sushi - Balance & Spice

How to Make Cauliflower Sushi

Last night, we made a delicacy to behold.

Homemade sushi. But look really close at it. Do you notice anything different about it? Anything…odd?

How about that rice?

Can you imagine that that innocent looking, delicious and dreamy nori-wrapped delight is in fact hiding cauliflower, instead of grains?

Neither could I. However, I tell you, as a lover of all things sushi. that these cruciferous dreamboats have fulfilled every maki fantasy I’ve had. You know, those fantasies that say, “I’d eat all the sushi in the world, if it were solely made of vegetables?”

Well, here it is, folks. Fantasy complete.

This treatment was inspired by The Primal Palate and Mama Pea’s “Paella” but I feel pretty proud the outcome and the creativity that went into these rolls. I’m getting there, friends!

Cauliflower Sushi

Dairy-Free, Nut-free, grain-free, gluten-free (w/ gf soy sauce) sugar-free, corn-free, vegan option

Prep-time: 15-30 mins, depending on number of rolls

Cook time – 5 minutes

Total time: 20-35 minutes

Serves: 2-3

Recipe by Kat Reiner

Ingredients:

One head cauliflower
8 sheets nori
1 organic cucumber
1 organic avocado
Smoked or raw salmon, sashimi grade tuna, cooked tuna – whatever your favorite fillings are
Gluten-free low sodium soy sauce
Rice-wine vinegar
Optional ginger and wasabi (ginger adds sugar)

Directions:

Grate cauliflower in the medium grate size of a cheese grater so it turns into rice-resembling pieces.
Sautee cauliflower in a little olive-oil for five minutes over medium heat. Set aside and put into bowl.
While cauliflower is cooling, chop and peel cucumber, avocado, and salmon into thin strips.
When cauliflower is cooled, mix it with 1-2 tbsp rice wine vinegar.
Wrap a makisu (sushi mat) with saran wrap. This may take a few tries. Be patient. It doesn’t help to throw the saran wrap.
Keeping your fingers wet (a small bowl with water helps) take a piece of nori and lay it on your sushi mat.
With a spoon, spread the nori with a thin layer of “sushi rice”, about 3/4 of the way. Make sure to cover the edges well.
About a quarter of the way in, add your toppings in a thin row.
Re-wet your fingers, and roll your mat and nori up and over the toppings. Tuck the nori in.
At this point, you can pretty much use your fingers to roll the sushi, being careful to keep your fingers moist, as that cause the nori to cling. When at the end, wet your fingers again to seal.
With a sharp knife, slice the sushi roll into 6-8 pieces.

Repeat, enjoy, dip into soy sauce, top with ginger or wasabi, do whatever floats your boat. It’s delish.

Let me know your thoughts!

Peculiar Visitors

17 Apr By Kat Reiner 4 Comments

You know you’re not in Kansas anymore when…

This cute lil guy was in my laundry basket today! I think he was a baby gecko or something. Precious. He went outside with my wet clothes, but it was nice to see him say “G’day!”

Breakfast

Breakfast today was rather weird.

I couldn’t figure out if I wanted something sweet or savory, but savory won out.

I mixed some tuna with avocado, plus some cucumber and soy sauce. I put it on top of two rice cakes, and enjoyed them with half a grapefuit. It was different, but still good!

After breakfast, we headed to my new doctor’s office for a couple of little things I needed to be taken care of. All went well, except I can’t exercise for at least the rest of the day, depending on how I feel. Sad smile

As we walked back to the car, we passed one of my favorite forms of Australian “fast food!” I couldn’t resist…

A sushi train!!

I got about six pieces total, but as I really don’t like eating white rice, I left most of the rice behind.

It wasn’t great, but I can’t resist the lure of the sushi train! The rest of the day will be spent cleaning, cooking, and surprising Ant by fixing up his “office.” Tata!

Filed Under: Balance & Spice, Food, Recipes, and More! Tagged With: sushi

Magic’s What You Make of It

24 Jan By Kat Reiner 2 Comments

Yesterday, Anthony and I went to the most magical place on earth. Literally. I mean, it says it on the sign!

Welcome to Disney World

Ok, maybe not that sign. But we definitely saw it on other signs. I first went to Disney World when I was about four, and have returned many times. It was so fantastic to see it through Anthony’s eyes for the very first time.

After waking up at 4 to get to Disney before it opened, we were raring to go!

We were incredibly lucky. We bought a park-hopper pass, and we were able to really use it, as the park was almost empty. There was never a line longer than 40 minutes, and we never waited more than 10 (we rocked the FastPass.) We rode a ton of rides, including Space Mountain, It’s a Small World, Speedway, Haunted Mansion, Safari Ride, Peter Pan’s Magical Flight, Winnie-the-Pooh…and that was all before lunch!

