hojicha okayu

Saturday, I had breakfast at Soup Stock Tokyo and tried their hojicha okayu (roasted green tea rice porridge).

The tea flavor wasn't very detectable, but I enjoyed this.

I have their cookbooks and was happy to find that they have the recipe for this particular okayu.

Will try it as soon as I can get some of the ingredients together.

iwaibashi

If you've ever eaten o-sechi or foods during the New Year season in Japan, you may have noticed these fancy chopsticks called Iwaibashi (literally celebratory chopsticks).

The chopsticks are pointed on both ends and wrapped with decorative red and white paper.

Apparently the chopsticsks are bleached white.

The reason these chopsticks are pointed on both ends is that it is thought you are sharing your meal with the Gods.

I know some people like to flip their chopsticks to the opposite side to take food, but when using these, you aren't allowed to--It is thought to be rude because you are using the Gods' side of the chopsticks.

So try to remember to only use the side you ate with.

Also these chopsticks are already separated because the Japanese feel that it is bad luck to "break/split" the chopsticks during an auspicious time.

We use these chopsticks from January 1st (washing them between meals) until January 7th.

Have a nice week!

ichidagaki

We tried Ichidagaki this morning.

These persimmon are grown and dried in Shinshu, Nagano.

They are a lot smaller than the anpogaki that we've tried before.

And while the anpogaki are semi-dried and more gelatinous, the texture of the ichidagaki remind me of dried apricots.

I'm glad we got to try these and I'll be on the lookout for these next season.

Satoshi went back to work yesterday and already they have a 3-day weekend...

Enjoy your weekend and if you are in the areas affected by that krazy snow cyclone thingy in the Eastern part of the US, please stay safe!

the past couple of days

Satoshi went back to work today, so I have some time to post.

On New Years Eve day, we had toshikoshi soba for lunch.

Although we had more soba than soup...

Then for New Years Eve dinner we had all sorts of nibbles.

New Years Day morning.. we had ozoni with mochi in it, some sekihan (reddish rice with azuki beans), and o-toso (which is just a little sip of sake to ward off illnesses and to start the new year).

We went to several of the shrines that we normally do for Hatsumode (first prayers of the New Year).

While standing in line to get to the prayer area of a shrine, we saw this huge tai (sea bream), just hanging in front of an izakaya (Japanese pub).

Huge, yeah?!

I was surprised no cats had attacked it...

Dinner was o-sechi, the foods that are normally eaten during this holiday...I've written about this previously,here.

I'm super thankful for pre-made stuff and not having to do these foods from scratch.

On the 2nd, we braved the crowds of the department store to pick up some bento.

Luckily, we knew what we wanted to get, so we were in and out of there rather quickly...it was super nuts!

We brought the bento and went to visit MIL.

This year is the Year of the Dog.

I noticed this origami dog on MIL's calendar, so we cut it out and folded it into the dog.

We saw the Super Moon as we walked home from the train station.

And then last night, we were craving some meat, so we had some steak with mango chutney and other nibbles.

With all the eating I did, I definitely need to get some walking in...

Hopefully you all had a great holiday season.

thank you

Do you have a journal? I do.

I don't write in it all the time.

When I do, I sometimes rant in it and also write down meaningful quotes.

Sometimes I doodle in it.

I even put ticket stubs into it and collect stickers from food items, packaging...

This is what the cover of my journal looks like.

And the back cover...

Last month, I saw a Japanese movie, "Last Recipe"" and there was a foodie-ish quote towards the end of the movie that I really jumped out at me. (1st photo above)

So glad for the internet, because I couldn't scribble the quote down during the movie and someone had uploaded it onto their blog (thank you!)...the translation to English is my own interpretation.

In Japanese: Hocho wa chichi
Nabe wa haha
Shokuzai wa tomo
Recipe wa tetsugaku
Yuge wa ikiru yorokobi
Kaori wa ikiru hokori
Dekita ryori wa kimi sonomono
Sore o shokusu wa kimi omou hito

In English: The knife is the father
The pot is the mother
The ingredients are the friends
The recipe is the philosophy
The steam are life's joys
The aroma are life's triumphs
The completed dish is you
The person who is thinking of you is that who feeds you

This year was filled with some sad times, krazy natural disasters and just lots of kraziness in general, but I think overall it was a relatively good year.

Thank you for being "the ingredients" in our adventures.

Talk to you in 2018!

10 photos

I started doing this back in 2008, it is a nice way to look back at the year, through 10 adventures in my kitchen...

1.

Dashi Chazuke, perfect for these cold mornings.

2.

I discovered that adding nagaimo to okonomiyaki helps to puff it up.

3.

Anchovy Potato Salad, trying to re-create something we've never really had but saw on social media...

4.

Green Tea Pork Belly Rolls, a new way to eat the used green tea.

5.

Sakura Daikon, is a nice way to incorporate salted sakura (cherry blossoms) and daikon (radish) into a unique tsukemono (pickle).

6.

Our first time making Ume Syrup, easy and delicious!

7.

Over the summer we reconnected with Italian Delight...definitely comfort food...

8.

Saba Tofu Curry, a nice way to boost your good cholesterol.

9.

This recipe for Winter Gratin, was an easy and nice way to get in some veggies

10.

Cold Brew Tea Soda, a really easy way to have a fizzy tea drink during those hot summer months...just be careful when you open the bottle.

Did you have a favorite recipe that wasn't featured here? Let us know in the comments!

books

List of books read this year: for some reason, I didn't enjoy the first 2...maybe it was just me.

1. Pico Iyer, "The Lady and The Monk"
2. Ovidia Yu, "Aunty Lee's Delights"
3. Mary Simes, "The Irresistable Blueberry Bake Shop and Cafe"
4. Kyoko Mori, "Stone Field True Arrow"
5. Laurie Colwin, "Home Cooking"
6. Margaret Dilloway, "How to be an American Housewife"

Hope to read more in 2018.