Chaise Douglas has been missing his favorite sushi restaurant since Australia — like much of the rest of the world — began hunkering down due to the ongoing pandemic.
But when there's a will there's a way, even when it requires a homemade sushi train.
While Sushi Train, a popular chain in Australia, is still offering takeout and delivery across the country, its interactive conveyor belt can't exactly be taken to-go. So, Douglas and his roommates decided to make their own.
Douglas, 23, is among the hundreds of thousands of college students who have had to quickly adjust to virtual learning across the globe.
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While the transition hasn't been easy, Douglas had one of his most memorable nights in quarantine when he created his own sushi train recently
"Sushi Train is by far one of my favorite places to eat," Douglas told Insider. "I love sushi, I had train sets as a kid, what's not to love?"
Douglas said it was his housemate Shannon's idea that they build their own train one night with the help of a Thomas & Friends LEGO set that she had brought from her parents' house.
"The train set itself probably took half an hour to build," Douglas said. "It came in this huge box for us to sort through. We had heaps of different versions of trains. Some were complicated, some were simple, some of them were connected. But, in the end, we just made a simple train set."
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Douglas and his housemates decided on an all-vegan menu
They built sushi rolls from rice, cucumbers, carrots, seaweed, vegan mayonnaise, and tofu with a vegan teriyaki marinade.
"We made a lot," Douglas said. "I'll credit that to no one under this roof knowing how to portion rice correctly, myself included."
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To go along with the theme, they even created color-coded plate prices to post by the sushi train.
Douglas filmed the entire creation of the sushi train and posted a clip of it on TikTok
"Anyone else miss going to Sushi Train?" he wrote in the caption.
The video inspired his friends to create their own sushi trains, and even caught the attention of his favorite restaurant.
"A day or two later, Sushi Train was in my DMs," he said. " That was crazy that they had seen it too! I hope they liked it. I just hope they don't find out that I cannot use chopsticks to save my life."
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Douglas said that his sushi train was the perfect night of escapism after more than three weeks of social distancing
For those who want to build their own sushi train, Douglas' big tip is to make sure you cook your rice in the right amount of water.
"Ours started out dry, so we had to try and remedy that without totally making a mess of things," he said.
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There are no rules, he said, except to enjoy it as much as you can
"Most of all, have fun with it," Douglas said. "Turn your dining room into a Sushi Train, put a different bottle of wine in each room of your house and turn it into a wine tour!"
Next on Douglas' quarantine bucket list is creating his own version of "Celebrity Big Brother" on "The Sims" and turning his apartment into a nightclub for his housemates.
"There's lots of things to occupy ourselves with if we just get creative," he said. "I'm waiting for my fog machine to arrive as we speak."
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