About Seafood

I got dinner at Tokoname again last night, which I justify with the fact that I cant make sushi at home so I simply must go out to eat for it.This rationale will continue for the next couple months, but come April, my codependency on sushi restaurants will hopefully let up a bit because Im taking a sushi-making class. In the meantime, I found this pleasant little site called MakeMySushi that is full of easy-to-understand sushi-making essentials.

Take-out sushi always seems fitting both the night before and the night after a trip. Fulfilling the front end, we got a fresh and delicious assortment of nigiri and rolls for dinner last night from Ninja Sushi.Oh, and I did make pasta with tuna, garlic, and lemon (and spinach) for lunch yesterday.Today, Im really going to need to get creative for food Im down to two bell peppers, cheese, an egg, and not much else.

George Foreman is an Olympic gold medalist and two-time world heavyweight boxing champion who knocked out Joe Frazier and lost to Muhammad Ali in one of the most famous fights in history, The Rumble in The Jungle. But these days his storied athletic past is eclipsed by the fame he earned selling grilling machines.

When people see George Forman they dont sayhey, look theres the champ. They sayhey, look theres the grill guy. Admittedly, he is clearly laughing all the way to the bank.

These days it has become apparent that Jeremy Piven is no longer the actor whos appeared in dozens of movies and dozens more TV shows and rounds out the wildly popular cast of a hit HBO seriesno, he is now officially the butt of his own joke.

Piven, who appeared on the Tonight Show last night simply cant go anywhere without addressing or now joking about his absurd claims that he came down with mercury poising from eating too much sushi.

Unlike the now beloved grilling pitchman, Pivens mercury fable doesnt appear to be rejuvenating his career but rather defining his character for an already skeptical audience whose snickers drown out the cries of hey, look theres the sushi guy.

As everyone in the world seems to know, some fish stories are so good people can’t help but tell them over and over again, and even borrow them from one another.

A reminder of that phenomenon came out this morning when a story moved on the Dow Jones News Wire concerning a claim by Richard Gelfond, the CEO of IMAX, that he suffered from a case of mercury poisoning as the result of eating two pieces of sushi per day. And in a world where inhabitants of nations like Japan eat far more fish per capita than we do here in the U.S without suffering from any widespread negative health effects, that claim seems awfully suspicious.

As you might imagine, it was hard right off the bat not to recall the curious case of Jeremy Piven, whose claims we’ve repeatedly debunked for about two years. Rather than rewind all of those posts, we’d like to simply reiterate some incontrovertible facts: No peer reviewed medical journal has ever published any evidence of a case of methylmercury poisoning caused by the normal consumption of commercial seafood in the U.S.

The health effects of mercury exposure as science understands them are the result of industrial poisonings of the food supply in Japan and Iraq over three decades ago, not consumption of commercial fish found in your local grocery store or restaurant. Furthermore, in 2007, the Journal of Nutrition reported, “poisoning from fish consumption has not been reported since those 2 events.” In short, anecdotal claims aren’t sufficient to pass scientific muster.

One wonders why Dow Jones, a media outlet with a good reputation, didn’t bother to check the facts.

Two highlights for this weekend – 1) we ate at Sushi Sasabune with friends on Saturday and 2) the fish feast fueled a Hawaii Pacific Tennis Foundation January Open win for Lloyd and one of said friends, Jason, on Sunday.

This is the third time now that Lloyd and I have enjoyed Sushi Sasabune’s omakase-style sushi spread, and though the novelty has worn off, the outrageous deliciousness has not. My favorite of the thirteen courses (I only made it to seven or eight) is still the blue-crab-stuffed squid, though the broiled oyster (half eaten, as pictured)was pretty amazing too. Until the next special occasion, Sushi Sasabune, I will miss you…

Vegas has a little something for everyone, and the little something it has for me is food. My three most memorable meals were New Year’s Eve dinner at Sushi Roku (sashimi sampler); lunch at Aria’s Julian Serrano (calamari, scallop ceviche, and salmon tapas); and our one-year wedding anniversary dinner at Andre’s (bacon-wrapped monkfish). I also need to mention that, since it was a special occasion, I tried caramelized pork belly for the first time as a starter at Andre’s and it was greasy bliss. I couldn’t talk about Andre’s without sharing/confessing that.

Now I’m home and though my body has left Las Vegas, Las Vegas has not left my body. After four days and nights in Sin City, I have a mean smoke allergy flare-up in my chest, resulting in a ridiculously raspy voice that is anything but seductive to the ears. It was well worth it for fun with friends, scrumptious food, and world-class shows. But boy am I glad to be back to clear blue Hawaii. I don’t have travel to the mainland planned again anytime in the foreseeable future, so I went on a giant grocery shop yesterday and plan to make the following meals this week: