It was a good friend who introduced me to the beauty that is the Kona Grill happy hour. A good number of appetizers and sushi rolls can be enjoyed at only half their regular menu prices. So, when I am too lazy to cook, which lately, I almost always am, we time our visit to Kona Grill such that we’re there close to dinner time and just before the office crowd comes in.

We typically order 4 kinds of rolls (each order is 8 pieces) and for my daughter, the Kona Calamari.

She loves those crunchy deep fried battered squid rings, which is served with spicy aioli dipping sauce. As of our last visit, the price is around $5.  She also loves the Crab Crunch and California rolls.

For hubby and me, we almost always order the Spicy Salmon or the Spicy Tuna roll, rolls our daughter won’t touch just yet.  We love a little kick in our food. It’s a huge bonus that a little heat helps speed up metabolism. That’s something I learned from Dr. Oz, not from a Thyroid doctor austin.  The rolls are priced at around $3.50 during happy hour. I say that’s a bargain!

There are other interesting items on the happy hour menu, which we have yet to try. To think we’ve already been there a couple of times! Predictable people. That’s us! We can always try next time, or maybe not.

It’s Friday! Have a good one, y’all!

Kome is on Airport Blvd and we arrived just before the lunch time crowd hit.  We were welcomed with warm greetings from the hostess and the sushi chefs behind the sushi counter. Only a few tables were occupied when we were seated. But when noon time came, the dining room quickly filled up as if on cue.

Hubby and I took our lunch picks from a single-page lunch menu. I already knew I was going to have something from the sushi bar before we even left home. I’m a predictable bore like that. It was hubby who took a bit of time to decide. I may have had a hand in helping him decide to order something from the sushi bar as well.

I ordered the Chirashi, an assortment of sashimi served with sushi rice. Typically, the sashimi is laid on top of the rice. But at Kome, the rice was served on the side.

How pretty is that?! But trust me, it tastes even better than it looks. The sushi was oh-so fresh. I swear, I thought I heard bells (or was it Pulse cymbals?)! I believe I mmmm-ed after every mouthful of the good stuff, one too many. Ha!

Hubby ordered the Hokkai-don – salmon sashimi, salmon roe, scallop, tobiko and shiso on top of sushi rice…

Mmmm-mmmm-mmmm! I could have had this, too! In addition to my Chirashi, of course!

Our entrees were served with clear soup and Japanese pickles.

Portions were adequate, that is, Asian-size. You might want to order an appetizer or some sushi rolls if you consider yourself to be a hearty eater.

It’s nice to have real sashimi/sushi every once in a while, Japanese food lovers that we are. When we crave sushi but don’t want to spend a whole lot, we go to a buffet, where sashimi is fresh…that is, freshly thawed and cut so paper-thin that just the slightest of winds can blow them away. Seriously!

We will definitely be back at Kome, distance notwithstanding. We’ll keep coming back until we’ve ticked off every item on the menu. Then again, I may just stick with my usual Chirashi.

Kome Sushi Kitchen
Address:
4917 Airport Blvd.
Austin, TX 78751
Phone: 512.712.5700

Last Saturday, we had dinner for the first time at Sushi Zushi, a sushi bar at the new Domain 2.

They have a very extensive list of sushi, which might just drive the most fickle minded amongst us to insanity. For starters, we ordered a very basic sushi, California Rolls with Shrimp…

This didn’t exactly wow us. Perhaps, Sushi Zushi’s strength is in  less traditional sushi and rolls.  I’ll be sure to make a mental note of that for our next visit.

My daughter had Chicken Yakisoba Noodles…

This is 2-meal’s worth of noodles, as far as my daughter is concerned.  She liked it a lot, save for the green onions.  There was just too much green onions.

Hubby had the Mini Katsu Curry…

This is mini curry rice with tender breaded pork cutlet.  I wonder how a full portion looks like.  We found the mini portion to be quite a generous size and looked like a full portion to us.  At $7, this was definitely a steal.

Between hubby, my little girl and me, I’d say I had the best meal.  I had the Mini Chirashi…

It’s a mini bowl filled with sushi rice topped with tuna, shrimp,octopus, izumi tai, salmon, albacore, bonito, tamago, masago, shiitake mushrooms, kampyo, daikon and shiso leaf.  It was just plain pretty!  And yummy, too!  This was the first time I ever ordered a chirashi bowl.  It will most definitely not be the last.  This just might be my go-to whenever we’re at Sushi Zushi.  I don’t know how I survived a sushi-deprived life when I was pregnant with my daughter, but I did, trading organic prenatal vitamin for raw fish.  Hee hee!  The price of this mini chirashi just blew me away, $10!  Just how affordable is that?!  A full order is $15.50, which is still more than reasonable.

I guess we just found ourselves another favorite sushi spot.  We will definitely be back again soon.  Perhaps after mass later today? That’s not too soon, is it? Hee hee. :)

These rolls may look the same as the ones I’ve posted in previous entries.  But believe you me when I say that there are differences.  For the first time, I used sushi rice and not our everyday jasmine rice.  Another first is the use of masago (seasoned capelin roe).  Last but not the least, I believe it’s also the first time I made the combinations you will see shortly.

