I’m excited about Marisa Baggett’s sushi class at Mantia’s tonight. I love to make sushi at home, although it’s not always very pretty when I finish. So I’m hoping to pick up some tips.

When I want sushi flavors but don’t want to fuss with preparing it, I’ll make a sushi salad. I make the rice (the most important part of sushi, I think–do it wrong and it messes up everything), plate it and then just pile up whatever I’ve got on hand. Sometimes I’ll poach a piece of fish, sometimes I use shrimp, crab or even canned smoked tuna. I add that, then veggies like cucumber, green onion, avocado, top it off with a little masago (I have a $7 container in the freezer that could probably last the rest of my life, it’s so big), maybe sesame seeds, and serve it with wasabi and ginger. I always have ponzu sauce in the pantry and a sauce in the fridge that I made with a light soy and bonita flakes; the longer it sits, the better it tastes.

But here’s what I want: Real wasabi. Has anyone eaten real wasabi or know where I can find it locally? The green powder or paste we buy at the store isn’t the true stuff, but is instead horseradish mixed with mustard and coloring. Real wasabi is a rhizome and you grate it, traditionally on a sharkskin grater, to make a paste.