Back before sushi was a household term, this was my only savior at the sushi bar (well that and salmon kama, another story). On a weekly basis, my parents had to drag me to the sushi bar for their craving fix. They were addicted, I was repulsed. Their sushi chef of choice ran a tight ship and frowned on cooked food being delivered to the little sushi bar tucked into the back corner of a hibachi house. And he considered it his personal crusade to get me to like sushi. Which meant I had to at least TRY quite a few things. As if that wasn’t enough, I hated that I had to sit facing the very items that triggered my gag reflex with surprising power. I wanted to be sitting at the big, flaming hibachi tables…waiting for my own plate of stir fried onions, mushrooms, steak, chicken and shrimp with a side of fried rice.

It’s funny how things change. For quite some time, sushi has been my comfort food of choice and I’m pretty dismissive of hibachi houses in general. Whether sick, stressed or starving, it’s sushi that I turn to for satisfaction. But I still hold my first love dear. It’s simple and cheap. Flavorful and easy. All you need is sushi rice, rice vinegar and a bottle of your favorite furikake blend. You can keep it simple or add a little umph with some tamago or sashimi.

For this lunch, I pressed one serving of vinegar sushi rice into a tea cup and then upended it on a plate…sprinkled it with furikake and then served with a mug of steaming green tea, a bowl of miso soup (from a dried packet) and a clementine.