Small Town Eating

There are advantages to eating and cooking in a small town. Ingredients can be less expensive, we're in the midst of farm-fresh foods, and even the more upscale restaurants are typically not as costly. On the other hand, hours for restaurants tend to be more limited, rarer ingredients can be tough to hunt down, there are fewer specialty shops within easy reach, and there are fewer cuisines available. Don't get me wrong; there are some excellent restaurants here! There just isn't too wide a variety.

I love Ethiopian food, for example, but there isn't an Ethiopian restaurant even remotely close by. I've yet to find one even in Syracuse, which is an hour away. The same goes for Moroccan. Sushi and Indian food are slightly more accessible at about 30 minutes away, though there is a sushi and hibachi restaurant opening here soon, so hopefully it will be good quality. Bonus if they offer brown rice.

In the absence of most cuisines, we just head to the kitchen and create our own, including sushi. It's fun to make and delicious to eat. Unfortunately, however, the closest place we've found that sells sushi-grade fish is about an hour away. And they happen to also make really good brown rice sushi, so why bother? It's not terribly expensive, it's good quality, and the work is done! So, while we've made our own brown rice sushi, we pretty much have to stick to either vegetable and/or cooked shellfish (we make a rockin' spicy crab roll). Goodness knows where in the heck I'd find fresh tobiko caviar up here (buying it on the internet just doesn't sit well with me).

"Sushi Rolls and Soy Sauce" by Toper

In honor of International Sushi Day, my wonderful husband is bringing some fresh, brown rice uramaki (inside-out rolls) home with him. Hooray! I can't wait to dig my chopsticks in.