Sushi Tips

My colleague just sent me some notes that he took from our sushi experience in Salt Lake City. The owner shared a couple of interesting facts about sushi restaurants that I thought you all might enjoy:

Ikejima (ee-kay-jee-may) is a style of killing the fish. Quick pith of fish brain, followed by hanging upside down to drain the blood. No rigor-mortis alteration of muscle taste and not fishy-tasting. Not possible to do with all types of fish used in sushi. The owner recommended asking your sushi restaurant if any of their fish are ikejima fish. It provides the best quality of sushi. If they have any fish that are killed this way it's a good, authentic restaurant.

Dashi (dah-shee): Basis of all Japanese cooking - Miso soup broth, for example. It's almost like a broth that goes into everything, soup, sauces, noodles, etc. Ask if your sushi restaurant if they make their own dashi in-house.

Wasabi (wuh-sah-bee): Authentic is grayish green and has a granular like texture. "Real" wasabi should be spread directly on the fish, not mixed into the soy sauce, like the stuff we usually get which is bright green, made from paste and water.

Temari (teh-mah-ree): Sushi "balls" that are tighter and smaller. Created so Geishas could eat without opening their mouths too wide, which sometimes cracks their facial make-up.
The owner at Naked Fish gave us golden snapper temari to try on the house.

Hope you enjoyed the shared sushi knowledge.

"The more you know..."

Skiing and Sushi

To continue the story of skiing at Alta I have more photos!

Where we rented our ski equipment.

A view of the base


Crazy chair lift shots




The three colleagues skiing Alta


At the end of the day we had skied three black diamond and probably 8 blue square runs. I fell once going down a un-groomed, powder slope. My skis didn't want to turn in the deep powder. Oops!

After skiing our bodies to exhaustion we said goodbye to my friend who was staying on the mountain with her family and then headed back downtown.

Once we got downtown we went to a sushi restaurant that I tried to get to all week long, Naked Fish. They had been written up in the same magazine as Cucina Toscana as the best sushi restaurant in the city. My colleague and I shared a couple of rolls prepared by the owner who was quick to inform us that he is not the head sushi chef. The restaurant had actually been closed but he said if we were patient he could make us a couple of rolls. I'm glad we decided to stay because the sushi was amazing!

I was so excited to eat that I forgot to take photos of our first two rolls until they were almost gone.

Rainbow roll which is a California roll topped with salmon, tuna, and halibut.


Playboy roll which had shrimp tempura in the middle and was topped with tuna, avocado, ponzo sauce and spicy mayo. I hope I remembered it correctly. It was my favorite!!


The owner was kind enough to let us try two dishes on the house. The first was fresh, as in alive at the sushi bar, sweet shrimp. I was a little creeped out by the moving heads but the tail meat was sweet and tender. They then took the heads back to the kitchen and friend them up. I didn't eat a head. I let my colleague have ours.


There were two sushi dishes that I didn't remember to photograph. One was a bite size sushi topped with golden snapper. The other was another maki roll that I can't remember what was in it other than some sort of fish, tempura jalapenos and cilantro. I do remember that it was tasty!

That was my week in Salt Lake City. Full of exercising, learning, and eating! I couldn't have asked for a better week. I just wish my flight back to Boston didn't have to leave at 1AM. Oh well, it allowed me to get back home, repack, and catch a flight to Chicago to visit Matt's sister and brother-in-law.

Good Food with a Side of Skiing

Hooray for free WiFi at Salt Lake City International Airport! I didn't know what to do with myself in this empty airport until I get to board my 12:50AM flight but now I get to blog!

The rest of my trip in Salt Lake City continued to be full of great food and was finished with a great ski trip!

Wednesday morning I had breakfast in my room. I got the "Healthy Breakfast" which was wheat toast, fruit, non-fat yogurt, homemade granola and coffee. I don't know if I was even finished half of the tray. There was so much food!


