It’s not often that you find yourself without plans for a holiday which is why we took full advantage of the situation.  On Saturday, we decided to celebrate Independence day by enjoying a delicious picnic while watching the fireworks at our local park.  We knew we wanted it to be a picnic to remember, but North raised the bar when he suggested that we make sushi.  Homemade sushi?  At a picnic?  Surely this is heaven!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To give you some background, we’ve made sushi before.  Once.  Two years ago for Valentine’s day we opted to avoid the restaurant scene and instead spend the money we would have spent on a four course meal for the finest, sushi-grade tuna in Charlotte.  We spent a lot of money on that hunk of fish, but it was not money well-spent.  Tuna discarded, we found ourselves rolling up pieces of imitation crab meat and cucumber around 11 p.m. that night in a desperate, and rather pathetic attempt, to feed ourselves.  While not the most memorable Valentine’s day, it remains unforgettable.  It also put an end to our desire to make sushi at home, as we came to the conclusion that sushi was one of those things that was worth paying someone else to do. 

 

Or at least that was our stance until Saturday.  While I don’t have any economic data to support my theory, judging from the price reduction on snow crab at my local grocery store, these crustaceans are not a recession favorite.  Marked down to $2.99 from $10.00, it didn’t take an arm twisting to make us load up on 4 pounds of the sprawling creatures.  On Friday night, butter dribbled down our chin and fingers as we smiled at each other like the fat cats we knew we were.  Transformed by just one meal into royalty, we had come to the conclusion that it was only right that we use the leftover crab as a decadent filling for our Saturday omelets when North suggested we make California rolls.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have to admit I was skeptical, but I’m also not one to ask questions when my husband expresses an interest in cooking, so I promptly added sushi to our picnic menu and headed to the store to buy seaweed.  Fully expecting to have this little project fall into my lap, you can imagine my surprise when I found out my husband is a Sushi Master.  Doing what I should do more often, I shut my mouth and started documenting the occasion.  And, yes, for those who are wondering…it did taste as good as it looks.