Sushi Class!

Hello Everyone,

Today's Lectures

Monday the 26th of Jan was another sea day, still on the way to Waitangi in New Zealand. I went to three lectures. Two were about New Zealand (Trailblazing Explorers and Insights to New Zealand), and they were quite informative. You may or may not know that Sir Edmund Hillary was from New Zealand. I didn't! The second lecture went into detail about the geography of New Zealand as well as its immigration history and economy. Kinda makes you want to live there!

The third lecture was entitled "Future Space Missions - The Artemis Program". Our resident astronaut, Mike Foreman, talked all about Artemis, NASA's mission to the Moon and (eventually) to Mars. Artemis II will launch on 6 Feb 2026 if all goes well, and will take its crew on an orbit around the moon, a practice mission for an eventual lunar landing.

Making Sushi

In the evening I attended another cooking class, this time concentrating on sushi. We have a world class sushi chef on board, the only European to ever win the World Cup of sushi in Japan. He led the session and gave our small group (just four people) a Master Class in sushi preparation. I know (or should I say, knew) very little about sushi, except that I like it. Consequently, I learned a lot.

For example, did you know that the word "sushi" has nothing to do with fish or seafood? Rather, it refers to "vinegar rice", the base for nigiri and various rolls. You can put chicken in a California roll and it'd still be called sushi. Also, California rolls were the invention of a Canadian chef who was catering to the tastes of Westerners who balked at having the nori (dried seaweed) on the outside of the roll, so he reversed it and put the nori on the inside.

Nigiri is the classic style of sushi served in Japan. It's a small bit of sticky rice with a thin slice of raw fish on top. Generally there is a bit of wasabi smeared on the underside of the fish. The amount of wasabi is a matter of taste, but the chef uses his discretion based on the fattiness and flavor profile of the fish. It's considered rude to add wasabi when you eat it - you imply that the chef doesn't know what he's doing. Also, it's considered poor taste to add wasabi to your soy sauce and mix them together. 

I  learned that, when dipping nigiri in soy, you should turn it upside down so that only the fish (and not the rice) is dipped into the soy. That keeps the rice from falling apart. Likewise, rolls are generally not dipped in soy, for the same reason. Finally, sushi should always be consumed in one bite. If it's too big to be eaten in a single bite, the chef made a mistake!

Chef demonstrating how to use the sushi mat

Proper technique for spreading the rice

Placing crabmeat on the roll

Ready to roll!

My California rolls and nigiri
(tuna, salmon, and amberjack)

My sushi, plated and ready to eat

When we finished making the California rolls and nigiri, we got to eat our work. They served us a top notch sake that paired very well. As you can see from the picture above, it was a LOT of food! None of the four of us was able to completely clear our plates.

Classical Guitar

We left satiated and happy and headed off to hear a superbly accomplished classical guitarist play in the Star Theater. His name is Nathan Sinclair, and he's from Australia. He played a 40-minute set of familiar classical pieces by Isaac Albéniz, Fernando Sor, Francisco Tarrega, and others. Here's a brief video snippet of his opening number.

Beautiful Night Skies

After the concert a few of us stepped outside to do some star gazing on the top deck. We got to see the Southern Cross, a constellation only visible in the southern hemisphere. Thanks to the lack of light pollution, there were millions of stars visible. We were also treated to a beautiful half moon, down near the horizon. I used my iPhone to capture this view of the moon reflecting on the water. The light blue color in the foreground is due to the lights from our ship illuminating the water several decks below where I stood.

So all in all, another fine day aboard the Viking Sky! We'll make our first stop in New Zealand (Waitangi, Bay of Islands) on the 28th. More to follow!

Cheers,
Jim