Back in 2017, I tried making homemade sushi, but it didn’t turn out too well—my California roll looked more like a California taco with a developmental disorder, and my salmon nigiri looked like mounds of shredded fish sitting atop globs of rice.

Well, I have fantastic news. In the past three years, I have improved substantially, especially in the design of “exotic” sushi. … More on that later.

Anyway, while the rice was being made, I got to work cutting the fish. It was a bit difficult because I went over to a friend’s place for this sushi adventure and all of their knives were very dull, but I managed to get some clean slices after putting in some good effort.

At first, we kept it simple with just some tuna and salmon nigiri. We forgot to buy wasabi, so we used teriyaki sauce instead, which was actually sur­pris­ing­ly good.

… Then my friends wanted to get a bit more adventurous.

Yes, that is indeed a corn dog sushi roll.

… And that is a sushi roll containing Pocky biscuit sticks, wafer cookies, and some other cookies, topped with more Pocky and some taro powder.

After we were done making sushi, we taped the butcher knife to the PlayStation controller so we wouldn’t lose the controller in the couch.

I’m not sure if it’s because I’m getting older and my metabolism is slowing down, or if the people I spend time with while I travel just eat way too much, but every time I travel, I come back home with a small belly bulge that takes a few additional days of reduced calorie consumption to go away. I’m usually pretty conservative and controlled in my eating when I’m at home, but while I’m traveling, I’m usually at the mercy of those around me, as I generally just join in for meals when they want to eat.

Another significant aspect of why I stay healthy is because I stopped eating sugary products a while back. As I got older and did a bit more research, I learned that it’s not fat that makes you fat, but sugar, and the reason fat was demonized was because the sugar industry paid off a lot of scientists back when initial research study results were being published. Unfortunately, that sort of goes out the window when I’m traveling as well, and I ended up getting way too much dessert.

Jordan wanted to get some ice cream last night. I ended up with this massive thing.

Something I like to do when I go to new restaurants is to try their iconic or signature items. This is usually a good idea because, not only is it more likely to be popular so the food item has a higher chance of being fresh, but it also lets me try different foods made by people who consider it to be their specialty. For lunch today, Jordan and I went to a Cajun restaurant that served alligator. Not having tried alligator before (at least, not that I recall), I decided to order alligator.

When I cook meat, I usually add only salt and pepper, as I personally like the taste of the actual meat and don’t want to overwhelm it with strong or excessive seasoning. Unfortunately, this Cajun restaurant didn’t share my values, and instead of giving me normal alligator, they cooked it in sort of a cross between chicken strips and fish and chips style. It was next to impossible to actually recognize what the alligator itself tasted like because the fried breading was way too overpowering, and the inside just looked like any generic white meat.

With that being said, from what I could tell, alligator had a chewy, fishy taste to it. Once I get the chance, I’ll likely go seek out some alligator prepared like a steak, so I can get a good conceptualization of what the meat itself actually tastes like.

Usually, when I have lobster at a restaurant, it’s prepared in one way or another – the meat is either extracted from the lobster and added as an in­gre­di­ent to a dish, or at the very least, it’s cut open and easy to access. Apparently, this buffet I went to with my aunt and uncle at the Pechanga Resort and Casino… just gives it to you. Whole.

… I ate 4 of these lol

These are probably the worst photos I’ve taken in a really long time, but I found this to be so hilarious that I had to share it anyway…

One of our managers at Tempo Storm flew into Las Vegas from Los Angeles for a PUBG tournament coming up on the Strip. Before the games started, I met up with him and took him to get dinner at a location of his choice. He ended up picking a place called “Paid in Full,” which I still at this point don’t know what kind of restaurant it actually is. The menu and food options were strange, and I don’t even know what I ate (though I do have an out-of-focus photo of it):

Our manager ordered something that had “Fritos” in the name, so I assumed that it would be a dish that is flavored like corn chips or nachos – something similar to Fritos. I was only partially right, because the dish literally contained Fritos by Frito-Lay.

Below the food, though, I noticed something silver and shiny. I was curious as to what it was… then I realized…

Yes, that is actually a BAG OF FRITOS.

?__?

(Photo quality is terrible because the restaurant was dark and I forgot my camera in my vehicle, so I used my ancient phone.)

Although I’m not really a food enthusiast, I enjoy having various different food experiences. When I buy raw meat from the grocery store to cook for my meals, I like to rotate across different kinds of meat, and immediately grab the “specialty” item if they have one available (usually not something completely exotic, but still something rarer, like swordfish or buffalo – stuff you usually don’t see).

Yesterday, I went to a restaurant with Tempo Storm’s H1Z1 team and a handful of staff members while they were in Las Vegas. Most of the items on the menu seemed boring and underwhelming, but there was one meat item I had never tried before – rabbit.

So, the answer to the obvious question of “how does rabbit taste”? I’m not sure if it was just because of the gravy and how this particular serving of rabbit was prepared, but it literally tasted exactly like turkey, so much so that I thought they were ripping me off and giving me turkey instead of rabbit.