Sushi rice is critical to the overall success for creating various rolls. The process for homemade sushi starts with the rice due to its time requirement. You will have to wash, cook, mix in vinegar seasoning, and cool the rice before using it. These steps require ample time to complete.

How Much Rice Do I Cook?
Before cooking the rice, you need to estimate how much is needed per person. I recommend preparing 1 cup of uncooked rice per person. This will produce 2 cups of cooked sushi rice. I use one cup of cooked rice on a full sheet of nori (seaweed) paper. Each person would get two futomaki (full-sized) sushi rolls. If you wanted to make maki, small bite-sized rolls, use half of a nori sheet. I also recommend adding a little extra uncooked rice to your estimated amount. Whenever I make sushi rice, some always gets stuck to the bottom of a pot or spread too thick on a nori sheet. 

Preparing Rice for Cooking
Before you can cook the rice, you will need to wash it. I recommend putting the rice in a pasta strainer or bowl that has holes small enough to not let rice through. While rinsing the rice, use your hand to gently move around the grains. This ensures that all of the grains are washed thoroughly. You should continue rinsing the rice until the water running through it turns clear. Once the rice is rinsed, move it to a bowl or into the stainless steel pot of an Instant Pot. Fill the bowl or pot with enough water to submerge the rice. Allow the rice to soak in the water for at least 30 minutes. Next, drain the water and then transfer the rice to a rice cooker or Instant Pot. I recommend avoiding the use of a stove top pot to ensure consistency. Ensure that your cooking device is large enough to cook the amount of rice intended. The rice will expand while cooking. You can prepare multiple batches if your rice cooker or Instant Pot is not large enough for the intended amount of cooked rice.  

Cooking the Rice
Once the soaked rice has been transferred to a cooking device, add 1.2 to 1.5 cups of fresh water for each uncooked cup of rice. Your rice bag may have similar directions on it. Once enough water is added, hit the rice option on the rice cooker to start the cooking cycle.

If you are using an Instant Pot, hit the rice setting with low pressure. The machine will run through a 12 minute cycle once the timer appears. When the cooking time is complete, allow the Instant Pot's pressure to naturally release for 10 minutes. 

Adding Seasoned Rice Vinegar
When the rice has finished cooking, transfer it preferably to a wooden bowl. If you do not have a wooden bowl, a glass one is an alternative. Measure out an appropriate amount of seasoned rice vinegar to add to the cooked rice. I recommend 1/2 tablespoon for each cup of cooked rice. If you made 10 cups of cooked rice, you would add 5 tablespoons of rice vinegar. This amount can vary depending individual preference.

After measuring the amount of seasoned rice vinegar, you can begin adding it to the rice. Gently stir the rice with a wooden spoon as you slowly pour in the seasoned rice vinegar. Once all of the seasoned rice vinegar has been added, you will notice the rice has a sheen to it. This is completely normal. In addition, the rice will become very sticky after adding the seasoned rice vinegar.

The Cooling Process
The final step to making sushi rice is to let the cooked rice cool to room temperature. The time necessary to cool  will vary with the volume of cooked rice. In my experience, this process will take 1-2 hours. You can use a fan on the rice to cool it down faster if time is limited. When the rice has finally cooled to room temperature, it is ready to use for making homemade sushi. ​

I am currently enrolled in an MBA class on entrepreneurship at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. My group's class project is raising money for the Niner Nation Unites campaign. All donations go to supporting the victims and their families of the April 30, 2019 shooting on UNCC's campus. We are giving away handmade bracelets for any donation of $5 or more.  If you would like to contribute a donation, you can send me a message details. I will mail bracelets to anyone in the continental United States who does not live in Charlotte, North Carolina.    

TCGPlayer is an online platform for buying and selling products from trading card games. The website also serves as a pricing reference for individual Magic: The Gathering cards. One of the biggest draws for players eager to purchase trading cards is TCGPlayer's bonus bucks promotion. Periodically, TCGPlayer offers bonus bucks as a percentage of total purchases. The bonus bucks turn into store credit a few days after the promotion ends. The store credit has historically varied between 5% and 15%. The promotional events are commonly advertised just before an event start date and occur for a limited period of time. 
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I have compiled a list (updated 12/18/2019) of previous TCGPlayer bonus bucks events from January 1, 2018 through December 18th, 2019. This list was created based on saved email announcements from TCGPlayer. While I may have missed a few promotional days, I believe the list is over 90% accurate. ​

2018 TCGPlayer Bonus Bucks Days
In 2018, TCGPlayer ran bonus bucks promotions on 63 different days throughout the year. The discounts per bonus bucks promotion varied between 5% and 15%. On average, the bonus bucks percentage offered was 5.6%. In addition, there were restrictions on earning bonus bucks for 22 of the days. These restrictions were either direct orders only or photo listings only. The chart below illustrates bonus bucks promotion dates and discounts during 2018.

In 2018, only 8 of the 63 promotional days offered more than 5%. The highest bonus bucks discounts were offered on Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the release week of Commander 2018. One commonality of the bonus bucks days is that they all fell on release weekends for Standard sets. They also fell on the release weekend for Masters 25 and Battlebond.  

