Channeling my inner love as I miss dining at my all time favorite sushi restaurant, Friends on Rush or Friends on State. By walking through the ethnic cuisine aisle at the grocery store, I glanced over to the Asian section and gathered all the missing pieces that complete a plate including wasabi, ginger, rice paper, and soy sauce. For those “low-calorie, low-sodium” wannabes, go for the coconut aminos sauce, it looks exactly like soy sauce and it is so tasty with only 1/3 of sodium from traditional (over 700 mg!) and low sodium (still @ 500 mg!) soy sauce.

Time to get set up in the kitchen. I line up all of the ingredients from the recipe including the shrimp and vegetables it calls for, as well as measuring cups, cutlery, and a big bowl of warm water to soften each rice paper wrap for spring roll making.

* Good trick: Slicing each shrimp in half makes all of the wraps smoother and easier to roll.

* Good trick: Gather the softest, large butter lettuce leaves or long cabbage leaves for better rolling.