This is my new favorite thing: poke bowls. Which I know is super "trendy" of me, but have you tried them?! Finding sushi-grade fish around these parts was a feat, so perhaps they also taste a bit like a well-deserved victory to me.

I called three grocery stores, none of which said they had sushi grade fish. I went to two, one were the lady said I "could" use the tuna, but the look on her face told me not to. Another where the only sushi-grade fish they had came in an vacuum-sealed, freezer package of small (too small) fillets.

Finally we visited the Pacific Ocean Market, which is in the next town over. The woman on the phone said they had tuna and salmon for sushi, which was promising. All faith we had in the Pacific Ocean Market dropped to rock-bottom when we actually got there though, and the un-filleted fish were unlabeled, and the guy behind the counter only spoke Chinese. He made a motion, showing us to just point at what we want. How were we (two people that have never been into fishing or lived by the sea) supposed to know what was what? Let alone which was ok for sushi? (I have since learned that none of those would've been ok for sushi, so I'm glad we didn't just point at something random).

Another customer saw we were struggling, and tried to help (she spoke Chinese). But we were pointed over to a freezer case where some mystery white fish was wrapped up in cellophane and was probably best suited for a fish fry.

We went to the front counter and found two ladies, who between themselves could piece together some English, but they spoke Vietnamese, not Chinese, so couldn't help with the fish situation. Finally, someone found the store manager--the lady we had originally talked to on the phone- who directed us to the right deep-freeze case of fish. (Sushi fish, in a place like Colorado where it has to be shipped and stored, should be frozen to a certain temperature and for a certain amount of time in order to kill off any parasites).

We rustled through the unorganized case: Eel, Tuna, Shrimp, Halibut. Our confidence in the quality of the fish had dropped to rock bottom when we had been pointed to the fry-fish.

In the end I went back to store number two, and bought several tiny packages of salmon in vacuum-sealed plastics, and a box labeled "Sushi and Sashimi." At least I could read it.

Night one we ate sushi, but when we had one packet left the next day I jumped on the poke train. AND IT WAS SO WORTH IT! Can we all just go to Hawaii now? 🙋🏻✈️

(I spent the first week calling this "poa-kee," which confused everyone. Oliver started calling it "pokemon" just to make fun of me, and finally I looked up the pronunciation: "poa-kay"). So take note and avoid looking like a fool like me! 😉

Salmon & Mango Poke Bowl

Published September 5, 2017 by Caitlin Sherwood

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Serves: 2 | Total Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

6 ounces sushi grade salmon
2 cups mixed greens
1/4 cup shredded cabbage
1/4 cup sliced cucumber
1/4 cup diced mango
1 diced bell pepper (I used 1/2 of a red and half of a green for color)
1/2 of an avocado, sliced
1 green onion, sliced
1 teaspoon sesame seeds
Pickled ginger
Optional: 1 cup cooked rice
Optional, for serving: wasabi, soy sauce, hot sauce such as Sriracha

Directions:

Slice salmon into bite-sized pieces.
Arrange bowls: If you desire, place a half cup of rice at bottom of bowl. Then arrange mixed greens, shredded cabbage, sliced cucumber, diced mango, bell peppers, and sliced avocado in bowl. Divide salmon between both bowls. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and green onion.
Serve with pickled ginger and any other accoutrements of your choice: wasabi, soy sauce, Sriracha, etc.

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