Of eating sushi:

I have a craving for sushi that can only be described as unnatural. I have a need to eat raw salmon once every week, at the very least. Come weekend, when asked, "so what do you want to eat", i will invariably reply "sushi". Unless of course if the person who is asking is 1) not a raw fish fan 2) a person i don't know very well 3) my mother 4) all of the above.

I used to hate sushi. Maybe hate is too strong a word. More like "unwilling to try new things". I had long decided that i did not like seaweed. That was back in primary school where they used to sell package of thin seaweed for 20cents a pack. It had a strong alkaline taste that reminded me of soap, and when it melts in your mouth, reminded me of sea slime. At that time i had no idea what sushi was. Till i was in secondary school, i had always though rolling rice in seaweed constitute sushi and eating sashimi is the equivalent of eating sweet sour pork without the benefit of cooking the pork first. The idea was not appealling, hence i was adament in refusing to try any of the "raw stuff".

Then came a period of time when i felt game to try anything "just once". My friend started me with the cooked stuff like tempura, the katsudons, the chewanmushi. And then moved to the "semi" cooked stuff like pickled jellyfish, salmon mixed with mayo and avocado sushi, before having my first piece of raw sake sashimi. I guess i never looked back from then on and have been trying it "just once" every month (at least) ever since.

I think the next time i feel adventurous i will attempt to try some fried insects or grubs. Thing is, where do i find them here?