A Dessert For At-Home Sushi Makers…

I love rolling my own sushi at home! It’s fun and a great way to entertain if you are having guests over for dinner. And while we are quarantining (and even when not), it’s also just as perfect with family or simply solo.

I want to share a dessert I would make at the end of a sushi dinner which also involved using the rice and seaweed. Until now, I hadn’t thought of naming this dessert, so I guess I’ll just call it ‘Dessert Roll.’

Here’s what you do:

You’ll need a banana, mango, grapes, dark brown sugar (firmly packed), rum, and butter.

Any fruit variation can be substituted, but I found these three worked great. Mango and banana are key for the taste, but I sometimes substituted blueberries for the grapes if they were sweet enough. I strongly recommend using a fresh mango over buying the pre-sliced mango in the store. I don’t recommend orange slices (or apples), but the canned tangerines that were already sweetened are also nice.

In a pan, melt 1/4 cup butter and 1/2 cup brown sugar, then add about 1/3 cup rum. Stir and heat with the rum added, but don’t boil. The rum is not necessary, just adds a nice kick. You can add less if you wish. Substitution for the rum is banana liqueur or I bet the rum extract might work, but I haven’t tried it myself. If desired, you can also add a tiny pinch of ground cinnamon. Basically you are making a version of banana’s foster sauce.

Once the sauce is to your taste, set it aside and prepare a sheet of seaweed on your roller and add a thin layer of rice. Slice the banana into long thin slices about 1/2 inch wide. I cut mine the way green beans are cut. Slice your mango the same, and cut your grapes in half.

Lay your banana, mango, and grapes on the rice (stacking them works best) and roll it just like you would your regular sushi roll, then slice. Use your rum-buttered-brown sugar sauce for dipping and enjoy!! If your guests weren’t already full before hand, they will be after these.

Make sure to use your chopsticks!

Bittersweet Symphony, the movie

Last night as I climbed into bed, I clicked through my Amazon Fire apps to see what new movies I wanted to add to the “watchlist” and came across a movie with Jennifer Grey and Suki Waterhouse called Bittersweet Symphony (2019)…

Ya’ll! Ya’llllllll…..

I haven’t seen JG since Dirty Dancing and it was my first time watching Suki Waterhouse, and I was on the edge of my seat from the get-go.

There was more than one story going on. SW’s character, Iris, appeared to be creating the music for a movie (I wasn’t clear on that one but a movie was involved) and was having difficulties with writer’s block. Her agent sends over music legend JG’s character, Eleanor, who happens to be Iris’s idol…but it appears Eleanor had already spotted Iris and maybe had plans of her own. (I’m pretty sure Suki Waterhouse was really singing but I haven’t checked as I write this, but either way, I loved the folksy songs)

What mesmerized me was the interaction between the two. Excellent deliverance of lines…showing all the awkward and vulnerable things that occur when one meets their idol and each is feeling a little something toward the other, meanwhile there is an age gap and IDK, should we? shouldn’t we? I simply loved watching Jennifer and Suki nail it as they danced through all their scenes together, talking over one another, trying to find their tongue in groove fit.

Meanwhile, Iris (Suki) is having a horrible family crisis as her mom returns home from the hospital with devastating news. This other story brings us together with the rest of the characters who easily become family to the viewer. I won’t give it all away, but I found this part of the story just as endearing as the exchange between JG’s Eleanor and Suki’s Iris.

And to top it off, Jennifer Grey looks more stunning than ever.

I’ll admit I couldn’t take my eyes off of Eleanor’s sister, “Abbs”, played by model/actress Poppy Delevingne…

If you have the chance to watch it, I’d love to hear your thoughts also, in the comments below! 🙂