No. 9 [Uni]

For those of you reading this who have never experienced the true natural beauty of a perfect lobe of sea urchin - uni - you haven't lived yet. I remember growing up being taken to the best Japanese restaurants around West/Vancouver, BC (my hometown!) because my parents exposed me and my brother to sushi/sashimi at early childhood. For 10+ years, I my brother and I had our own go-to orders. He would always order a kappa maki (cucumber roll) and hamachi (yellowtail) nigiri. I would also get a double order of salmon nigiri/sashimi. For years, I never even wanted to look at uni because it looked slimy, alien, and quite frankly, it clearly didn't come from a fish that swam, so it creeped me out. Then, at one dining experience with the family, at Hamaei Japanese Restaurant (which is apparently still open and thriving!) my mom (or dad) said I needed to try the uni. I was really hesitant, but I said that I would try a small taste...

I think that's when I decided that I loved food.

Uni is an incredibly difficult texture and taste to describe. The flavor is of the sea, yet sweet. It is briny, but buttery. It melts on your tongue, but lingers.

Today, I had a bunch of appointments around DTLA. So when I finished up around 4pm, I decided that I needed to treat myself to some Korean food (I went to Koreatown and found myself a restaurant that serves seollung tang - beef bone soup - because I needed something hot and healing) and then stop into a Korean/Asian grocery store to pick up some prepared foods and frozen goods for the week. One of the things that caught my eye was a gorgeous tray of uni. It was glistening and bright in color and looked really fresh. It was also a local catch (thank you California!) but the winning reason why I bought it was because an entire tray was only $5.99. This is absolutely absurd and unheard of. But it may have been because I was shopping from the fresh seafood section at 4pm on a Sunday, and also because sea urchin is locally farmed and caught in California - most well known as Santa Barbara uni - which is renowned for its sweet and buttery flavors around the world. I am on an insanely tight budget right now, but I gave in and bought it. Actually, I bought 3.

Right now, I'm enjoying a glass of super crisp Sauvignon Blanc (from Trader Joes!) with an entire tray of fresh uni. I also sprinkled some Maldon on it and I'm pretty much the happiest camper in all the land.

Uni. Sea Urchin. The most beautiful thing in the culinary world.

I eat uni on the couch with white wine. I'm set.