Taking the time

Friday nights are lovingly referred to as Sushi Friday here at the HQ.  I think we’ve talked about this before?  Just like Pizza Thursdays (which is today, whooo!) we very much look forward to it.  We don’t always have sushi though, sometimes we have leftovers.  Sometimes we are out with friends, and sometimes it just doesn’t happen.  Most times we try to make it work.

Sometimes we make sushi at home and sometimes we get some takeout to bring home.  Either way, we’re eating sushi in our jammies and watching something on TV.

One Friday I really wanted sushi.  Not just any sushi but our sushi.  Let me clarify that our sushi isn’t great or the most magical thing to exist.  Nor do I think it can compete with any kind of sushi that can be purchased at an official sushi joint. It’s just our basic at-home sushi.

What I really like about our sushi is the shrimp roll we, or I should say, Scott makes.  It’s so simple but mighty tasty and I cannot find anything else like it around.

I thaw some shrimp and remove the shell.  Then in a bowl I toss the shrimp with some soy sauce and hot chili garlic sauce.  You know the sauce, big red jar of it usually found in the Asian food aisles.  Then I roast the shrimp for just a few minutes.

This is what I crave.  It’s a spicy shrimp roll without all the mayo gunk on it.  It’s simple and it’s tasty.  I wanted this so so bad!

The trouble was that it was late and I didn’t have any of the ingredients prepped.  I like to do this ahead of time with as many ingredients as I can so it saves time when we are actually making the rolls.  Making sushi at home is great but it does take some time and can create a mess in the kitchen.  I didn’t really want to do all that at 7pm in the evening.

But I really wanted that shrimp roll!  And I also didn’t want to spend money on sushi when I knew, while it might be tasty, wouldn’t be exactly what I wanted.

I decided that, yes, we should take the time to make our own sushi.  Perhaps it will take a bit longer and perhaps the kitchen would be messier than I want for a Friday night, but in the end both of us would be more satisfied with the outcome.

Scott and I have our tasks, I make the veggie rolls and he makes the shrimp rolls.  He’s also the only one skilled enough to make the roll with the rice on the outside.

OHC’s Veggie Rolls have:

  • Carrot
  • Cucumber
  • Avocado

OHC’s Spicy Shrimp Rolls have:

  • Shrimp
  • Carrot
  • Avocado

With out plates loaded up, we sat down in the TV room, in our jammies and had a great dinner.  In the end, I was very happy that we took the time to make this ourselves.  We enjoyed dinner a lot more because not only was this exactly what we wanted, but there’s the satisfaction in knowing that you made it yourself.

The extra time is totally worth it!

Do you make a lot of food at home?  Do you have any weeknight traditions?

9 thoughts on “Taking the time

    • Thanks Heather!
      Biz, You know I love me some pizza! I add the chili paste to soups too and also to fried rice. Gives things such a nice flavor in the background.
      Heather, homemade breadsticks?! YUM!
      Thanks Mama Pea! For the rest of the week, I use your method. :D
      Heidi, That is awesome! I love when people start cooking more! I agree, even if I’m tired, if I take the time to make something quick I always feel so much better later in the evening.

  1. I love the idea of roasting the shrimp – just adds another level of flavor, and I love, love, love the red garlic chile paste – I even add it to soup broths to kick it up a notch!

    While I love my Party Pizza Friday tradition, the hubs is sometimes sick of pizza. If it were up to my daughter we’d have tacos and pizza every other night! :D

  2. Roasting the shrimp is a GREAT idea!

    We try to cook at home as much as possible. Last night was Family Fun Night and Colin requested breadsticks (!!). So I made homemade garlic rolls and they turned out pretty fantastic! Time intensive, but so worth it.

  3. Heidi says:

    Man, those shrimp rolls sound good. I’ll have to try that. We cook at home a lot, but don’t have weekly traditions. I used to mostly heat stuff up at home (like frozen entrees), but I’ve been doing much more actual cooking in the last six months or so. I’m even finding that on those days when I get home from work and I’m totally drained from the day, if I walk into the kitchen and spend the time to make a healthy, made by me meal, I feel much better throughout the evening. (run on sentence much?) And my kids love it too — one will ask what’s in a dish, and the other one says “love.” And I agree with them that the special ingredient is love. :)

  4. When the kids were home, one person usually cooked the meal for everyone. It was simpler, one person decided and did it, and it was done when the rest came home. Now that my kids are off to collegeland, my husband and I do a lot of it together which is kind of a new thing to us.

    We argue a lot over quantity of onions to use. He would rather do without. I love onions.

    I like that you said sushi is messy and that you wrap it with the rice inside. Yes, I think your own little kitchen nuances can make it better.

    Anyway, we try to cook, but last night I came home, didn’t want to cook, and didn’t want what he was coming up with, so we went out. Doesn’t happen much, but really, it was nice to not have any dishes to attend to also.

  5. We like to have appetizer night every now and again. Appetizers are usually fried, full of cheese, or both and so we don’t eat them a lot. When we make it for dinner, we feel like we have just gotten away with something. I do always serve a veggie, though. I think veggies are in my DNA.

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