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Rating: 
Summary: Sushi kitties, sushi pandas and even sushi princess cakes
Review: In Japan, regarding Japanese food, there is a saying that you "eat with your eyes before you eat with your mouth." Nowhere is this more evident than in the fabulous and sometimes bizarre "Hana Sushi," where chefs Akiko Namiki and Eriko Teranishi have designed an astounding variety of decorative sushi sure to liven up any party or occasion. Provided, of course, you can actually make them.
"Hana Sushi" is not for beginning sushi chefs. This is an intermediate/advanced book that assumes some previous familiarity with making sushi rolls. There is some guidance as to making the individual designs, but the fundamentals of rolling sushi should be mastered before you tackle these more-intricate creations. Fortunately, there are many sushi fundamental guides out there, so no one should be completely lost.
When you feel confident, there is a roll in here for pretty much every occasion. For Christmas, there are snowmen and Christmas trees, for Easter a bunny. The majority does not fit such a festive theme, but rather individual motifs such as animals (panda, kitten, chick, butterfly, piglet, etc...) fruit (grapes, apple, cherries, etc...,) vehicles (balloons, cars, trains, etc...) and the very Japanese motif of flowers (dandelion, tulip, peach blossoms, cherry blossoms, etc...) On top of this, there are even more adventurous creations such as a sushi cake and a pair of really lovely edible dolls.
There are enough tacklable designs in "Hana Sushi" to make it practical as well as fun to look at. While I don't think I will be serving up anyone a "princess sushi cake" anytime soon, I will put some simple snowmen on the table at Christmas time, and probably a smoked salmon roll or two done uramaki style with the salmon on the outside. A good cook book overall (well, not really a cook book as there isn't much cooking going on!) and one that I am glad to have in my library.
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