Uni: Sea Urchin Sushi

I remember growing up and going down to Natural Bridges State Park to go tidepooling. One of the most common things you'd see there were sea urchins.


I'm not an expert of culinary sciences, but as a kid I never really wanted to pick one of those up (for fear of impaling myself) and eat it. It just doesn't look good.

For my birthday, I went out to an excellent local sushi restaurant and ate the sushified version of sea urchin or uni. For what its worth, most online references to uni say that "sea urchin sushi uses the gonads of the sea urchin". I'd image that in this context, the word "gonads" means "tastiest part" instead of any of its usual meaninges. It looked something like the image below which is more or less a yellow tongue.


Because it was my birthday, I tried it. When you eat these guys, the tongue texture dissolves in your mouth and it gives way to a fatty paste of sea urchin deliciousness. It has a very strong taste that I've heard described as "buttery" but I"m pretty sure that isn't the word. I've also seen it written as "sweet", but I can't quite put that word on it as well. I keep thinking it is something like raw egg yolk.

I know a lot of sushi eaters can't stand uni, but if you get the chance you have to try it because the taste can be best summed up as "one of a kind".

Natural Bridges State Beach

Yesterday I went to Natural Bridges State Beach in Santa Cruz with Nazia. I'd been here several times as a kid, but almost exclusively in the summer or when the monarchs butterflies were present. I remember seeing eucalyptus trees just covered in butterflies and it is quite a site to behold. If you are ever in the area in the winter, you'll have to check them out.

We went to the tidal pools and they were quite spectacular. Because of no small miracle, the tide was almost completely out when we got there. The rocks were carpeted with mussels and we were able to walk up to some very deep tide pools. There were several starfish of different colors along with many large sea anemones. I didn't see any crabs, but I do remember seeing a lot of hermit crabs as a kid.

The most impressive part of the beach was the various flowers that were out in March. The cliffs were covered in a green hairy moss as well as a thick green ice-plant with purple and pink flowers. There were also large bunches of purple flower on the sides of the cliffs, making them spectacular. The sandstone cliffs also had some amazing rock shading.

In spite of being quite cold and windy, this trip reminded me that I need to get out of buildings more!