It's the day after Christmas and Satoshi is back to work. Santa brought us some great gifts. We really appreciate our family and friends who also sent us some great things and who were really thoughtful for remembering us this Christmas. Thank you!!
Our party with Satoshi's co-workers and their families was nice. We were literally eating ALL afternoon.
I brought "kamaboko" (fish cake) dip (sorry I ran out of memory space on my camera, so no photo) and a box of Ritz crackers to eat the dip with. After the appetizers of kamaboko dip, salmon sashimi (sliced and raw) and salad, we moved onto the next course, bulgogi (a Korean dish of thinly sliced beef marinated in shoyu, garlic and other spices)...there was a brief intermission (the children, including the men went out to play dodge ball...)...the women chatted....the next course was "nabemono" or "nabe" (which is a meal cooked in an earthen pot).
Nabemono is eaten mostly during the winter months. The flavoring of the "nabe" broth varies from household. Recently, kim chee nabe and tonyu (soy milk) nabe have been big hits. We had kim chee nabe. Boy, was it SPICY!!
After the nabe was eaten, it was dessert time...Christmas cake. During Christmas, the price of cake skyrockets. You can expect to pay close to $40 (or more) for a 6" round cake. The cake is usually a yellow sponge cake with whipped cream and strawberries in it and on top. You can also find yule log style cakes. Thank goodness the cakes were small, we all had a little piece and by 8:00pm were STUFFED to the gills!!
The children seemed to enjoy all the food and the adults enjoyed the company.
Kamaboko dip
1 kamaboko grated
chopped green onions (the amount is up to you)
pepper to taste
add mayonnaise for the consistency that you want
box of Ritz crackers (or your favorite cracker)
5 water chestnuts-chopped (I can't find them in Japan (don't know the Japanese name))--optional
It is a really easy recipe, try it!!
We hope you had a nice Christmas!!
UPDATE: the Japanese name for water chestnuts is kuwai (coo-why)
I'm so glad I finaly found your blog! Just stopping by to wish you fantastic holiday time and best wishes for the coming new year.
ReplyDeleteI'll read your blog pages in the coming days. Already this recipe of Kamaboko dip is intriguing me enough to plan a google-image search for kamaboko pictures. I have no idea what this is and I love it (not knowing means food discovery around the corner).
I'll come back soon...
Zoubida
Hi Zoubida,
ReplyDeleteSo glad you were able to stop by!!
I found a picture of "kamaboko". I use the pink one for the dip. You get a really nice pink and green color scheme. :)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamaboko
Take care!!
Kat