Sunday, September 21, 2008

D&D and Sushi? Yes, Please!

After we moved to our new town, B decided to start a 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons campaign. The newest edition of the game had just been released, and since we moved closer to friends who were interested in playing, B thought it would be a good time to try out his Dungeon Mastering skillz. Yesterday, we played our third session of our current campaign, which is set in the world of Eberron. I play an Eladrin cleric, the diplomatic healer of the group, or the "band aid", as B so eloquently puts it. B not only DM's, but he also plays a Dragonborn wizard, who is multi-classed to warlock. Our two friends who joined the group play a Kobold rogue and an Elven fighter. It's en eclectic group. I mean, who else would play an Eladrin cleric? And, yes, our figher is an Elf, but she can really kick butt! So can the wizard, for that matter. We started the campaign with a short combat encounter outside of a cave hidden by a waterfall against mostly minions with one hit point and a couple of more difficult baddies. Then, we took a break, so I could make dinner and one of the players could run an errand. After dinner, we had an even more difficult combat inside the cave against more minions and various other evil doers being led by a nasty hobgoblin. My cleric prayers really came in handy because much healing was needed by the rogue and fighter. B's wizard/warlock led off with a truly great spell that allowed him to unleash a movable fire ball. During the entire encounter, he could send the fire ball anywhere within the cave to destroy baddies. He just had to make sure it didn't get too close to his friends, as well. My favorite line of the entire evening came from this one spell. B's explanation of the fire ball: "Think of it as an ally...except it's on fire." I want that on a T-shirt! The encounter ended with us bloodying the hobgoblin and trying to get some much needed information out of him before he thrust himself on the Elf's dagger. We found a coded message on his body that we're all going to have to solve outside of the game for the next campaign session. It's a tough word puzzle, and numerous tries to uncover it's secrets failed before our friends left for the evening. It looks like I have some homework to do, courtesy of my husband.
So, for those of you who are now utterly bored and confused by my story above, I will now relate some of the more exciting aspects of the evening. If you remember an earlier post in which I related the story of how B and I won a gift certificate to make sushi at a local restaurant, I think I mentioned that we also won a make-your-own-sushi-at-home kit. B's been anxious to try it ever since he opened the kit and read the guide book, called Sushi with Style by Ellen Brown. The book is short, sweet, and to the point when it comes to making the sushi rice correctly and forming the sushi fingers and rolls. B thought it might be a good idea to try making sushi for dinner during our D&D campaign, since there was going to be a break anyway. So, I set out yesterday morning to find all of the needed ingredients and possible equipment, and I was delighted to be able to buy everything at my local large supermarket! It really helps living in a college town that's also very multicultural. The sushi rice was prepped and cooked in my slow cooker during the first combat encounter. During the break, I prepped some vegetables, and I put some shrimp on skewers for the tempura rolls. Oh, yes! There was going to be shrimp tempura rolls as well as California rolls for dinner. When our friend came back from her errand, I finished prep on the shrimp, fried them up, and then prepped the sushi rice, which had to be turned out of the cooker into a baking pan, sprinkled with a combination of rice vinegar, sugar, and salt, and turned over with a bamboo spoon multiple times while our friends fanned it with a couple of magazines. I also made a small batch of wasabi from a powder combined with water to be used in the rolls. Then, I formed the rolls, with a little help from my hubby after a while.

The directions in the guide book were pretty clear, and after a little trial and error on our part, we managed to make a few shrimp tempura rolls with some success. They were definitely not as elegant as anything you'd find in a sushi restaurant, but they were edible and very good!

The California rolls were made with the rice on the outside of the nori (seaweed wrap) with cucumber sticks, avocado slices, and imitation crab sticks for the filling. B and I both made one California roll each, and we sliced them into multiple pieces.


The results were actually very nice to behold, especially since they were made by a couple of amateurs.

Frozen egg rolls had been put in the oven at one point, and our friend had brought a couple of submarine sandwiches and several cookies to tied over the kids (and the adults). She had brought her two sons along with her for the day, who helped keep V fairly occupied, which in turn allowed me to actually play the game this time around. Dinner was devoured by everyone, and even the kids ate some sushi, though V only nibbled on one piece and decided he didn't want it after awhile.

It was all pretty delicious and filling and really helped me concentrate on the rest of the game afterward. We finished up everything some time after 11:00 last night, and I know I didn't get to bed until around midnight. It turned out to be a long day, but a very nice one indeed. While I write this, B is playing around on his lap top, and V is exploring and playing in the family room. None of us have bathed yet, and we ended up having a brunch of homemade biscuits and sausage gravy because V and I didn't get up until 9:30 this morning and B didn't get out of bed until 11:00 am! We'll have to get ourselves together soon because we're having our pictures taken by a professional photographer, who just happens to be a member of my new mommies group. I'm looking forward to it, as long as V behaves himself and allows his picture to be taken!
Updated To Add: We were all clean and fresh and ready to go to have our pictures taken, when Mother Nature decided to cut loose with thunder, lightening, and rain. Our pictures were supposed to be taken in a local park, so we're going to have to reschedule. That's okay. It gives me and the boys a chance to relax at home for the evening.
Hope you all had a wonderful weekend, too. Best to you all,
Amanda

1 comment:

Glass of Whine said...

Great job on the sushi! We and another friend make sushi, too. It is fun - except for all the cupboard space taken up in collecting sushi "stuff." ha! :)