After catching up on some work in my room I met up with my co-workers for lunch at Caffe Molise again. This time our table started with all of the appetizers (which I didn't photograph) so I ordered a salad to try to save room for dessert. My salad on Wednesday was just as good as Tuesday's! This time my salad had shrimp, fruit salsa and feta cheese.


Of course I saved room for dessert. I ordered the homemade pistachio gelato and had a bite of a friend's pineapple gelato. After eating three of the homemade gelatos in two days I can say that the pistachio was my favorite!


After lunch I went back to my hotel and did some more work. Then decided I needed to go for one last swim. My pictures don't really do the pool justice but enjoy.

Gym entrance

The pool area had Murano glass chandeliers



The view from the pool


After my swim I got ready for dinner. Wednesday night we ate at Cucina Toscana which was the top rated Italian restaurants in Salt Lake City.

Here is a photo of the owner, Valter, from one of Salt Lake City's magazines.


The owner, Valter, gives every table complimentary bruschetta. Delicious!


We all decided to order a couple of their handmade pasta samplers as our appetizer. It was a great decision! We each had a scoop of homemade gnocci in a light tomato sauce and ricotta & spinach stuffed raviolis. Probably some of the best pasta I have ever had!


For dinner we all decided to share entrees. My partner in crime and I decided on ordering the calamari steak which came with shrimp and soft shell crab. I'm not a fan of soft shell crab but I had never had calamari steak before and needed to try it. Our server described it perfectly, soft like butter with a little snap. If you've ever had it I think you'll know what I mean. If not, order it when you can and you will understand.


Everyone else was kind enough to take a photo of their entrees for my blog. A fried gave me a bite of the short rib which was heavenly comfort food.

Short rib


Salmon and shrimp in mustard cream sauce


Pork in a fig and cherry glaze


Angel hair pasta with seafood


I was glad that I had shared an entree because, of course, it left the smallest amount of room for dessert. I got the chocolate souffle that was served with homemade chocolate chip gelato and whip cream then covered in dark chocolate sauce. My friend got the tiramisu. Our plan was to share the desserts but I ended up only eating a bite of the tiramisu and finishing my half of the chocolate souffle. It was so good!




After dinner Valter came over to see how everything was. After we praised all of the food he ordered us all a complimentary round of European hot chocolate with homemade biscotti. So good! I didn't have another inch of room in my belly to finish it!


After dinner we went out to a bar called Beerhive for one last drink. I ended up ordering an oatmeal stout which was too heavy for my belly but it was very tasty!


Then it was off to bed because I had an early morning hitting the slopes!

First thing this morning I got up to meet my colleague at 7AM for breakfast. We both ended up getting two eggs, bacon, wheat toast and hash browns. I barely had room to finish half of my breakfast. I guess I ate too much last night?! After breakfast we headed up to Alta Ski Resort. We had rented equipment, got our lift tickets and were on the chairlift by 10AM. We also met up with my friend, and our colleague, up at Alta. She had left to go up to Alta the day before to visit her family who were staying on the mountain. They were kind enough to have us in to their home later that day for lunch. We had peanut butter & jelly, green tea, and an oatmeal butterscotch cookie. It was definitely enough fuel to get me through the second half of the day. The mountain was beautiful! The skiing was incredible! It was a great way to spend my last day in Utah.

Drive through the mountains



Photos at the base of Alta


*I had to shut down my computer to board my plane at 12:30AM on Friday. I am currently in Chicago and decided I should post this now and finish the post when I get home. More about skiing at Alta to follow on Monday. Happy Saint Patrick's Day!*

Too Much Food!

Ahhh! The last two days have been great but I'm stuffed to the gills!

Monday, my colleague and I started out our day by both ordering the "American Breakfast" which was two eggs with wheat toast, potatoes, and apple chicken sausage. We both only ate half and then realized we should have just shared.


I took this picture of the dining room during breakfast. The decor is so eclectic. This hotel reminds me of my favorite hotel in Little Rock, Arkansas, Capital Hotel, and an amazing hotel on Mackinac Island, Michigan, Grand Hotel.

