The First Sushi Advegture

One of the pieces of art available at the
Floating World's Website!

Ok, so I have been meaning to blog about this experience for the past few days since I moved in, but with unpacking and CA training, I've been a tad bit busier than I anticipated. But, without further a due, my first advegture with sushi....

My first meal in Minnesota (YAY!) was the most advegturous meal I've had in quite a while. The Dad and I went to Floating World Cafe on Lake Street in Minneapolis. It was a sushi place first and for most, and I have to admit, I was a bit nervous to try vegetarian sushi. I wasn't really sure what it would entail. Am I going to be eating weird sea plants? I was concerned. As we entered, my eyes immediately flew to the walls, which where covered in unique paintings. On further inspection, I read that the pictures were all created with in the walls of the restaurant, as it served as a sushi restaurant/art studio. Needless to say, it was a peaceful ambiance to begin my first veggie-sushi experience. Once I peeled my eyes from the paintings on the walls, I captured my first look at the menu and my inner veggie-worries was immediately silenced. There were multiple veggie friendly options, such as veggie tempura, shiitake broth, and a few vegetarian sushi options, none of which included weird sea plants that I'd never heard of before. I settled on the vegetable sushi lunch which came with a bowl of the shiitake broth, and the chefs pic of vegetables.

This is a pinyin
(picture from Wikipedia)

The first thing brought to the table was the shiitake broth. I have to admit, its been a while since I've had a eat-in Asian cuisine experience. When I saw the soup spoon, followed by the spoon rest, I got a bit confused. For those of you who are now as confused as I was then, a Chinese soup spoon (or what I believe is called a pinyin) is a flat bottomed spoon that is most commonly made from ceramic or porcelain. One the chunks of meat (or in my case shiitake pieces) are eaten from the soup, the soup rest serves as a place for your spoon while you begin to drink the soup directly from the bowl. I didn't use my spoon for long, after my first spoonful, I went straight to slurping it from the bowl. It was delicious. It was just this simple delicate Chinese flavor that is almost impossible to really describe in enough detail so that you could understand the wonderfulness happening on your palate. I would just suggest that if you see it on the menu, you eat it, you will not regret it. I want some now. I wonder if its sold in cans?.....

Anyways! The next thing to make it's way to the table was the Vegetable Sushi. I really wish I would have a picture, because the sushi chef made my plate beautiful. It was a perfect arrangement of colors and was honestly a plate of art. To be frank, at first bite I was a bit underwhelmed. After the broth and the presentation of the sushi, I was expecting a much more advegturous taste.  It was mainly different vegetables seaweed wrapped onto a roll of sticky rice. I was expecting  more spices and flavors, but it was fairly bland. I tried to add a kick to my meal with some wasabi. This was a tragic mistake. I put a pencil-eraser sized chunk of wasabi paste on my chopsticks, which was much more than suffice. My esophagus was crying in agony, my tongue was a raging flame inside my mouth. On a positive note, my sinus cleared up nicely, I didn't sniffle once in the next few days.
Aside from the wasabi incident, The meal was relatively enjoyable. I deem my first vegetable sushi experience a success, and I wouldn't stray away from going to another sushi place further along in my veggie-filled year, though I plan on staying far, far away from wasabi for a while.