Preparing Other Ingredients
You can put just about anything in your sushi. On your first try, I don’t recommend raw fish, unless you are sure you know how to fillet. Vegetables like carrots and cucumbers are ideal, as they can be cut into thin, long strips. Mushrooms, shrimp, and egg can be cooked before hand, and then also chopped and used.
Making the Rice
This is the most important part of the sushi. If you have a rice cooker, it should be
straightforward and easy. However, it can be trickier on a stove, because the rice on the bottom tends to get overcooked. For the stove, the best recipe I found (many can be found on the Internet, and on your bag of sushi rice) is to add 1 cup of water for each cup of uncooked rice. Then, get a heavy pot with a tight lid, and bring rice to a boil over medium heat. After it starts to boil, turn the heat down to low. 15 to 20 minutes should be enough time for the rice to cook, but try some of the rice to make sure it is fully cooked. While it is cooking, prepare the seasoning mixture (see below). After the rice is fully cooked, turn off the heat, and let it sit undisturbed for 15 minutes. If you do not have the time, you don’t have to wait.
Seasoning the rice
The seasoning mixture is a combination of sugar, salt, and vinegar. Here are the ratios:
Cooked Rice | Sugar | Salt | Vinegar |
5 to 7 cups | 1 tablespoon | 1½ teaspoons | 4 tablespoons |
8 to 9 cups | 1½ tablespoons | 2 teaspoons | 6 tablespoons |
10 to 11 cups | 2 tablespoons | 2½ teaspoons | ½ cup |
Stir the seasoning together until it becomes clear. After cooking the rice, transfer the rice to a large bowl, and stir it while slowly pouring the mixture on the rice. Continue to stir the rice for a few more minutes.
Making Sushi Rolls
Unless you are making a very large roll, cut the dried seaweed in half. Make sure you get your fingers wet before handling the rice, otherwise it will stick. Lay the bamboo mat out in front of you, unrolled away from you. Place the seaweed sheet along a straight edge of the bamboo mat closest to you. Then, spread the rice on the seaweed sheet, making sure you are not adding too much, because then you will not be able to close the roll. Also, leave a quarter-inch of space along the top side of the seaweed sheet furthest from you. Next, place your desired ingredients in the middle of the roll, and then, using the bamboo mat to carefully roll the seaweed away from you, up to the quarter-inch of space. Unroll the mat, leaving the seaweed and rice rolled up only to the quarter-inch space. Bring the sushi roll down to the bottom of the mat. Roll the sushi in the bamboo may again, but this time all the way, so it is closed. If the seaweed starts to unroll, you can use a little water on your finger as “glue”. Finally, you can cut the sushi, but remember to wet the blade of your knife before cutting, and to use a sharp knife to prevent tearing the seaweed.
Making Chirashi Sushi
If making Sushi rolls becomes tedious, or you run out of dried seaweed sheets, making Chirashi Sushi is another option. These are basically rice bowls with the ingredients on top. First, find a small bowl, and fill the bottom part with rice. Then just add ingredients to the top. Bonus points if you arrange it neatly!
Etc.
Well, my experience at the butterfly exhibit (at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History) was very exciting and it made me appreciate many things. I personally felt that this trip was truly the first group trip I was a part of and actually enjoyed. When we were waiting in line I remember thinking “Ugh! I don’t like this.” I was saying that because I was stuck in this thought where I kept repeating to myself: “I’m not going to have fun and be happy with these people.” But when we were in the little room where we were given rules and 
That’s as far as it goes for the exciting part. For the appreciating part it was a bigger than life thought for me that just popped in my head while observing all the different butterflies. I was looking at a bunch of different butterflies that were all just standing on the wall together and I thought, “They are all so different in many ways but alike in one: that they are all beautiful in their own different way.” Now throughout my life I’ve always seen myself as the ugly little duckling, always hoping that soon I’ll turn into that beautiful swan that I’ve always wanted to be. But when I thought this the first thing I thought right after was, “How did God create such marvelous creatures?” and following, I thought “I guess that’s how we all are as well. Every one of us are like butterflies, oh so different, yet, all beautiful in our own way.”by Alison
As a current veteran intern of Arlington
Our age group is least likely to participate in our community at large. We are stereotyped as apathetic, disinterested and downright rude – even though we are the age group that most needs unconditional, understanding support. We are least likely to be provided with a countywide center to help us with information on transportation, job offerings, emergency situations, future education and recreational activities – among other things – precisely because of this. Yet we have one – indeed, we have been asking for such information since the mid-1990s.
This fact was not lost on the Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) when it chose our County as one of the Top 7 Intelligent Communities of the Year for 2010. The ICF is a think-tank that studies global economic and social development; its yearly Top 7 are meant to be role models of development for the “vibrant Digital Age communities in the 21st Century.” In detailing why Arlington had been chosen for this award, the Forum specifically mentioned Arlington
Lastly, Arlington
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One month ago Acting County Manager Barbara Donnellan presented the proposed Fiscal Year 2011 Budget for Arlington County to a Regular County Board Meeting. Since the County is attempting to save $32.5 million, her proposal included cutting $16.2 from county programs as well as the jobs of 88 full-time employees, some of those currently filled.
One of these jobs is the position of the Teen Web Site Coordinator for the Arlington Partnership for Children, Youth and Families (APCYF), who directs the activities of all the interns who provide content for Arlington
Additionally, eliminating this position would also eliminate the manager of the Teen Network Board, a County- and School Board-appointed teen advocacy group made up of Arlington high school students who provide a voice for teens in Arlington. It, too, is under the direction of the APCYF.
The County will hold public hearings on the proposed budget on Tuesday, March 23 and Wednesday, March 24 at 7 pm in the County Board Room at 2100 Clarendon Blvd. Based on responses at these and other hearings, they will modify the budget and approve it in April. The new budget will go into effect at the beginning of the County’s fiscal year for 2011, on July 1, 2010.
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