Welcome to Gaia! ::

Passura nod glumly. "Yeah... he gave me a book to read about the void after that... I really don't think he likes him. Or should I say he doesn't like his approach to things. I guess that is why he was so upset." He smiles at the youngsters and shakes his head, brushing the sand from his hands on his pants. "It's really close to lunch time. Who wants to learn how to cook? We can make a nice lunch for my sirrah and your mother."

Passura laughs and heads for the exit point in the park. "What do you think we should make, Kero?" He asks as they make their way back to the kitchen.

Passura thinks as he walks. "A lunch should be hearty but not so filling so as to make one not eat their dinners.... what sort of fish dish do you suggest? We usually have some form of soup and sandwich?"

Pasa laughs. "But sushi is easy, if you know how... Tell you what... I'll make the rice... It is the hardest part after all... then show you all how to put them together."

Passura makes the rice and while it is steaming, he pulls forth veggies and fish to use in the various type. After a bit of digging he frowns. "Darn..." he grumbles softly. "I was going to make one that is named after someone you know... I think. It is named for my grammarei... Inari. But it needs a fired tofu pocket. It is really simple to make and quite yummy. Oh well. We'll make some maki sushi and tuna nigiri."

Pasa nods and lays out several sheets of nori. "This is dried seaweed. It actually tastes pretty good. Now when the sushi rice is done I will mix it with sugar and vinegar to make it sweet and tart at the same time. The rice will be put onto this sheets in a not too thick, not too thin layer... we will need to cover all the nori evenly. Once we do that we put strips of vegetables and fish, along with candied ginger down the middle and roll it up carefully. If we do it right, it will be very pretty in the middle. Even if we don't get it just right it will still taste very good. So do your best, but don't panic if it doesn't work out right at first. It takes practice." He says showing them how to lay things on the rice. When they are sliced into smaller segments they look very pretty.

"Those are called maki rolls. They have lots of different ingredients that can be used from plain fish to just cucumbers... to all kinds of stuff including scrambled eggs done in a crepe then sliced into really thin strips. There is another type of sushi that Kero really likes, that doesn't have any vegetables. Nigiri sushi uses small patties of sushi rice and on them is placed slices of fresh raw fish."

Passura nods. "I know...." He gives each of the younglings a task to do. One peels the vegetables and one washes them, while another helps him cut things up. But somehow he manages to make sure that all three do a little of each job so no one feels they are not getting to do something important. Then once the rice is done he makes three paper fans.

"Ok... now this is very very important... It helps cool the rice and keeps me from burning my fingers... as well as helps to keep it from getting too soggy. I'm going to mix in this sugar and vinegar solution with the rice and fluff it a bit and you three are going to fan the rice while I do so... We want it sticky but not a sodden mass. Got it? "