love the internet

Last year, I washed Satoshi's knit cap and put it onto a bowl (which was smaller than the one in this post, but smaller, and didn't realize it shrank.

It looked like this.

I put the pen there for reference.

I looked online and there was a method to unshrink it.

Put it into lukewarm water for 10 minutes.

Squeeze out the water and dry on a towel,pulling it gently into shape while it is drying.

Which made it bigger than before.

At least now he can wear the hat...whew!

re-vamp

We've been having fahreezing temps.

Most days have been overcast too.

I've been craving foods with color.

I re-vamped that winter rainbow gratin and added some sausage and the apple that I omitted the first time around.

I also didn't bake it (because I was starving when I made dinner).

Anyway, after taking this picture and eating my bowlful, Satoshi emailed to say he had a last minute drinking thingy, so he wouldn't need dinner...boo!

We had his portion this morning with a sunny side up on top and crusty baguette.

The rooftops were whitish though the frost soon melted.

I think the weather dude said our temps are gonna be 5C (41F) max today...brr.

dashi okayu

The other day we had our nanakusagayu for breakfast.

I've written about this before, here.

In the past, I would buy pouches of the ready made okayu, heat it up and then add the 7 grasses.

These days I make okayu in my rice cooker.

The other day, though, I added dashi (stock) to cook my okayu (rice porridge).

Okayu (rice porridge), makes about 2 servings (depending on the size of your bowls)

1/4 cup rice, washed
600 cc (about 3 cups) dashi or water

Cook in rice cooker on "okayu" mode.

NOTES: Satoshi and I agree okayu is much more flavorful cooked with dashi.

I think I may cook okayu this way from now on.

I like this consistency but if you don't like your okayu too watery, you can play around with the amount of water/dashi you use.

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.