The Joy of Sake

Tonight my girlfriend and I will host a sushi party in honor of our friend's birthday. Sounds gracious, right? The catch, other than the one we'll purchase by the pound, is that he will have to make all the rolls himself. After slaving away at the large quantity of sticky rice, the finely sliced vegetables, fruits and pickles, exacto-knifing the raw fish, rolling it all together and feeding all the hungry seals, er, friends, he'll finally sit down to his own roll stuffed with the last scraggly bits and probably find that he's not even hungry anymore, having taste-tested everything along the way. Happy Birthday, indeed! In my defense, I would not have been so gracious as to invite him to do this if he himself hadn't requested it. The birthday boy is actually one of the most strategically adept people I know. There are still hand prints on my bottom from the last time he thoroughly spanked me on the chess board. I know he's also savvy to the karmic principles of giving and receiving and could probably graph out the many happy returns the universe will have in store for him after tonight.

Meanwhile, I'm hard at work blogging and the gf's gone out to by the myriad ingredients we've committed to buying in order to pull this off. Here's the bb's wish list of items so far:

Staples:

Rice (botan or calrose)

Soy Sauce

Nori
Wasabi
Pickled ginger

Fish:
Salmon
Tuna
Fake crab (or real crab is someone's feeling generous)

Fruits, Veggies, etc:
Asparagus
Mango
Sesame seeds (kuro -n- shiro goma)
Cream cheese
Bell peppers of various colors
Cucumber
Green Onion
Mushrooms (shitake preferred)
Spinach
Tomago
Snow Peas

Living across the street from a major supermarket and a bike ride away from Bi-Rite--the upscale health food market near Dolores Park which spawned the dreamy Bi-Rite Creamery (warning: flavor list may cause sudden salivation)--shopping won't be too hard. The difficult part will be finding sushi-grade fish that is also wild rather than farmed.

Finding a good sake is also a challenge. In my experience you can never judge by how cute or sexy the bottle might be. Generally, I find it safer to go with an unfiltered, milky sake rather than the clear type. Two resources I'd like to tap in this regard are:

1. Sushi Zone: A great little sushi restaurant in our 'hood. Not the best ever and it's running way behind on the customer service beat (see Yelp! reviews from folks who seem to know their sushi better than I), but their oyster appetizer and low prices are well worth the 2 hour wait time you are likely to experience. And the unfiltered sake we had there a few weeks ago was deemed by a dinner comrade as, "the best sake I've ever drinken." Since said comrade & spouse are moving in right down Pearl Street, only a few houses down from the Zone next week, I'll have plenty of opportunity to pop in there and find out what type of sake they serve.

2. The Joy of Sake: A convention happening at the Hilton Hotel next weekend. There will be 300 of the best sakes that will be laid out in their prime quaffability, plus plenty of delectable bites to clear the palate. Would anyone like to take me to this cost-prohibitive, but plenty posh party?