BLUEDRINKS.COM

J: Bill requested sushi rolls for his birthday Sunday Dinner. This time (and last time, actually), I put out a bunch of filling stuff and let people assemble their own. Last time more people did. This time, only Bill picked his own stuff, and I rolled a bunch for everyone. Fillings included cucumber, avocado, carrots (blanched), asparagus (blanched), sweet pea sprouts, chopped spinach seasoned with sesame oil, wasabe, chili-garlic sauce mixed with mayo, and toasted sesame seeds. I rolled them up in the usual way, no fancy inside out rolls. I also served yakisoba, which is a Japanese stir-fried noodle dish made with Chinese noodles. Yakisoba 1 pound fresh Chinese noodles 1/2 head cabbage, shredded 2 carrots, sliced into matchsticks 3 cups beansprouts salt and pepper 1 cup yakisoba sauce (see below) Other vegetables probably work too. I would have added onion too but I was out of room in my pan. Add the noodles to a big pot of boiling water and gently prod them until they separate. Drain them. Add a few tablespoons of vegetable oil to a large non-stick pan. When the oil is hot, fry the noodles for about ten minutes, stirring most of the time. Remove the noodles from the pan. Add a couple more tablespoons of oil and when it is hot, add the vegetables and stir fry until they are crisp tender. Salt and pepper to taste and mix well. Add the noodles back to the pan and mix well. Toss with the sauce until it heats up and thickens slightly. Serve. For the sauce, you can get yakisoba sauce in an Asian market, but all the varieties I saw had MSG and most had beef flavoring too. LeAnne can't eat MSG and I don't eat beef, so I had to make my own. 1 teaspoon cornstarch 1/2 cup vegetable stock 1/4 cup soy sauce 2 tablespoons Sake 1 tablespoon rice vinegar 1 tablespoon ketchup 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil I served this all with miso soup and a salad with Japanese ginger dressing. Also, a bottle of Sake that was missing two tablespoons. Enjoy,