Texan

A little late... Maybe for next time around. The way I clean the suckers off is by placing fingers around the tentacles, apply pressure while pulling from one end to another. It worked well for me.

you can stew the kombu the Chinese way, in soysauce, rice wine, garlic, ginger slices, green onion, star anise and suger for about 30 minutes or longer for more tenderness. Take the kombu out of the sauce, slice and serve. It's even better if stewed with pork or chicken. I have also used plum wine (don't add suger) and it's quite good.