Crabs Akiyama

What a temaki (handrolled sushi cone) looks it. Choose your toppings and roll it all up.

I am tired of the casserole dishes we got free from our old pizza place. So wanted to serve dinner in something else. This is a lacquered three-tiered juu bako, a food serving container. It's great for bringing to parties, picnics and even serving at home on special occasions.

This is what the inside looked like! One layer of boiled crab, one of sashimi and one of sushi rice.

This is a ke-gani (hairy crab, if someone is more knowledgeable about crustaceans and knows the proper name in English, I'll change it.) It is the same kind of critters Kazuhiko Akiyama wears as a necklace! Small, but firm and meaty, they are as pricey as their bulkier king crab cousins. I prefer this more compact crab.

We bought it fresh and boiled it. We had no idea how long to do it for. Hiroshi had to check on the Internet partway through. Still we did it perfectly!

Crabs are cut open with scissors and Reina has this thing about trimming the hair on them. Hiroshi made a funny pun which I can't translate into English but I told Kazuhiko and he got a big kick out of it. He replied, "Please don't ask me to allow your daughter trim my hair." (Punchline without the joke is pretty lame eh?) Sorry. But doesn't his spikey hairstyle even resemble the crabs. LOL

This is the assorted sashimi plate we got. Some tuna, some kanpachi, shrimp, salmon, scallop and squid. What does raw squid taste like? Tiger would ask. Slimey rubber tires, girl. Squid (not tires) is okay grilled, in pasta or deep fried.... No, I didn't pick dandelions in December. It is an edible flower that comes with the set.

Some veggies and sushi rice. My sushi rice is simple, just use sushi rice powder. We cut up the nori and everyone puts in rice and whatever topping they want. Then you wrap it by hand so it's called temaki (handwrapped sushi.) It's fun and you can't go wrong. (except when you put in too much rice...