It was a sad day around my house when the announcement was made. Sponge Bob was cancelled. The celebration went on for hours! We were sad that we ran out of ice for the margaritas. Then the news came in that it was all just another internet rumor. We continued drinking without the ice at that news. On the bright side, Squidward is safe from the hands of sushi chefs throughout the land for at least one more season.

My favorite sushi place is right down the road from me. It has tasty rice (tasty is code for “vinegary”), shrimp tempura (which as far as I can tell means “deep fried”), seared tuna (it is seared with a tiny flame thrower), snow crab (that is fresh enough to walk off the roll), salmon (pretty, pink and cold) and crunchy. I have no idea what the crunchy is and I am too scared to ask. Sometimes you’re better off not knowing what is on the plate.

Now I want you to know that here in east Tennessee we do have some cooked sushi for the barbarians (read that as “smart”) among us who prefer their fish cooked. There is this one restaurant that serves stuff that is similar to the crunchies found in my favorite sushi place rolled in a ball and deep fried. I think it’s called a hushpuppy. They also serve their fish batter-dipped and deep fried. Hey, it’s east Tennessee. What did you expect? That particular place is named after a great literary character from Robert Louis Stevenson’s writings.
Let’s make a deal. I won’t bug you to eat raw fish if you don’t bug me about eating raw fish. Now let’s talk about the real meaning in the word sashimi…