Japanese cucumber salad

I L-O-V-E Japanese food!  It's always flavorful, super colorful, and good for you.  Today I decided to start out with a Japanese style cucumber salad with seaweed wrapped shrimp.  This dish makes a great light lunch or a perfect afternoon snack.  It's easy and quick to make, and many of us already have the ingredients to make it.

The one item that you may not have is the seaweed or nori as it's usually called in supermarkets.  Nori comes in a package of 6-10 sheets and can be found in the Asian food section of your local super market.  Anyone that eats sushi is familiar with this green food that is wrapped around their rice and can tell you that it tastes great!

When using nori you must make sure that your work surface is dry and clean, water will make your nori very soggy and hard to work with if you need to cut it.

Here's what you'll need to get started:
Ingredients:
2-3 sheets of nori
1 large English cucumber
1/4c rice vinegar
1tsp. sugar
1/4tsp. salt
2 Tbs sesame seeds, toasted (see details below*)
10 small shrimp or 5 extra large shrimp (uncooked)

Instructions:
1. Wash and peel your cucumber to leave alternating green stripes.  Slice the cucumber in half lengthwise.  Using a sharp knife or mandolin, cut into thin slices.  Place in a double layer of paper towel and press down gently to remove excess water.
2*.To toast the sesame seeds, heat a small dry skillet over low heat.  Add seeds and stir constantly until golden and fragrant, about 2min. Transfer to a small bowl and let cool.
3. Combine vinegar, sugar and salt in a medium non reactive bowl, stirring to dissolve. Tear pieces of the nori off and add to the liquid mixture. Add the cucumbers and sesame seeds; toss well to combine.  Store in refrigerator until ready to serve.
4. Bring a small pot of water to a low boil.  Very carefully slice the nori into strips wide enough to wrap your shrimp in. Meanwhile start cooking your shrimp in the small skillet until it reaches a nice pink color.  Set aside when done.  Dip each strip of nori one by one into the boiling water until it softens, about 5sec then very carefully take it out with a fork and place on a plate allowing part of the edge  to hang off so you can pick it up.
5. Carefully wrap your shrimp in the nori going around the curved edge of the shrimp.  Don't worry if you tear the nori it'll adhere to its self if you stick another piece on.
6. Plate your cucumber salad and shrimp. Serve with soy sauce and wasabi.