chef boy

Surfer Dude strikes again.


Thanks to all of you for your potluck suggestions for Memorial Day. There were definitely things mentioned that I'm going to have to try. I especially appreciated that you all got the fact that I was trying to keep it ultra simple. I wanted to eat something good, and I wanted other people to like it too, but I didn't really want to spend much time on it. I was thinking - dip. It's hard to go wrong with dip.


Sunday was a bizarre day at work, slow enough that I spent some time on-line looking up easy dip recipes. And I found several that sounded really good. One was a hot dip that is supposed to taste exactly like a jalapeño popper. Another was a chipotle artichoke dip. (Can you tell we like spicy?) There were yummy sounding dip recipes all over the place, and I made lists to present to my mini chef for his approval. Alas, it did not go smoothly.



His nose wrinkled at the thought of dip. Too pedestrian, not enough panache, no real knife skills involved. I sighed, knowing exactly how this was going to go. He threw one suggestion after another out at me that I shot down, citing my guiding principles - fast, cheap and tasty. All of a sudden he jumped up and down and shouted, "I know! I know! It's perfect!...California Rolls!"




Let's not forget that he doesn't even like California Rolls. But they're showy and different and very popular with our crowd. He was already lovingly cradling Knifey as he danced around the kitchen, visions of cucumber filleting dancing in his head. I had other visions, like dollar bills and ticking clocks. I watched as he dug in the cabinet for sushi rice. Game over.


California rolls aren't difficult, but they are time consuming. They can be pricey, but as it turned out, we had everything we needed on hand except crab and a ripe avocado. I showed him how to assemble them and roll them up in the bamboo mat. He caught on immediately and after my first demonstration, took it from there. I cut the long rolls into bite size pieces and put them on the platter. He did everything else.


And when we walked in carrying them (and the bowl of mindless hummus I threw together since I was still in dip mindset) everyone oohed and aahed and attacked the plate. He stood there patiently, allowing praise to be heaped upon his beaming little head. They really turned out well, didn't cost a lot and were very, very tasty.


But jeez. I've got to talk to the kid about the definition of the word fast.