futomaki sushi

Last weekend we had our first Chiba-kun Ambassador opinion exchange! Due to a previous commitment I wasn't able to stay for the actual opinion exchange (defeating the purpose, I know), but I was able to make it to the first two events: futomaki sushi and a presentation on tourism in Chiba.

 

I've made futomaki sushi before (probably under the direction of the same group, even), but that didn't make this time any less fun! We started out with a demonstration from the teacher in charge, who showed us how to make both a rose (which I made last time) and the slightly more complicated peach flower (which I decided to try this time).

And then it was time for us to try it ourselves! We split into small groups with a teacher to help us, and gave it our best. Making the peach flower was certainly a little more complicated than the rose, but I still think it turned out pretty well! After we finished making them, we each traded half of our peach flower roll for half of a rose roll from another group, so we could try both.






Next, our teacher demonstrated how to make a panda! This was different from ours because it had egg on the outside instead of seaweed, and was also way more complicated. It ended up super cute though! Other groups' teachers made things like cherry trees, butterflies, and flowers.

Finally, it was time for us to eat! They also prepared some sort of delicious clear soup for us to eat, and with that plus the rolls we made and from the teachers, it was a loott of lunch. I managed to eat it all somehow (since I couldn't take it to my next destination with me), but to be honest I think I may have been the only one, haha.  It was tasty though, and the cheese stick that was in the center of the peach flower roll actually went with it pretty well, which surprised me a little. We got little pamphlets with the recipes/instructions on them, so if I want to I can try it again on my own sometime!