It's been a nostalgic couple of weeks, which is how long I've been working on this piece. It all started when a group of friends and family were talking about "the good old days" and we all agreed that one of the things we missed the most were the old "Mom and Pop" stores, cute little family run groceries where the most expensive candy bars cost under $1 and they always had the best snack food lined up by the cash register. The Mom (usually a little old Japanese lady) would wake up early every morning to prepare the fresh sushi and musubi while the Dad would stock the shelves. The ideas for these pieces came from various people and are some of our favorite memories. From the left we have: Plain Musubi with nori strip [link] Futomaki (rolled sushi with the nori outside) [link] Uramaki (Inside-Out Roll with the nori inside), Inarizushi (sushi rice in a fried bean curd cone) [link] Round Onigiri with Ume (pickled plum) [link] and the Hawaii staple... Spam Musubi [link] There's even a Breakfast Spam Musubi with egg!

Once again, no patterns were used, just a great love for sushi, several books on the subject and the treasured memories of myself, my family and my friends. I tried to put up links to each of the sushi and musubi I have here, but nothing would connect. Guess online food sites don't like being linked to. So, I scanned some pages from my book Sushi Taste and Technique by Kimiko Barber and Hiroki Takemura.