Sunday, December 24, 2006

ho ho ho....bah humbug...sigh

It is Christmas Eve. Satoshi had to work. He also has to work tomorrow, Christmas Day.... Christmas, what is that? I grew up celebrating Christmas with my family, having dinner with family and friends, but in Japan it is different.

Christmas is for couples. Restaurants have expensive romantic dinners for two. Last year, we went out for a nice French dinner. The price of cake also goes up. Can you imagine paying $40 for an 8-inch round cake? I can't, so I usually make some kind of dessert instead of buying.

Here is a picture of our tree.

In Japan, they don't sell freshly cut ones, so for our first Christmas I bought one in a pot. That one died after 3 years, so this is the one we've had for the past 2 Christmases.

Anyway, because of a flight delay or something, Satoshi called to say he would be late, so dinner was my usual "table for one"--I guess I should be thankful that he called early enough for me to eat at a decent time.

I started off with some olives and cheese...one of the cheeses was interesting with bits of almonds. It really went well with the Yalumba 2004 Shiraz Viognier--a dry red with hints of cinnamon and spices.

A filet and baby leaf lettuce with bistro-style vinaigrette, a recipe I saw on Bean and Plum Discover the World (this blog no longer exists) and mashed turnips with olive oil, salt and pepper.

And for dessert a little cup of chocolate pudding infused with Republic of Tea's Green Earl Greyer (a green tea with bergamot oil) tea--I actually intended to make truffles, but the ganache was too soft, so now it is a pudding... strawberries and a slice of cheese cake by Marutoya, from my host-sister, Tomoko, she is a foodie too and loves to order food items from different places around Japan. The cheese cake reminded me of New York style cheese cake with a nice cookie crust.

I guess while I'm feeling sorry for myself, I'll have another glass of wine while I wait for Satoshi to come home.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

12 comments:

  1. I like thta I am learning about the different Xmas celebration. Sorry you had to ave a solo dinner.
    Happy Xmas all the same!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm so sorry that Satoshi had to work! Want to come to Toronto and spend Christmas Eve with my family???

    :o)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Your menu looked very good-cheesecake looked wonderful!sorry about eating solo....Once in a while things like that happen-celebrate again when you are together! Hppy Holidays!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I think I'll spend Christmas with all of you! Thank you!

    Happy Holidays!
    Kat

    ReplyDelete
  5. I am sorry for your solo dinner last night. Though you had nice meal alone. :D (It would taste a lot better with Satoshi, it's a shame that he had to work :))
    I hope you have a good day today.
    Merry Christmas!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks Sue, I really hate to eat alone, but am glad to have friends like you and all my blog readers :)

    Merry Christmas!
    Kat

    ReplyDelete
  7. Well, you were not the only one who had dinner alone on Christmas Eve. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Obachan,
    If we had lived closer together, we could have had dinner together!
    Happy Holidays!
    Kat

    ReplyDelete
  9. Kat: I defied all logic and actually purchased one of those Christmas cakes from Saint Germain:
    http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v27/Saburo/folks/2006-Christmas/d57b97d6.jpg

    Yeah it's looney tunes but my mom could use some smiles this time of year and I figured the cutey look and quality of product was worth the inflated price. My folks agreed that it DID taste pretty damn good...

    ReplyDelete
  10. Omg, Greg! Saint Germain cake at Christmastime...you are insane! Checked out the photo, it must have cost you at least one of your arms...I'm glad you were able to make your mom happy though!

    Take care.
    Kat

    ReplyDelete
  11. Christmas dinner alone. Very. Well, you know. But it looks like you had a lot of yummy food to yourself. I will have to try that recipe next time with mashed potatoes.. or change the dressing to make it a little bitter or sour or whatever and make the potatoes sweetpotatoes. I love this whole blog/cook/share process!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Isn't it a wonderful process Stephine?! I love it too. Thanks for sharing your vinaigrette recipe.

    Take care.
    Kat

    ReplyDelete

We appreciate your comments, we don't appreciate spam. All comments will be looked over. Hurtful, rude or ones that link to advertisements will be deleted.
Thanks for stopping by!