Stuffing my face with the goodness

Continuing on the Boise trip catalogue, (that's the cool way to spell it), is another Peterson Family must.  Sushi!  If you recall, Grant & I recently made sushi at home.  While it tasted excellent and was also excellently priced (a necessity when parents around around...) it is pretty hard to replicate the awesomeness made by a real sushi chef.  

So we headed downtown to a sushi place I hadn't been to yet: Yoi Tomo.  Along on the trip were: 

Mom & Pops Peterson (aka Grandma & Grandpa)

And the walrus children.  Wait a minute...

Oh there we go.  The smiling children.  When we were little we looked like twins (partly because he was huge and I was scrawny).  It's pictures like these that remind me of those days.  He really is my twin... just born a few years late.... Really.

First, you must start with wasabi & ginger.  I never eat the ginger.  It's gross and makes my mouth feel icky.  But it is comforting to see it sitting there.  It's a necessary decoration.

Yoi Tomo is right next to the cool new movie theater downtown.  Thus, they have named lots of specialty rolls after movies.  This one in front was called the Ten Ten (wait... is that a movie?)  We called it the corn dog roll because honestly, it tasted like a corn dog.  Yum.

I don't remember what this one was called.  Any help Mama?  But the tempura crunchies and orange eel sauce stuff on top make this roll excellent.  Oh, plus that cream cheese.  Good combo.

I believe this was the Anger Management roll.  Eel, avocado, sesame seeds.. this one was probably the favorite of the night.  At least for those table members who don't support corn dog sushi....

And this lovely is Grandpa Mike's favorite.  Unaki Nigiri.  Unaki means eel and nigiri is the type of sushi: fish on top of rice.  Pretty basic.  Eel prepared in this way has a BBQ chicken-y flavor.  Yum.  And it's not raw which is good for sushi wary patrons.  However, the texture is a little... funky?  Which makes it a difficult dish to swallow for people like my sister, Lindsay.

While I think sushi is one of the best things on the whole planet, I have also come to terms with the fact that I really don't eat real sushi.  I love deep fried sushi, or sushi covered in sauce and filled with all sorts of interesting and innovative ingredients.  Suffice it to say, I love American sushi.  Traditional Japanese sushi is much more pure and simple, focusing on the flavor and freshness of the fish instead of adding distracting extras.  It's kind of like saying you love Mexican food when all you have had is Tex-Mex.  It's good nonetheless... even if not very authentic.  But hey, I'm okay with that.  After all, I'm American and proud of it!