Combo #1: Crab and Mango

My little girl loved this combination so much she was able to eat close to 10 pieces on Sushi Sunday!  She requested I make some again for Maki Monday. ;)

Combo #2: Crab, Mango and Masago

The masago was an impulse buy during a recent stop at the Japanese store.  I would have wanted some of the bigger masago as well but I couldn’t find any at the store.  Perhaps they just ran out.  Hopefully, I’ll get my hands on them next time.

My daughter loved the masago and how it kinda pops in the mouth when bitten.  Hee hee. :)

Combo #3: Tuna, Crab, Cream Cheese and Masago

This turned out to be hubby’s favorite combo, and mine, too!  I’ve always loved tuna and cream cheese.  The addition of crab and masago made this combination even more lovable. :D

We can have sushi everyday. If these could help build muscles fast, we could be mistaken for body builders by now! Hee hee.

There’s practically no limit to the number of maki combinations one can come up with.  That said, this will definitely not be my last maki entry. ;)

Keep on rollin’!

Sake (Salmon) Nigiri…

Maguro (Tuna) Nigiri…

I’ll make sure the rice under the salmon and tuna slices will be flatter next time and not bulging at the bottom like you see in the photos.  Still, I think I did pretty good for my first brush with nigiri, but not good enough to have me going on a job search for a sushi chef position. Hee hee. :D Want to make your own nigiri sushi?  Check out this how-to video.

The rest of the tuna and salmon, we enjoyed sans rice…

The salmon was just so unbelievably good.  It did say “fresh” on the label. Then again, we can’t really trust those labels a hundred percent, can we?  The salmon did taste very fresh and we were very very pleased. *happy sigh*

This wasn’t the first time we bought salmon at Costco but it was the first time we ate it raw.  Hee hee.  We had the courage to do so after our success with the Tuna Sashimi some 3 months ago.  And by “success” I mean we enjoyed the raw fish and didn’t suffer any stomach bug or anything like it. ;)

The tuna was good, too, but to say that it was upstaged by the salmon is an understatement. ;)

I hope to catch some fish at Costco again this weekend.  I’ll enjoy the Superbowl with sushi for my game day chow instead of chips and salsa. :P

We had one such get-together last Saturday at a couple  friend’s house, which unfortunately I wasn’t able to attend because I was “doctor mom” to my daughter that night.  However, my little girl gave her dad the go signal to go ahead and watch the fight…in exchange for what, I still don’t know just yet.  Hee hee.

My family’s contribution to the mad for Manny gathering was a good-sized tray of homemade maki.  It was maki madness!

I made 4 kinds of maki totaling around 70 pieces.  That, I say, is literally rolling with the punches.  Hee hee.  And mind you, those rolls were not microscopic in size. I got the ideas for these maki combinations from my trusty sushi cookbook. ;)

Crab/Mayo Roll – (Imitation) crab meat mixed with a little mayo and salt, then sprinkled with sakura denbu.

Left:  Hawaiian Roll – ham and pineapple; Right: Ham and Cheese Roll

Crab and Cream Cheese Roll

There’s just so many combinations one can come up with.  You will only be limited by your imagination, creativity and available ingredients. I’ve made Filipinized maki and onigiri before, using longganisa for the maki and afritada and adobo for the onigiri.

After all that rolling, my hands would have welcomed some pampering.  Even the heat from hand dryers would have been a nice treat. Nevertheless, I can’t wait to experiment again with more maki combinations soon.  This weekend perhaps?

Have a great week, y’all! Cheers and Mabuhay!

Spam can be a lifesaver specially when one is too lazy to cook a decent viand. So it’s not the best option for viand, what with it being salty and all.  Still, it’s better than eating rice with plain salt.  ;)  Since Spam goes very well with rice, it makes a lot of sense to me why in Hawaii, Spam and rice wrapped in nori is a popular snack or luncheon treat. Spam musubi is what it’s called.

Here’s the full Wikipedia definition:

Spam musubi is a very popular snack and luncheon food in Hawaii made in the tradition of Japanese onigiri, also known as a musubi. A Spam musubi is composed of a block of salted (not vinegared; that would be sushi) rice with a slice of Spam (cooked or uncooked) on top, and typically nori (dried seaweed) surrounding it to keep it in shape.

I was introduced to Spam musubi when a couple friend of ours made and brought some with them when we visited a pumpkin patch in November of last year.  What they brought was “sandwich style”, that is, spam sandwiched between two thin layers of rice and wrapped in nori.  The pictures on this entry are of the “traditional-style” spam musubi.

INGREDIENTS:

Spam
rice
nori strips

EQUIPMENT

sushi mold or ice cube tray

PROCEDURE

1. It’s up to you whether you want to use cooked or uncooked spam.  Slice them into pieces that are the same size as the mold you are using.

2.  Moisten the sides and bottom of your sushi mold or ice cube tray to prevent the rice from sticking.  Then invert it and tap a little so your little blocks of rice will come out.

3.  Lay a piece of spam onto the block of rice.

4.  Wrap a strip of nori around the spam and block of rice.  The ends should meet at the bottom.  Moisten with a little water to seal the ends.

Piece of cake, isn’t it? Optional Spam musubi ingredients are teriyaki sauce  tamagoyaki (Japanese omelette), shoyu (soy sauce), as well as furikake (seasoning).

When I get around to making a sandwich-style Spam musubi, I’ll be sure to post it as well. :)