One of the ways I've done to help this was learn how to MAKE sushi, from scratch, which has mixed results, to put it kindly. I've had sushi parties in the past, especially back when I was doing the bento blog back in college. I recently just got myself some new kitchen gadgets -- in particular, an onigiri press and sashimi press, so I wanted to finally play with my new toys to make some SUSHIIIII!!!
First up is some black bean soup/chili stuffed onigiri. Onigiri is a rice ball, usually stuffed with something -- in the past, I've made it with jelly as a dessert (too much sugar, yikes) but bean paste or a meat thing is really common in Japan. I had some leftover chili, and decided that would be good enough, so I tried it, and it was actually REALLY CHOICE. Of everything, weirdly this was the thing I thought was most successful. Will def do this again. I also made a tamagoyaki rolls (traditionally this is a sweet egg omelete, but mine are just omeletes with a touch of sugar for sweetness) with duck sauce, a "spicy tuna roll" that was some canned tuna tossed with cayenne and soy sauce (...It was alright), and another odd vegetable one with carrots and cream cheese (...I was running out of things) and another with jalapeno, carrots and cream cheese. Fresh jalas in a sushi roll is great for texture, questionable for taste. I also made a tamagoyaki sashimi (with a touch of duck sauce to attach the egg to the rice -- usually it's wasabi or something like that), and a pickle roll (miracle whip, bread and butter pickles and carrots) that... Was actually pretty good. I tried something similar with the tuna, but it did not stick together terribly well, so I ended up making them into onigiri with a sesame seed garnish, because I was trying to make my trash sushi look extra. The last two little buckets were my very-originally-named Sweet & Savory Flavor Bombs (TM), with one made with cream cheese and strawberry, and the other with cream cheese, carrots and jalapeno. It was alright. There was one last black bean onigiri with spicy mustard in it that was dangerous to eat, but still tasty.
All in all, it wasn't all great, but that's what experiments are for! I actually really loved having onigiri made up -- they're a nice pop of grain and protein, and when you warm them up they make a great on-the-run snack or small meal. And there's just something fancy about heating up some handmade onigiri and adding it to your plate like that's just a thing you do, and I might endeavour to do that some more in the future! I also like having a vegetarian sushi roll made up that, again, makes for a great addition to a meal or as a side in a bento box or lunch.
And of course, after all of my cooking and prepping and experimenting was done, it was time to ACTUALLY EAT!!! Have some poor boy's instant miso to go with it, shall we? Again, Japanese food is a thing I really enjoy, and little ways like this to enjoy it a little more in my day-to-day diet helps scratch that itch more than the rather expensive vice of dropping $50 at a sushi bar, heh.
Not that I'm going to stop doing that, but sometimes the budget just doesn't allow it. One needs must make compromises and be realistic about his financial limitations.