Making Sushi!

For years I thought sushi was too complicated to make at home. The seaweed, the perfectly-cooked sticky rice, the sushi-grade quality fish. It's all so precise, which is why I've happily paid $15 per roll to have an expert hand-craft it for me.

But a sushi-making class with I Wish Lessons taught me that making sushi doesn't need to be a sticky situation.

Sushi roll ingredient spread

At the class, my friend Vicky and I each made three rolls: a veggie roll with rice on the inside, a California roll and a spicy tuna roll. We started with the simplest (veggie roll) and worked our way up to the spicy tuna roll.

Rice on seaweed for the veggie roll

Our sushi rolling instructor recently got a job at Ra in the Gold Coast and has been rolling sushi for eight years. She's very passionate about her craft and was happy to answer questions. The other I Wish staffers distributed ingredients for our rolls while the bartender (The class was held at The Joynt.) made sure our drinks were never empty.

Cutting bite-sized pieces of the veggie roll

Our I Wish sushi-making lesson didn't use top-of-the-line tools or a beautiful test kitchen, like you might find at The Chopping Block. But it was well-organized, affordable and covered the basics I would want to know before attempting to roll some fish at home. Next up: An Advanced Sushi-Making Class!

Spicy tuna roll

The End of an American Cafe

A few weeks ago, we went to brunch at Erwin for the first time. Erwin has been in Lakeview for years, 18 to be exact. It's a staple in neighborhood and a highly-regarded cafe serving simple but good, quality food. Perhaps this is why I was surprised to read on Eater Chicago that the cafe is closing.

Our brunch wasn't fancy. I had a salmon scramble, Z had a salmon omelette and Adi, Z's friend, had a salmon benedict. (You can guess our word of the day.) But it was good. Erwin seems like the kind of restaurant that isn't trying to chase the latest trend, but rather focuses on consistency and quality. Unfortunately, you won't have much longer to try the food. Erwin closes Sunday, July 1st.

Making Crepes

To keep ourselves out of trouble during the NATO summit a couple of weekends ago, Z and I made a bunch of fun plans, most of which involved avoiding the immediate downtown area.

Flip Crepe's crepe-making classes in the company's training facility certainly fit that criteria. The training facility is located in an stretch of old warehouse buildings on Fulton Market Street not far from Intelligentsia's coffee roasting tour. The classes fit other criteria too--interactive, fun and satiating.

Z carefully measuring ingredients

We arrived at our brunch-making class and were immediately welcomed with a mimosa. Our instructor had also prepared a beautiful buffet for our brunch, complete with savory and sweet ingredients. Think caviar, eggs, bacon, Nutella, raspberries and bananas. Yum! Our instructor assured us we could sample the buffet as soon as our crepes were prepared.

While making crepes from scratch may sound intimidating, the staff at FliP Crepes breaks them down the process into bite-sized steps. Finding the right balance and proportion of the ingredients is important. Once you've figured that out, you're on your way.

Keeping a watchful eye on my crepe

Z and I learned something new about each other through the process. It turns out we're both star crepe flippers!

Z flipping a crepe

My turn

FliP Crepes offers its brunch-making classes on Saturdays and Sundays. Be sure to book your class in advance.