Sushi challenge preparation

I have been watching a lot of Man v. Food on Netflix over the last week or two.  Usually I'll stream an episode or two while eating dinner/snack...and consequently eat way more than any one person should.  You'd think that a show featuring such gluttonous portions of food would maybe help you eat less, as some of the selections are quite ridiculous (twelve pounds of burger and fries? five and a half pounds of pizza? triple decker loaded sandwiches?)...but it all just looks so good.  All of the food on the show looks so delicious, and it makes me hungry.

Anyway, every episode concludes with a food challenge—eat this large portion in under an hour, eat this entire super deadly spicy meal, etc.  I need to do that.  A quick Google search led me to a list of a ton of challenges in Los Angeles.  I think a spicy challenge would be easier than a quantity-based challenge, and so I have chosen my first challenge: Yagumo's Number 10 Ninja Hand Roll Challenge.

Today I began "training" for my challenge. Their hand rolls can be made any level of spicy (1-10), and the menu recommends not ordering anything higher than a 5 if you haven't tried their spicy before.  I ordered a #5 and a #7 Ninja roll (and a #3 spicy tuna, and a tuna cut roll to round out my sushi feast).

Not the first time I've been given two pairs of chopsticks on the assumption that this quantity of food has to be for two people

I started with the #5 roll—not bad.  This could be my usual level for a good, solid "spicy." The heat did linger a bit, but I went right into the #7 next.  And...wow.  That's spicy.  I finished it easily, but the heat lingered even more than the previous roll.  I finished my glass of milk. went back to the kitchen for more, then resorted to a shot glass of coffee creamer, because nonfat milk wasn't cutting it.  However, after about six minutes, it was tolerable, and the pain was gone after twelve minutes.

I can do this.  Working my way to going in for the #10 challenge sometime this summer.  Next week: #7 and #8.

(Also, I think this qualifies as "sushi in the valley," as I picked in up in Van Nuys. Another "10 Things in L.A." completion!)