2019 TCGPlayer Bonus Bucks Days
As of December 18th, 2019, TCGPlayer has offered a bonus bucks promotion on 51 different days. This is 7 less days over the same time period in 2018. The average bonus bucks discount throughout 2019 is 7%. An interesting fact is that the bonus bucks percentage has reached 10% on 10 different days. The only days bonus bucks were 10% or higher in 2018 were around Black Friday. It appears that TCGPlayer is getting more aggressive with bonus bucks percentages. None of the bonus bucks days in 2019 have had restrictions regarding direct orders or photo listings. Additionally, the Standard set releases, as well as Modern Horizons' release, have featured a bonus bucks promotion. There are 11 other days that anniversary a bonus bucks promotion from 2018. The chart below highlights bonus bucks promotions and discounts during 2019.

One assumption from the data suggests that TCGPlayer will offer bonus bucks promotions on future set release weekends. They have offered a promotion for each Standard set and specialty set release since the beginning of 2018. If you are planning to pre-order individual cards, it may be advisable to wait until release weekend before purchasing them. 

Looking at the 2018 data, there were 5 bonus bucks days from December 1st, 2018 to December 31st, 2018. Another assumption is that TCGPlayer will have 5 additional bonus bucks promotion days between now and the end of the year. If this happened, there would be 7 less promotional days in 2019 than in 2018. There is a high probability TCGPlayer would anniversary the days just before Christmas. The chance for another promotional day on December 31st, 2019 is not too farfetched. The 5 remaining days could potentially occur in November.

There is a possibility for TCGPlayer to offer 12 additional promotional days in 2019 to equal 2018. However, the increased bonus bucks percentage in 2019 could mean that TCGPlayer offers less discount days going forward. As a business, it is likely that TCGPlayer budgets the amount of store credit distributed for each promotional day. In theory, 3 days offering 5% in bonus bucks could equal the distributed amount of store credit for 2 days offering 8% bonus bucks. Offering less frequent, but more impactful events is a strategy TCGPlayer could execute moving forward. 

Other online trading card vendors, such as Channel Fireball, have offered similar promotions to bonus bucks this year. To stay competitive, TCGPlayer is likely encouraged to continue offering bonus bucks with a percentage greater than 5%. This assumption would also increase the probability that the 2019 average bonus bucks percentage of 7% will continue or increase in the future. 

*The information in this article is of my own knowledge and opinion. It is meant for informational purposes only. I am not a registered financial professional or trying to act as one.* ​​​​​

For any home project, you need the right tools for a specific job. Making sushi at home is not much different. It is important to have the appropriate tools for creating beautiful sushi rolls. This article will cover the supplies required for making sushi rolls at home. 

​Essential Tools You May Already Own
Some of the required instruments for making sushi may already be in your kitchen. If you own any large wooden bowls or utensils, then you are one step in the right direction. Sushi rice gets very sticky after adding rice vinegar to it. The rice is less likely to stick to wood-made products than other materials. I highly recommend using a large wooden bowl and wooden spatula or rice paddle for cooling and seasoning sushi rice. A wooden spoon can be used instead of a spatula, but it is not preferable for spreading rice on a seaweed sheet. Another common tool required for making sushi is a sharp knife. I recommend sharpening a good knife prior to using it for sushi. You need a sharp knife to cut rolls, pieces of fish, and other fillings. You will need a large bowl with water to wash the knife periodically. Any kitchen bowl will work as long as the blade of the knife can be submerged in it.  

Essential Tools to Buy
The worst thing that can happen to sushi rice is burning it while cooking. Any burnt rice is not edible. To help avoid this issue, I recommend using an electric rice cooker or Instant Pot. These machines will cook the rice perfectly. If I had to purchase one, I would buy the Instant Pot due to its versatility. While you can cook the rice in a pot on the stove, I would avoid this method. Another essential tool for making sushi is a bamboo mat. This tool is used to create sushi rolls. I recommend buying two of them so another person can help roll. These are inexpensive items available at an oriental market or in a sushi essentials kit.  

Inexpensive Sushi Kits to Buy
I recommend purchasing an inexpensive sushi making kit. There are many kits available at multiple price points. Amazon.com has a few affordable kits that have everything you need to get started. You can buy items individually, but I believe these two kits are a great value for less than $10.00:
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BambooWorx Sushi Making Kit - $6.99 with two bamboo mats, rice paddle, rice spreader, and five pairs of chopsticks.

Delamu Sushi Making Kit - $9.99 with two bamboo mats, rice paddle, rice spreader, and five pairs of chopsticks. This one also comes with a link to a Beginner's Guide PDF document.  

The Essential Tools List
​Here is a quick reference list of the tools highlighted:

• Large wooden bowl for rice
• Wooden spatula or rice paddle
• Sharp Knife
• Large bowl for holding water
• Electric Rice Cooker or Instant Pot
• Two Bamboo mats