Anthony driving. Thank G-d the car is on a track, or we'd be dead.

Ant and me in front of the Cinderella Castle.

The quintessential Disney shot - but why is a crane on top of my head?

It's a small world after all...and I'm a mouse. Or something.

Kangaroo...reminds me of my new home!

Magic Tea Party

The Haunted Mansion - my all time favorite ride!

She was pleased.

After going on a ton of rides, we were pretty famished. We had lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern, a very nice sit-down restaurant in Frontierland.

Liberty Tree Tavern

Without thinking, I ordered the vegan quinoa-potato burger with extra veggies. I admit, my hunger and tiredness led to me not thinking to ask about it’s gluten content, a very rookie mistake. I also totally forgot I was in Disney World, so ended up with this:

Deep-fried veggie burger. So gross.

A deep fried veggie burger covered in bread-crumbs. Eww. I felt too embarrassed to send it back, which I know is silly but it’s just where I was right now. Luckily for me, Anthony is very generous, so gave me a piece of his actually gluten-free turkey. Combined with the plethora of green-beans, I was quite satisfied after the meal and ready for more adventures.

After lunch and more rides and shows, we headed over to Epcot.

Test Track line.

We road Test Track twice in a row, and had a great time. This is one of my favorite rides because of it’s detail and humor, as well as the speed at the end.

We did most of the attractions at the park, and had a wonderful time seeing the various attractions and adventures.

After our rides and explorations, we headed over to the World Showcase (in case you haven’t been, Epcot is divided into two parks, Future World and the World Showcase.) Future World is all about technology and science. The World Showcase is my favorite park of Disney World. A number of countries have “pavillions” which are gorgeous reproductions of buildings and attractions from each of those countries. Paris has a miniature Tour d’Eiffel, and England has a miniature Big Ben. It’s lovely, touristy, and kind of perfect.

Anthony and I chose to dine in Japan. (Shocker, I know.)

Tokyo Dining interior

We ordered our (Disney quality) sushi as soon as we sat down, and ate with relish.

I had a garden salad, a sashimi sampler, and a grilled salmon roll.

Sashimi Sampler

Grilled Salmon and Cucumber Roll

Fun fact about sushi: Did you know it was created as fast food to eat road side or at the theatre?

Anthony had the spicy tuna roll, and a smoked salmon, egg and cucumber roll.

Spicy tuna and avocado roll

After dinner we enjoyed wandering around the other pavilions, including Morocco…

Morocco photo-opp

Ant reads Aladdin.

And Italy.

Venice at Disney World

After an evening of the most unphotogenic fireworks I’ve ever seen, we were pooped, and headed back to our hotel, the Marriott courtyard hotel. It was absolutely lovely, and my AAA card got us $30 off a night’s stay! It included breakfast, which was half an egg-white omelette loaded with veggies, and a bowl of fruit that I also ended up only eating half off. I forgot how huge hotel breakfasts are!

Egg white vegetable omelette Fruit salad

Tomorrow, we head back to New York for the night, and then fly off to Tel Aviv on Thursday. What a whirlwind!

Filed Under: Travel Tagged With: adventures, dinner, sushi, Travel

30…60…90…death.

5 Jan By Kat Reiner 2 Comments

I am walking around like a person who has no joints. Simply one bone attached to another bone, with no lubrication for bending or grabbing.

That is how freakin’ sore I am after yesterday’s workout and today’s 30/60/90.

I swear, I dropped a piece of sweet potato while cooking dinner and yelled out from the delicious soreness.

How did I get so sore? What did I do that was so lactic-acid build-up inducing?

I took a 30/60/90 class with my angelic sister.

She's so cute.

We met up at Starbucks before class, and then headed in to Equinox Greenwich (Such a fancy gym – they have Estheticians on call. No joke. After you work out, you can call someone to do your make-up.)

Equinox Greenwich

30/60/90, created and owned by Kristi Molinero, is a combination of cardio, strength training, plyometrics, and static holds that are designed to burn calories, fat, ad increase cardiovascular endurance and strength. It’s a group fitness version of a H.I.I.T workout, and certainly lived up to the high intensity name.

We “rocked up” to class (<—- Australian expression) at 11:00 for the first half-hour, which was solely core. It was basically a pilates mat class, and it was quite challenging, but nothing revolutionary. The 30/60/90 class itself, however, was another story.

I snapped this at the end of class, so this in no way reflects how freakin' hard the class was

From 11:30 to 12:15, I have not sweated, panted, or smiled as much in a long time. The class was basically a series of plyometric moves combined with repetative strength exercises without breaks or pauses. The moves, while basic, include so much changing and jumping that they stay exciting, fun, and exhillarating. Jumping lunges, squats, and my favorites, chattarunga burpees, I certainly felt the burn! (And the shaky limbs, and the sweat dripping in places I didn’t know had sweat glands.) I highly recommend this class at an Equinox near you.

