Using the Grandma & Grandpa Plan (whereby Grandma got Grandpa a new electric skillet for Christmas, and Grandpa got Grandma a new power drill for Christmas), I got Bernie a sushi making kit for Christmas. So far, I've made several batches of sushi, and I think it's turned out exceptionally well.

All the sushi making instructions describe tossing the cooked rice with rice vinegar sauce which is made of rice vinegar cooked with salt and sugar. Last time I was in the grocery store (the big one thirty miles away because our local grocery wouldn’t sell six ounces of rice vinegar in a thousand years), I priced rice vinegar. I don’t remember if it was just plain rice vinegar or rice vinegar sauce (with salt and sugar), but the price tag made my eyes roll to the back of my head. Some kindly stranger caught me before I tipped over and knocked everything off the shelf.

Since my experience eating sushi is limited, I guess I’ll just keep making it wrong (with apple cider vinegar which is purportedly too strong). If I were a connoisseur, maybe I would spend twenty-five bucks to buy a gallon of fancy vinegar.

As an aside, I like seafood. Especially if it said, “Moo,” in a former life. But fish is fishy enough without also being uncooked. So before anyone sends me a warning about sushi, please note I don’t use raw fish in my sushi. Rice. Vegetables. Dead fish (cooked). Seaweed (for wrapping). And apple cider vinegar.

Hopefully the Japanese don’t make me give back my first name.