Bellaire Rd. Home to Houston’s Chinatown.  In this part of town, even the road signs are translated.

Richard (my temporary roommate) and I hit the Welcome Market, which caters to the Chinese population here and found enough stuff to try a Japanese favorite: Sushi.

The Basics for Rolling Sushi

• Sake (Sushi is just no fun without it)
• Nori (The roasted seaweed sheets you roll sushi in)
• Sushi rice (Always best to have the right kind of rice)
• Soy sauce
• Wasabi in a tube (I am too lazy to make it from powder this weekend)
• Rice vinegar
• Plastic Wrap
• A bamboo rolling pad
  

Some tips

• Cheap Nori is harder to roll than expensive Nori, but the most expensive Nori is also not the best to roll with. Get smaller amounts of different brands and decide for yourself which you like best.
• If you coat your bamboo roller in plastic wrap, it is way easier to clean later.
• There are many flavors of Sake and some are served warm, others cold. If you have the change, get several small bottles of different grades to try them out.
• Sushi really is best made with Sushi rice – and you need to cook it right or you will have a rolling challenge. A rice steamer gets the best results, but following are instructions for making it in a pot since I have no steamer in our temporary Houston dwelling.