For a quick snack, I grabbed vegan sushi from the Equinox cafe that was quite yummy. Made of carrots, red peppers, seaweed, and cashew paste instead of rice, it was delicious, though not quite filling enough considering the intensity of the class.

Vegan sushi

An hour later, I was still downtown and famished, so grabbed some more sushi from a nearby place called Myagi with a good lunch special. Ever had burdock root sushi? It’s neat. I also had a yellow tail jalepeno roll that was scrumptious.

Sushi from Myagi

All in all, a great day!

Filed Under: Balance & Spice, Food, Recipes, and More!, Life in NYC, Workouts Tagged With: sushi, workout

What are you doing Christmas Eve?

24 Dec By Kat Reiner Leave a Comment

Daily Jab:

Happy Christmas eve, all! It’s so weird to realize that by the time anyone reads this, it will be Christmas here, and only Christmas eve for all of you. Sorry about that. Today was spent with Anthony’s friend Jeff in Southbank, followed by drinks at his cousins, where an exciting announcement was made.

Today, I started with yoga again. The practice was longer, but I spent more time on fewer poses. I was very focused on working my inversions, so I did fewer chattarungas and more shoulder openers. Chrissy would have been proud.

Yoga Practice of the Day:

Kneeling on a block (Virasana)
Virasana meditation
Raise and lower block in Virasana
AMS
Knee into chest (going into plank) – 8 times each side
Plank Chattarungasana to AMS 5x
AMS –> Lunge –> easy twist –> intense twist (R + L)
Surya Namaskar A – 5x
Shoulder openers
Handstand 3x
Headstand 2x
Supine twist
Savasana

All told, the practice lasted around 40 minutes. It’s so ridiculous – when I’m not thinking too hard, handstand and headstand balance are both easy. Then, I do it once, get so excited, and try to recreate my first experience, which never freakin’ happens. What can I say? As a yoga teacher, I have so very much to learn.

After savasana, Anthony’s sister made gluten-free buckwheat pancakes that were absolutely divine. I’ve never been a big weekend breakfast girl, but Ant’s family is a bit, so I’m more than happy to oblige and indulge in fluffy, moist goodness!

chia seeds pancakes

I only had one, and saved the other for a snack. It was totally delicious. I enjoyed it with a teaspoon of macadamia butter that I brought back from Binna Burra. Slightly sweet from the roasted macadamias, as well as rich and light – Biscoff spread, eat your heart out! (Admittedly, I’ve never had it, but my spread kicked any sweetened spreads bum any day.)

After breakfast, we went for an hour walk through the neighborhood, and talked a lot about our dreams of the future, our budgeting strategy, and what we would do if we won the lottery. I love our walks for the incredible conversations we have, as well as for the exercise. Double win.

After coming home, skyping with my family, and getting dressed, it was time to head to Towong to see Anthony’s friend Jeff, who stayed with us some months ago in New York. It was great to see him again, and after catching up in his apartment, we headed to South Bank, a very posh neighborhood of Brisbane for lunch at Ginga, a Japanese restaurant.

Lunch:

Ginga was a lovely restaurant located on a main drag of South bank. It was quite empty due to Christmas Eve, so we had no problem finding a table, ordering, and getting served in a timely fashion. I had steamed vegetables and tofu, as well as a salmon roll which two 6’2 Australian birds stole pieces of when I wasn’t looking. It was quite fresh, simple and delicious – exactly was I was craving.

After lunch, we wandered around South Bank, and took in the sites.

I felt like such a tourist, but I begged the boys to ride the Wheel of Brisbane with me. I figure, when we come back in April, we’ll truly be living here, so I won’t be able to ask to go on tourist attractions like a $15 ferris wheel. However, for the next week, a tourist i still am, so I figured, what the hell?

Brisbane eye

The wheel was a very lovely way to see the city of Brisbane, and escape the intense sunshine. It was about 12 minutes long, and showed many views of the area. I’d recommend it for the views, but I did think it was a bit overpriced for what it was.

After we said good-bye to Jeff, we headed home where I promptly fell sound asleep for two hours, because I’m cool like that.

Dinner:

I was awoken to enjoy a delicious dinner of steak and salad. I hadn’t had red meat in quite a while, so the steak was a welcome jolt of protein to my body. I felt it instantly, and enjoyed it tremendously.

After dinner, we headed over to Anthony’s cousin Tenille’s house for Christmas eve drinks.

She and her partner, Marc, had an exciting announcement to make – they’re engaged!!! They’ve been together for eight and a half years, so it was a very exciting day to get to share with the family.