I’m a creature of habit when I’m at the sushi bar.  All I need is some fresh yellowtail and a bit of fatty tuna and I’m a happy camper.  Usually I’ll have me a salmon handroll and some seared scallops for variety, but I don’t veer too far from the predictable.  However, last night our sushi chef was tempting me to move outside of my comfort zone a bit more than usual (nice, to have a sushi chef who’s getting acquainted with me and is helping me to learn to try new things).  In the past I felt really edgy just by going for the red snapper that he assured me I would love.  So when he suggested ankimo (monkfish liver) and uni (sea urchin ovary) last night I was pretty sure that was not going to leave me with a smile on my face.  Eating the innards of various fishes hardly sounded anywhere near as appetizing as the fleshy-parts.  And I’ll confess that the ankimo wasn’t an instant hit, although if I’d expected something more like paté than sushi I think that would have landed better with my palate.  But the sea urchin….oh my.  The chef explained to me that he had a few pieces left of the highest-quality uni from the fish market, and the taste was “on the bar” to see if I would like it.  He watched my face as I put in my mouth and chewed it, apologizing the whole time because he was worried it would be too ‘ocean-tasting’ or that it would be a texture that I wouldn’t tolerate.  But that was…probably the best mouthful of sushi that I’ve ever tried: buttery-rich and smooth, with just a hint of the sea.