Sushi making is one of my current obsessions. I am scarcely a padawan as sushi cooks go, but I’m having so much fun.

I recently learned how to assemble classic rolls. I then taught my 13-year-old, and we had priceless father-son time as we rolled up a storm on several occasions.

My wife and I got together with two other couples for a sushi-making — and, as it turned out, merengue-dancing —evening not long ago, which was the most fun I’ve had in a while.

Tonight, I attempted something new: inside-out rolls, with the rice on the outside of the nori seaweed sheets instead of on the inside. I was a bit apprehensive, but this turned out to be a breeze.

The fantastic site I’ve been using for instruction and inspiration (which is deservedly the first hit when Googling “how to make sushi”) is “Make my Sushi: Sushi Making Explained” — highly recommended.

Duncan Levy, the 13-year-old son of my Cupertino-Calif.-based publisher, Mitchell Levy, has a fascinating hobby. The teenager recreates iconic imagery using pieces of duct tape in a rainbow of colors.

(See samples of Duncan’s work here.)

When his dad asked him to take a crack at the cover of my iPad book (with a design by my pal David Steinlicht), he came up with an awesome interpretation. I am impressed.

So was dad, who has commissioned him to do cover recreations of all the books he has published. Congrats, kid.

I stumbled on this Facebook shot of me at St. John’s University (the one here in Minnesota not the other one) in the 1980s. I’m shown with my fellow Johnnie John Rosengren at the offices of The Record, the SJU student paper. I think it was my senior year (1984-85), when John was editor in chief. We look so young!

As you’ve probably noticed if you follow this blog, I’ve been obsessed with exotic chicken recipes in recent weeks.

Here’s the latest, from the local (and awesome) A Good Appetite blog: Moroccan chicken and olives.

It is an absurdly easy recipe that comes together quickly, so it is perfect for weeknights (but double the ingredient portions if you’re cooking for more than two or three folks).

I used a full can of tomato sauce instead of the small portion of tomato paste listed in the ingredients, and added capers to complement the olives and raisins, a lo boricua.

This is the latest delicacy from my awesome food-blogger neighbor Laurie Jesch-Kulseth. Here’s the description she gave me, along with a sample (access to such decadent treats is one of the perks of living on my street):

It’s an upside-down peach cake with millet (which is a grain) and cardamom. It’s a unique cake because it contains browned butter and a tiny bit of whiskey.

I’m sure Laurie will blog about this soon. In the meantime, here are all her other recipes (including this dessert, which I couldn’t stop eating while at one of Laurie’s backyard gatherings).

Waaaiiiit a sec: It just dawned on me that I might look quite a bit like Chris Pirillo in this photo. If so, is that a good or a bad thing? Discuss.

Puerto Rican-style chicken fricassee is my hands-down favorite childhood dish. Growing up in San Juan, I ate it a lot. My mother’s version was killer.

Now, when I ask her how she made it, she has no idea.

That’s because fricasé de pollo has infinite variations (extending beyond Puerto Rico and Latin America to include other regions and influences, including Cajun versions), and rarely comes out the same way twice.

My mother improvised, to a large extent. And, revisiting this beloved dish as a treat for Sunday-dinner guests, so did I.

My starting point was the fricasé de pollo recipe by Ana Quincoces Rodriguez in her fab cookbook “¡Sabor! A Passion for Cuban Cuisine” (boricua and cubiche cuisines are similar). I was also guided by recipes I found online (here, here, here, here and here).

I didn’t have the dry white wine Quincoces Rodriguez suggests using so — in what for me was a daring maneuver — substituted Puerto Rican Bacardí rum.

I also used fresh tomatoes to complement the standard tomato sauce, and threw in two heaping tablespoons of Goya sofrito seasoning (which you can find at Latin groceries or the Latin sections of supermarkets).

Other improvisations in my recipe include diced celery and carrots — and I deployed that classic boricua-style combo of capers, olives, peas and raisins.

Rodriguez’s recipe calls for a simple spice blend: 1 bay leaf, 1 teaspoon dried oregano, 1/2 teaspoon cumin and 1 teaspoon sweet paprika.

That should get you started. Have fun, and don’t be afraid to play!

Update: I just remembered that Carmen Aboy Valldejuli’s bible of Puerto Rican cookery — called, of course, “Puerto Rican Cookery” — has what many regard as a definitive boricua-style fricasé de pollo recipe.

Silly me, I’ve owned a copy of this book for decades and it should have been the first place I looked.

The book is still in print. It’s a classic. But you’ll have to make adjustments for leaner times, like dispensing with such heavy ingredients as ham (listed in a number of the fricassee recipes I consulted) and lard.

My second sushi-making attempt (with a different kind of rice). I’m on a roll! *rimshot*