At the beginning of March, the Snow Peak UK team gathered at our headquarters in Godalming for a two-night camp with Snow Peak USA CEO Noah Reis and some of our company partners.
Our motto at Snow Peak is that “we are all users”, so time spent outdoors and camping together with associates and customers alike is integral to sharing the Snow Peak experience and nurturing our inclusive community of outdoor enthusiasts.
After lunch we built our tents together - a combination of Amenity Domes and some lightweight tents from our Pro.air series, the Fal 2 and Minute Dome.
As the evening drew in, we held a sushi making workshop and taught everyone how to make their own makizushi (traditional sushi rolls), and temakizushi – literally translated as hand-rolled sushi. These require no rolling mat, only your hands to make a smaller ice-cream cone shaped sushi that you can eat in one go.
It was a night filled with laughs, and lots of Danish rice pancakes made in the Tramezzino using the leftover rice from our camp meal classic of Japanese curry with rice. We’re not afraid to experiment with new uses for our products, and new recipes - sometimes this is where the best ideas come from.
After two nights of sleeping under the open sky and breathing fresh air, we all felt calmer - our minds felt more spacious and our screen time had gone down to almost zero. We talked about the last time we had gathered with friends with no phones to be seen, yet for the last two nights the absence of these time-consuming devices had felt so natural. In conversations with Noah, who has worked at Snow Peak for over six years, we discussed how the rapid evolution of technology in our daily lives has led to many sacrifices in human interaction. He has genuine faith in Snow Peak’s mission and intention to help people reconnect with the natural world, and with others.
Sushi Recipe
Makisushi (literally translated as rolled sushi) is simple to make once you have prepared all your preferred fillings, and most importantly, the sushi rice.
The key to delicious sushi is making sure the rice is fluffy, light and not overmixed and dense. What makes sushi unique is that the rice is mixed with vinegar and sugar, which back in the day would preserve it and the fresh fish inside for longer, giving it the characteristic sushi taste.
Sushi rice ingredients (for approx. 1kg cooked sushi rice):
- 450g short grain sushi rice
- 450-550g water (to cook the rice)
- 70 ml rice vinegar
- 30g sugar
- 15g salt
Ideas for fillings:
- Tuna mayo
- Smoked salmon
- Scrambled egg
- Cucumber
- Carrot
- Pepper
- Shiitake mushrooms
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Wash the short grain sushi rice before cooking until the water runs almost clear (rinsing about 5 times).
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Measure out a ratio of 1:1 of rice to water, I always add slightly more water for good measure.
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Cook the rice with a sealed lid until it starts to boil, then turn it down to the lowest heat and leave for 15 minutes. After the 15 minutes is up, turn off the heat and leave the rice to stand for 10 minutes without taking the lid off.
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Whilst still warm, mix in the sugar and vinegar. The ratio is Be careful to mix the rice gently with a rice paddle and not apply to much pressure or overmix.
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Wait until the rice has cooled to start rolling the sushi.
How to make makisushi:
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Place a sheet of sushi nori (seaweed) shiny side down onto your rolling mat.
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Add a small bowl full of rice onto the center of the sheet and spread it round equally across the seaweed without flattening it too much. Leave a 2cm space along the top edge (this is where you will ‘glue’ the roll together).
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Add your fillings along the center of the rice in a neat row.
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Taking the bottom corners in your fingers with the mat, roll the whole sheet and fillings to the top edge. Using some remaining vinegar water, apply it to the top edge and use this as glue to keep rolling so the seaweed sticks to itself. Now you should have a beautiful sushi roll.
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Wet a sharp knife with vinegar water so the rice doesn’t stick to it and slice the sushi into 7 or so pieces. The two ends will be messy, but you should get 5-6 neat sushi pieces in the middle of the roll.
