sushitaughtme
5thingsthat
aboutlife
- lieslburgess
around for some
girly catch-up time.
I wanted to impress
her with my new
culinary nesse. I
took a deep breath, went into solution mode and
started making CUCUMBER hand rolls instead. I had
learned this nifty trick at one of my favourite go-to
sushi venues in Cape Town and they tasted even
better than they looked.
Sushi is my happy place. It’s what I need to do to destress from the clutter called LIFE! Between dropping
my child at school, taking her to the extracurricular
activities, work, cooking, cleaning and all the other
million and one things a single mother does, SUSHI
makes it all disappear in one mouthful of shy
deliciousness...
So I thought I should learn how to make it myself. Just
throw some rice, sh, and veggies on to some
seaweed and roll it. How hard could it be, right?!
Sushi life lesson 4: focus!
Have you ever watched the sushi chefs when they
busy? Their heads are down and they focused on
the dish they are preparing. Full attention is required
when making your own as well. I go into my “sushimaking-zone” when I’m busy these days. I compare
it with trying to strike up a conversation with
Michelangelo painting the Sistine Chapel, or sculpt
the marble statue of David. Well, maybe not
Michelangelo, but this Japanese cuisine is just as
much about the art of plating, as it is about the food
itself. Lose focus for even a few minutes and “slop on
a canvas” may be the end result. Our generation
has become a breed of multitaskers, which isn't bad
if we're not doing it all the time. Good luck
completing anything in a timely manner, if while
constantly doing other a bunch of things. The better
bet is to manage time properly by dedicating time
slots to doing one thing and one thing only. The
results will be more rewarding.
Wrong!
It is not nearly as easy as the sushi chefs make it look.
Those guys have been doing it for so long that it's
second nature to them. Unfortunately for me, my
experience usually comes from standing on the
other side of the sushi bar.
I have an adage “when in doubt, turn to google” and I discovered a plethora of youtube video clips,
explaining everything from tools , to the ingredients,
to all of the right techniques. I watched and took
notes and realised that there were 5 basic principles
to making the best sushi ever. And these same
principles can be applied as life lessons as well.
Sushi life lesson 1: always be prepared
I was well on my way to having a raw sh rice bowl
had I not taken the time to prepare everything from
the beginning. Like anything else, there are always
unforeseen things that can go horribly wrong. The
more we prepare ourselves, the better equipped we
become to handle any issues that may arise.
Sushi life lesson 5: Practice makes perfect
Life is not over if you fail. History is lled with great
men who were considered failures early on.
Beethoven's music teacher once told him he was
hopeless as a composer. Winston Churchill failed in
the sixth grade. Walt Disney was red by a
newspaper editor who said Disney had no great
ideas. Michael Jordan, the best player ever to play
in the NBA, didn't make the cut for his high school
basketball team? He went home and cried his eyes
out, but he never gave up. All of these great men, as
well as many others, never gave up, and neither
should we. Most of us won't get things right the rst
time. Like Thomas Edison, let's embrace our mistakes,
for they show us what doesn't work, and that can be
as valuable as learning what does. Let's learn from
them, and practice often. I have learned the more I
make sushi, the better I become.
Sushi life lesson 2: crap happens. roll with it (no pun
intended)
I will not lie. My rst attempt was a disaster. I picked
up one piece and my entire dining room table was
covered in raw sh and rice. I tried to do everything
at once and was all over the place in the kitchen.
No matter how well I was prepared something still
went amiss (I later discovered I didn’t cook the rice
properly). I could have given up and called it day,
but I was determined to make it work and become
the next Master Sushi Chef.
Sushi life lesson 3: keep calm
Oh the irony of this lesson. I am not a calm person. I
am not a patient person. There I was, wrist deep in
mushy rice with raw sh sliced in strange shapes next
to me when I realised I was missing something - I had
run out of seaweed. Only a few minutes earlier I had
a friend call me up to advise she was popping
10
While these steps may not be exhilarating or new,
we begin to appreciate them when it all starts to
pay off. Life is a journey and not a destination.
Embrace it, love it, have fun with it and just roll with it!