Already 6th of June so let's get on with it.

I picked "Fish". Something really a lot easier than last month, but also hopefully opens up the doors for lots of creative ideas. There are some amazing minds around so I can't wait to see what we get this month!

Ladies & gentlemen - start your engines!

The rules are known.

Photos must be taken during this month
Photos must be taken by the posting member
Photos must be taken with a camera phone
Users post only one photo per entry
Users can change the entry only once
Users must name the phone they used (so I could include it for voting)
Last three days of this month are for voting

À la carte wishes or do you go by omakase?

(not my entry, but my fish )

Nice to see that the competition is going along nicely without me. As far as I'm concerned, people can start new threads without me. I've been busy with school and it isn't over, not until at least the beginning of July but I'll try and participate, haven't done that in a while.

Not a sushi guy myself, so was not familiar with the term "Omakase". Will definitely use that the next time a waiter asks me what kind of toast I'd like.

Sounds fun! We've had a lot of rain here lately, I think I'll start by looking in my basement.

Have a sashimi or barbecue depends on the type of fish.

There are three types of Sushi joints.
The ones that don't know about omakase and offer mostly rolled Sushi, which has nothing to do with authentic Japanese cuisine. The staff is called rolls-robots within the scene. A management structure exists with all imaginable disadvantages like unhappy employees and cost reduced raw materials.

Then there are the restaurants led by western chefs, who have picked up some authentic knowledge but try to force it into theyr learned concepts. eg trying too hard to be stylish and innovative and have a service crew to look professional in regards to western standards. They will do everything to please the guest, having special dishes for part time allergomaniacs variing from originally planned taste or even destroy meat well done.
Even if they offer a omakase experience, it is most likely served by the service crew with some processing time for dishes to reach your table.

Both above calculate prices based on what they estimate a customer is willing to pay for the meal and adjust quality accordingly. Also the opening times are adjusted to lazy customer ”demands”, like supermarkets do.

In Sushi (Su=Sour/Vinegar + Meshi=~Rice) meaning a course supported by that typical sweet sour rice or Sashimi meaning artistically presented seafood, you have following inherent requirements that are extremely hard to achive with above mentioned foot chains attached.

The chef / guest relationship and trust plays a big roll in the experience. Often no price is given and you will have to honestly tell your limit. Btw. apprentices actually serve the often fabeled 7 to 10 years, where the necessary skills to do acceptable sushi are being picked up in the first 3-4 yeares (like in every culinary field) then followed by social training building confidence in showing your skills in front of your customer.
All that to humbly learn there is no perfection possible in the quest to form identical experiences from ever evolving raw materials.
The experience includes melty rice conveniently kept at body temperature contrasted by sea water cold fish around 4 to 6 degrees celsius. The contrast only stays for under a minute until everything adapts to surrounding temps causing the chef to urge you to eat quickly. Fresh cut fish surfaces have slight odores that vanish before any waiter could deliver. If roasted seaweed is served, it stays crispy for only very short time, sucking moisture form the rice or fish. Heck there are chefs who include mouth size of theyr guest into size of the pieces and get horrased by feminists who claim to have been served less then theyr male table neighbours.

oh, this got long and OT.
If you look for good sushi, look the chef into the eyes and have a chat.

Here is my entry for this month. Taken with N900 as always.

Because we all enjoy the variety of human language here, "barbecue" (or BBQ or bar-b-que or bar-b-q, etc., etc.) also depends on where you might be.

I'm about in the middle of the USA, so I'm at the crossroads of regional expressions. Travel just 1 or 2 degrees North and BBQ (etc) exclusively means food cooked on an open fire -- usually outdoors. But drive 2-3 degrees South, and barbecue (Barbeque, BBQ, etc.) is a liquid condiment consisting of a combination of water, tomato sauce, vinegar, salt, sweetener, and herbs and spices in various proportions -- or food prepared with such a condiment.

Of course, other regionalisms are also recognized. A meal cooked outdoors might also be a "Smoker" or "Cookout" or other term.

All of which is even funnier because I'm the vegetarian of the family, who's still responsible for making sure that the animal flesh (fish, fowl, or whatever) is prepared to each member's liking.

Anyway, still trying to find an interesting subject for the month. Probably gonna stake out the neighbors' koi pond, assuming the herons, raccoons and fishers haven't emptied it. Wish me luck.

Not at all OT! What a plethora of useful information! I though I knew something about sushi, but I feel very humble right now.