All-U-Can-Eat-Sushi

Something strange happens when a person walks into an all-u-can-eat restaurant sushi restaurant. Your eyes glaze over, and the instinct to stuff as much food into your stomach without having to upchuck kicks in. At least that what happens to me. And I think Hadeel (who's back in town.Yay!). We met Hadeel's friend Cheryl at the new Sushi-Kan restaurant. When Hadeeli and I first got there, we were absolutely giddy. Which is no surprise, given we spent the whole day talking about dinner. Hadeel couldn't stop squealing. Oh. My. God. The laminated menu was HUGE. Tempura, soba noodles, edamame, spicy rolls, sashimi, teriyaki options...and you could order as much as you wanted. Hadeel kept repeating "Do you know where we are?". It's interesting. Suddenly, the meal became quantity over quality. You decide you don't need soup or noodles or the rice bowl because you can't eat as much fish if carbs or liquids are sloshing around in your stomach. So you go straight for the raw fish, deep fried oysters and tempura shrimp: best value for the buck. Then you push overfishing guilt to the back of your head and start to chow down. I remember ordering a whack load of tuna, salmon, snapper and mackerel sashimi along with a dynamite roll (salmon, crab, cucumber and avacado with tempura bits), dark dragon roll (bbq eel, tempura shrimp and cucumber), edamame and red bean ice cream. The sushi wasn't bad at Sushi-Kan -- it's definately better than the factory sushi you get at the grocery store. And you don't go to all-u-can eat sushi for quality. Nor do you go for ambiance. The restaurant was one giant room decorated with paper lanterns and wooden dividers between the tables -- though the dividers made me feel a bit like cattle waiting for the sushi to be tossed into our stalls. I'm making it sound like I didn't like Sushi-Kan. I did though. I really did. But a friend who's been twice said it right when she lamented how all-u-can-eat sushi restaurants make it difficult for people to savour their meals. There's pressure to consume. And then after, you feel like you need to be rolled out of the restaurant like a giant yummy yummy roll (assorted sashimi and avocado, dipped in crispy batter).

Pi-zah

My pizza dough recipe comes from one of my mom's old cookbooks. I like it because it makes crisp and thin pizza crusts -- though I'm always open to trying other recipes. The other night I was at a dinner where the pizza maker added fennel seeds into the dough. It was a nice touch to a mushroom pizza.

1 package active dry yeast
1 c warm water (105 to 115 degrees)
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp olive oil
3 to 3 1/2 c all purpose flour
2 tbsp olive oil
toppings and sauce

Dissolve yeast in warm water in large mixing bowl. Stir in sugar, salt, 3 tbsp oil and 2 cups of the four. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to make dough easy to handle.
Turn dough onto lightly floured surface; knead until smooth, about 5 minutes. Place in greased bowl; turn greased side up. Cover; let rise in warm place 45 minutes. (Dough is ready if an indentation remains when touched.)
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease two pizza pans with 2 tbsp oil. Punch down dough; divide in half. Roll each half to fit the pizza pans.
Spread sauce over each pizza and cover with toppings. Bake 25 minutes.

Yay! A postcard!

I opened my mailbox to find this waiting for me. It's a postcard from a friend on holiday in the Ukraine. Here's the best snippet:

You would love the vibe at a Ukrainian family dinner. The table is crammed with dishes and the matriarch forces you to keep eating. After a week (and 5 pounds) I figured out a strategy to survive. Keep a few key slices of cucumber and tomato on our plate so family thinks you're still eating... and do so before you're completely full, because there's always another surprise dish coming. Oh yeah, have I mentioned that we drained at least 2 bottles of roPᴎᵠKA (vodka) a day with our meals? At least 3 shooters with lunches. And usually about 6 with dinners. On our last day we had Ukrainian moonshine with breakfast.

877-63-COOKIES

This is my backup career. Opening a late-night cookie delivery service. Can you believe it? I came across this card when I was in New York. Apparently, Insomnia Cookies delivers six types of cookies: chocolate chunk, double chocolate chunk, oatmeal raisin, m&m, sugar and peanut butter. And 2 am cookies don't come cheap. Eleven bucks for a dozen. Pint of milk is two bucks. It's such a cool idea! Of course, I'd have to make sure the city I start this business in has enough people craving late-night cookies for me to turn a profit. Even in New York, I can't imagine the phone is ringing off the hook at Insomnia Cookies. I mean, if you've got the late-night munchies, wouldn't it be quicker to just head to the 7-Eleven?