Eat Sushi On The Cheap - Roll Your Own

My kids love to go out for Sushi, preferably kaiten-zushi, or revolving sushi, style where the sushi revolves around the restaurant on a conveyor belt or train.  While we were at Uwajimaya we decided we would try to recreate our favorite rolls at home.  Together we came up with a sufficient shopping list for our excursion:  Sashimi grade Salmon, Imitation Crab (for California rolls), Ebi (Shrimp prepared for sushi), Nori, Sweet Ginger, cream cheese, cucumbers and avocados.  After cooking our rice, we folded in a sushi seasoning mixture consisting of 5 tbsp rice vinegar, 4 tbsp of sugar and 2 tsp of salt whisked together. While we let the rice cool, we sliced our fillings into thins strips (including the cream cheese) and prepared our rolling mats.  We spent the next 2 hours creating and tasting our favorite sushi rolls as well as trying out new combinations.  Altogether our night of handmade food cost us half of a trip to a restaurant and provided us entertainment to boot.

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

 

As a work from home dad I'm constantly searching out new ways to interact and entertain my boys.  Tablets have opened an entire new world in the ways we can present, educate and and amuse our children.  There are literally thousands of apps, in both iTunes and the Android market, that are geared toward children and their parents.  My favorite type of App to use with my three-year-old are the interactive storybooks. Out of all the available books, The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore happens to be our current favorite.  The incredible story about a man who becomes the proprietor  of a library of flying books began as an Oscar winning animated short and was adapted into an interactive app.  The art and animation is beautifully done and each of the pages has a hidden feature to find and play with, which the three-year-old loves. The app is currently only available on iTunes, but hopefully Android tablet users will be able to enjoy it soon as well.

www.morrislessmore.com

Tutankhamun: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs @ Pacific Science Center

The King Tut exhibit is an amazing journey through 2,000 years of Egyptian history.  Beginning with a short video narrated by Harrison Ford, the exhibit contains over 100 incredible artifacts from Egypt's History including one of Tutankhamun's personal games, a colossal 10 foot statue of Tutankhamun, and the solid gold Funerary Mask of Psusennes I.  The exhibit will be here from May 24, 2012 - January 6, 2013.