Anna, I can certainly understand you're not being big on sushi. The quality of the ingredients and the skill of the chef in bringing out the best in the ingredients is paramount. I know that plastic containers of "sushi" are sold in Canadian grocery stores and I have seen it sold in Chinese buffet style restaurants run by folks with names like Des Jardin. I think that if you have the opportunity to try excellent sushi or sashimi (raw fish not mounted or wrapped in rice and nori), you'll be exquisitely surprised. Miso shiru is miso soup. Personally, I think scallions are too harsh for miso soup, unless it's just microscopically sliced green ends. I'm all for delicate miso shiru. (Which has seaweed in the broth, by the way.) Aka or red miso is a bit rough but is nice for a breakfast drink or to smear on eggplant or pork. Shiro (white) miso is great for shiru (soup). Gomasio is tremendous. It'ssesame salt. One takes some white sesame seeds and toasts them in a dry pan. The fragrance is amazing. When they start to pop and brown, put them into a suribachi or mortar and add salt (about 1 part salt to 3 parts sesame seeds). Grind, grind loosely so that the seame oil and salt interacts. This is great on rice, fish, salads, chicken, sliced beef with shoyu... It will keep for a few weeks in a plastic bag in the refridgerator.