Sushi!

When you think of sushi, what do you think of? What types of word comes to mind?  I hear all the time from people who have never tried sushi before, they tell me, it’s gross, nasty, and how can you eat that?!  Well, people have a miss-conception of sushi.  As Alton Brown from the Food Network said in his show, Good Eats, sushi is defined as rolled up rice, not a piece of fish on rice.

I admit, when I tried sushi the first time, I hated it, it was one of the worst things I’ve put in my mouth.  Of course, I’ve always hated seafood, like tuna, salmon, and white fish, but I had to try it.  Someone once told me that you are ignorant if you don’t understand something and make judgment on it.  That always stuck in my head, and I knew I had to try sushi for the first time.

The first time I tried sushi was at this local Sheboygan restaurant called Grotto’s.  I had a California roll with crab meat, avocado, cucumber wrapped in rice and nori.  When I took my first bit, it smelled like the crab meat was pulled out of Lake Michigan and thrown together in a second.  I literally threw my food up at the restaurant because the smell was too strong for me to even taste the sushi.

Until I went to California on a visit, was I able to get a good taste of sushi in the land of possibilities!  I had gone to a restaurant called Koji’s, right in the middle of the Hollywood strip.  I can’t remember the name of the roll I had but it was nothing like I had when I went to Grotto’s.  Cucumber, avocado, rice, onions was wrapped in rice, around the sushi, they had wrapped a thin seared steak on it.  I had dipped that in soy sauce with a little wasabi paste, and boy was that DELISH!!!  Finally, sushi was no longer a battle of just trying, it now is more of trying to find or even make sushi the way I like it, my own! Yum!

Electronics

Music is such a big thing in this world right now in society that it’s hard to get away from now a days.  Many people bring their iPod, nanos, mp3 players, and yes, even boom boxes to where they go.  I had gone shopping with my little sister this past weekend to get a prom dress for her and when we arrived at the malls in Milwaukee, it seemed though everyone had some type of headset on to listen to music as they were mall walking or shopping.  I personally have not invested in one but I had bought one for my husband for his birthday a few years back.  I admit, I somewhat live under a rock so it’s different for me to sit there or walk to places with an iPod strapped onto my arm or in my hands.

Even working out, people take music as their inspiration.  I can say, I  don’t work out at the gym like I should but when I hear people talk about their trips to the gym, that’s what they have to live by in order to get through the reps or the walks they’re doing.

Society has an image of using things like an iPod to get through things like getting through life with it.  Younger kids are now prone to have one as they do things, like chores, or just sitting in their room to just listen to music.  Whether it’s to get though a heart break, or to dance, or even just to do homework. 

When I was growing up, I never really had things like that to help me through some things kids today go through.  I wonder, can they ever survive without electronics and have a healthy life like I did?   One can only imagine what music does to you but will society ever accept the fact that iPods, nanos, or mp3 players might not be gone one day like 8-tracks?  Only time will tell where we and society might lead to, until then, I’ll just have to sit back and still wonder, what will happen when things don’t exist anymore!?

Tacos!

Tacos tacos tacos, I am in love with tacos! I’ve searched around Sheboygan for the best tacos and I finally realized I have a favorite place just for tacos!  I love food and my favorite food of all times is tacos.  I’ve tried tacos from Taco Bell, Guadalajara’s, La Conquistadora, and even El Comino.  But my all time favorite place to get the best tacos, I believe, is from El Durango’s on Indiana Avenue in Sheboygan.  I don’t know if it’s how the meat is prepared or if it’s the hot sauce that gets me to fall in love with it, but overall, it is the best tacos in town!

To me, tacos have to be prepared with the minimal toppings.  This doesn’t mean that the tacos are on flour tortillas and with lettuce, tomatoes, and sour cream.  Instead, a real taco means there is meat, unseasoned with taco seasoning, chopped up cilantro and white onions.  Of course, and my favorite, a slice of avocado right on top!  That just screams, eat me!

I have to admit, I would love to be a food critic one day, but for now, I think I can be my own critic of the food in my own town.  Dreaming of opening up a restaurant of my own is one of my goals in life.  I feel that food really does feed the soul and when you cook and have people fall in love with it like I’ve fallen in love with El Durango’s tacos, which just means you’ve found what you’ve been searching for.

So if you would ever have a craving for tacos, take a trip to El Durango’s and have a chicken taco with everything on it, and as a must, you have to have some hot sauce on top of it, trust me, the taco will melt in your mouth!

What to be when I grow up

Growing up, I think almost every kid kind of knows what they want to bed when they grow up.  Well, in my case, I’m still trying to figure that out myself.  I knew at a young age, I’d either wanted to be a Chef and own my own restaurant, or a teacher.  Still, at almost 30 years old, I still have no clue to which direction I should gear my life towards.  I’ve been in ‘college’ for about four years now, but due to circumstances in my life, I couldn’t attend full time and here we are.  Still hoping and praying I’d be done soon so I can move on.

Growing up, I know I love food and I love to cook, but my question to myself was, do I really want to be a Chef as a career or do I really need to buckle down and find a career and maybe cooking would be a hobby instead?  Still trying to figure out what I want to do when I grow up is still a hard task if you are 18 and just graduated from high school or a 30 year old, like me.  It’s hard to swallow the ‘real world’ and I’m still trying to make good choices to have a good life.

Even though, I’m married with a family, it takes a toll in my life just trying to go through every day trying to understand what I want to do in life.  Yes, by all means, I would have loved to win that big Mega Millions this past week and make everything ok but my hopeful dreams may need to be on hold until that winning lottery ticket is in my pocket. 

Although life in general is a surprise, I have to take it by the balls and just roll with it.  I sometimes feel I want to give up and work in factory all my life, because it sounds easier than working hard towards my goals feels too much of a reach then reality.  Having a family and especially kids, change my perspective of what really matters in my life.  I think to myself, I need to set a great example for them and make sure they see how hard I work so they can see that life doesn’t come on a silver platter.  Only I can make a difference in my life and change what my parents weren’t fortunate enough to give me.

Now the question is, what should I be when I grow up?  That’s still a lingering question but hopefully something will help guide me to what I’m meant to do and be in like…..Hopefully soon!