Very interesting recipe for okonomiyaki variation. With addition of recipe for home-made okonomiyaki sauce!

There are two big problems with making sushi at home outside Japan. The first one: ingredients. Where in Poland can I find fresh yellowtail? Natto? (Not that I’d want to find it, but just in case...) Raw salmon or tuna that I wouldn’t be afraid to eat? Not easy. Second problem is technique. No matter how hard I try, it will never be as good as something prepared by a person who makes it every day (for years). So I gave up a long while ago on making nice looking and delicious sushi. But one day my friend from the dormitory had her birthday and we were throwing a party and the dorm’s manager wife prepared some sushi for us - and taught us how to do this really easy type of sushi that can be made absolutely everywhere and without some super skills. So here it is: the easiest, yet tasty, maki! (Friendly reminder that this is the cooking 101, “I haven’t burned anything, that’s great!” type of recipe)

Ingredients:

• sushi rice
• rice vinegar (would be great if that was the special type for sushi)
• nori
• cucumber
• carrot
• lettuce
• mayonnaise 

Preparation:

1. Cook the sushi rice the way it’s described on the product. (most product description make it look quite complicated, but it is also fine to just cook it the normal way, as shown here)
2. Cool down the rice and add rice vinegar (not much - a tea spoon is enough for a small bowl of rice)
3. Cut carrot and cucumber into thin, long pieces. 
4. Put nori on the mat (rough side facing down)
5. Put rice on the nori, covering 3/4 of it. Press it firmly along the edges. Make sure it’s not too thin- you shouldn’t be able to see through it. Making it too thick will make rolling harder though.
   
6. Put the vegetables and mayonnaise on the rice, starting about 2 cm (1 inch)  from the bottom of it. The more filling the better!
   
7. Slowly, carefully and tightly roll the sushi. Look out so as not to break the nori.
8. By the end of rolling put your fingers in the water and then smooth them over the last bit of nori. Moisture will make it more sticky and it will be easier to close the roll.
9. Using the mat you can give nice shape to the roll.
10. When the roll is ready, make sure that the ending is facing down, so it will close under its own weight. 
11. Cut into slices - any size that works for you!

Of course you can change the filling to anything you like. This is just an example of the thing I’ve eaten;)

Why would someone start a trip with going to a shopping complex? There’s so much to see after all! But it's not just an ordinary department store.

Kyoto is a place everyone should see while in Japan, but that’s not the only place worth seeing in Kansai region. That’s why during my stay, just after spring semester was over, I went for a one week “road trip” there. The idea was to see as much as I could in a week and not limit myself to one city. Before I’d start talking about all the things and places worth visiting, the question is: how to get there?