wandering around the town seeing the sights on his own. I drove down on day two to pick him up and my dh took us both out to eat at a Japanese restaurant that he had discovered.

The restaurant was called the Tokyo restaurant I had this wonderful soup with Udon noodles, veggies, chicken and an egg in it with some slices of yam and potatoe in tempura batter on the side. Marc also suggested that I try some sushi for the first time. Being in an adventurous spirit (but not TOO adventerous -- I couldn't bring myself to try the raw fish sushi) I chose the California rolls with imitation crab meat (pollock), avocado, cucumber, rice and the seaweed stuff they wrap it in. I fell in love! It was absolutely wonderful. I don't know how authentic it was, but it was sure good. I even learned how to manipulate chop sticks without making a mess. BQ and Emeth would be proud of me.

Recently, my second daughter introduced me to a Vietnamese restaurant in Prince George. I have to say that the Oriental people really know how to make good soup! I had the best bowl of soup I have ever had there. It was a hot and sour soup with a clear broth and delicate flavor that I couldn't place, and it had celery, pineapple, bean sprouts, rice noodles, chicken and green onions floating in it.

The soup was too good not to try making it for my family so I went to the library and found several books on Vietnamese cuisine. There was no chicken hot and sour soup, but there were recipes for fish hot and sour soup. I suspect that the addition of chicken was an adaptation for Canadian palates. At any rate, I used the fish soup recipes as the basis for creating my own version of it and I think I came pretty close to what I had at the restaurant. It was a hit with the family. And the secret to the flavorful broth was the addition of tamarind. Mmmmm..... Think I know what to make for supper tonight!