After going to the gym we went up to the conference to attend some sessions. By the time my brain was full my belly was empty again. A couple of us walked down the street and ended up at Siegfried's Delicatessen. It was a fantastic German deli and market. I wanted to try everything but ended up getting the turkey reuben. If it wasn't for my colleagues wanting to get back to the conference quickly after lunch I probably would have ended up bringing home a suitcase full of European snacks and goodies.


Monday night, after the conference, was an evening of receptions. My group decided to party hop from event to event. My favorite reception was at the Hope Gallery. It was catered by a company called Culinary Crafts. Not only was their food and service fantastic but they also used bamboo plates and forks which I thought was great!



At the end of the evening we had attended four parties. I had a glass of wine and a water at each party and food only at the Hope Gallery. I thought I was doing great until we decided to go to a bar for one last drink as a group. We ended up at the Red Door which was one of the creepiest bars that I have ever been in. The picture didn't come out very well but this is a monkey holding a monkey skull surrounded by red light. Eek!


My drink, a Vesper Martini, was a bad choice on my part. It's the original James Bond martini which has gin, vodka and lillet with a lemon twist. It was just too strong after drinking wine all night. After the drink at the creepy bar we headed home to our hotel where I fell asleep immediately!

Tuesday morning my head was a little fuzzy, thanks to my martini. I decided the only thing that was going to make me feel better was the breakfast buffet. It was a beautiful spread of food. I ended up eating fruit, a bite of potatoes, one scrambled egg, and something that reminded me of overnight oats with berries on top.


Oh yea... that was just my first plate. It was then followed up by eating almost two whole pieces of bacon, a blintz and a little more than half of that big piece of pound cake you see.


After getting full on breakfast I felt so much better! On to the conference! Tuesday morning was full of walking around the exhibitor floor. After all that walking I was hungry for lunch! Our group went to Caffe Molise. I ended up ordering their special salad which had pan seared cod, tomatoes, artichokes, caper berries and a three berry balsamic dressing on it. It was very good!


Because I was "good" and had a salad I decided to get their homemade coffee gelato for dessert. My lunch was fantastic!


After we finished walking around the exhibitor floor, after lunch, we headed back to the hotel to go to the pool. We sat in the hot tub, then I swam 16 laps, and then I followed it up with relaxing in the hot tub for a couple of minutes. I love pools!

An hour or two later we were at dinner at Spencer's for Steaks & Chops. This was my favorite meal so far at Salt Lake City.

I knew dinner was going to be an overwhelming amount of food and wine so I started out slow. I limited myself to six small rings of calamari and a bite of a colleagues salad. Both fantastic!



A fellow foodie got the crab cakes and they looked so pretty that I had to share.


The fantastic bottle of wine that accompanied our dinner.


Then it was time for the main course. I got the bone-in filet mignon and we had ordered a bunch of sides for table. I know it looks like a lot of food on my plate but I didn't eat it all I just had to taste it all. Mashed sweet potatoes, loaded hash browns, sauteed spinach and tomatoes, asparagus, sauteed mushrooms and cauliflower au gratin.


In addition to all the food you see above my colleague and I share a plate of Alaskan King Crab legs. This was my first time eating them and I'm in love! They remind me of a sweeter version of lobster.


After putting all of this food into my lead foot I decided I had room for a bite of dessert. My friend and I decided to share the strawberry shortcake. I'm not sure if you can tell from this picture but it was the LARGEST strawberry shortcake I have ever seen! We barely made a dent in it.


The little glass of wine you see in the picture is a small glass of Blandy's 5-year old Malmsey Madeira wine. The wine brought back memories. A couple years ago Matt and I took a Transatlantic cruise from Barcelona to Boston. The only port of call was Madeira. A beautiful Portuguese island off the coast of Morocco. While we toured the island we found this little house that was a wine company, Blandy's. We took a little tour of the winery and fell in love with Madeira wine!

A picture of me in a tram to the top of the island in Madeira. One of the cruise ships in the distance was ours.


Back to reality, I'm in Salt Lake City and I'm stuffed!