I second this. Back when we had the cash to splurge, we found a great sushi market not far away and that's all they did was sell everything to make sushi and sashimi and other Japanese foods that USers have adapted. (My partner lived in Japan for years, so he's always pointing out how very different so much is, even when we think it's authentic.) I'm a big fan of sashima, personally, but it's actually fairly easy. You can probably even find a youtube video of someone demonstrating how to roll it.
My partner's a big fan of those food shows, so he got me into watching those. You can always check them out for ideas. Ken MacKendrick got me on an Iron Chef jag.
I've never had any predilections against she-she food having worked in restaurants for the first years of my working life. At one place, a jazz club, our boss even sent the wasband and me to all the she she restaurants and wineries in the region to check out the competition and get entree ideas. Young, I was always amazed at how the wasband could eat something and know what was in it. Later, when I became a line cook and pastry chef in a catering outfit, I realized it was just practice like anything else.
I will never forget my first trip to NYC when I got the City-life bug. We had sashimi on Thanksgiving. I was in heaven. Some small joint in the village. What I loved was that so many people didn't care that it was Turkey Day. This is in stark contrast to small town US or even here in Tampa Bay where everything shuts down pretty much. I remember coming back and gushing all over the old Bad Subjects discussion list about sushi on Thanksgiving.
Someday! I'm going to live in NYC -- or Paris. Or Sydney. Or Melbourne. Or London. Someday.
B
(who, trying to use up everything in the fridge, just made up some bizarro marinade with hoisin, wasabi, soy, ginger,garlic, some wacky bottle of super hot sauce, and (no kidding) the leftover juice from a jar of jalapeno peppers)
Bitch | Lab http://blog.pulpculture.org (NSFW)
PS It is my contention that a healthy dose of 'off-topic' personal stuff is what makes for solidarity. We forge community in the places between where we work: where we play.