Happy New Year!
Every year after Christmas, I start to have cravings... Cravings for Japanese food; BIG time! I don't know about you, but for me the memory of the holidays always come with memories of food. It is hard for me to get some ingredients for Japanese dishes, also my kids are not used to very authentic stuff, so I wasn't going to make anything too traditional. Though, I bought this Jubako last year and wanted to imitate a Japanese New Year celebration. Jubako is a stackable bento box and a very nice one would cost you fortune, I just found mine at a Japanese super market for under $30.
The craving got a hold of the better of me and I had two days of mega cooking. Near the end, the kids were getting so hungry and they were ready to eat! The Jubako was packed and ready to go on the table.
Some of you might be wondering what they are, so I will briefly explain. This box contains: Sautéed shrimp, mushrooms and broccoli, Kamaboko(fish sausage), Kinpira-gobo, cherry tomatoes, Kintoki(traditionally, it is made out of chestnuts, but I used Japanese sweet potatoes).
This box contains Inari-sushi and Ume onigiri.
The last box contains: Chicken Karaage, Rolled chikuwa with cheese and cucumber, Boiled shrimp(my favorite is to dip this in to soy souse + lime), Tamago-yaki, Teriyaki flavored meat balls.
This is Zouni. The white stuff in the middle is Mochi.
I was ignoring the eye rolling kids and taking the last bit of pictures of our table... hee hee hee. I was pretty happy with how everything tasted and we had a fun new year celebration dinner as a family. It took me hours to prepare everything, and it was gone in a flash. It was a lot of work but looking at my family's satisfied faces made me happy, and above all... I calmed down my BIG craving for Japanese food; that was an accomplishment.
One of my new year's wishes is that the kids will remember things like this and always come back to see Mr.TRH and I when we are all gray and old. I totally believe that food, I mean cooking and eating together is a powerful tool that bonds us together. Don't you agree?
As a mom, I want to fill their life with happy memories that we spent together as a family.(Oh, there is another new year's wish!)
Amazing now in my old age I include my Mom's traditions in my holidays.
ReplyDeleteBeing from the south, black-eyed peas and greens are a must on New Year's day. I love Japanese food and yours looks wonderful. May be you could share some recipes and hints ?
That looks delicious! Maybe I should branch out more in my cooking endeavors. :)
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year, Sachiko! Your new year food in Jubako looks soooo yummy!! And yes, I totally agree with you that food IS a powerful tool to bond all of us together!
ReplyDeleteWishing you and your family have a happy and healthy 2014 filled with lots of laughter!! From your friend from California, Amy
Yum! You make it look so beautiful, too! I think you're right. A lot of great memories come from eating together.
ReplyDeleteWhat a nice setting of Japanese food for New years with your beautiful family.
ReplyDeleteI think the phrase "feast for the eyes" is a fitting description for your meal. :-) Lovely.
ReplyDeleteThe food looks so colourful and yummy. I am sure that your children appreciate all the effort it took to produce such a memory making meal.
ReplyDeleteOh, your food brings back so many memories for me! When I was growing up, it was so difficult for my mom to get real Japanese food, so we rarely had it. But at New Year's, you bet she did all she could to make sure we had as many traditional foods as possible. Now we can get just about anything and we enjoy it often. Even my grandchildren, only 1/8th Japanese, beg for kamaboko and my home made ramen. Just this morning, the 2 year old was pretend to eat sushi in Sunday school, taking time to dip in in the "soy sauce"! Thanks so much for posting the pictures.
ReplyDeleteHow fun to have such an elaborate meal together! I totally agree that food brings people together. I have been trying really hard to make yummy dinners with a lot of variety lately--and to plan ahead. It's been tricky, but I love it! Your food looks awesome, and I love the little stars scattered around too. :)
ReplyDeleteYou were food his so artfully arranged and your table looks lovely! I'm Italian and I enjoy cooking authentic food for my family and they enjoy eating it! :-) Happy new year!
ReplyDeleteYour food is so artfully arranged and your table looks lovely! I'm Italian and I enjoy cooking authentic food for my family and they enjoy eating it! :-) Happy new year!
ReplyDeleteLooks absolutely yummy and what a great tradition! Way to go, mom!
ReplyDeleteYour table looks amazing and kudos to you for cooking for two days! I have the same wish. As I live in Mumbai, I could not cook proper osechi, but I did some weird western version this year in a hope that my kids will learn and remember Japanese way of New Year celebration. I realized that I need to work harder through seeing yours, though! I have the same wish as you do that I hope my kids will remember the happy holidays they spend as a family. It's hard to keep my home culture when living very far away from home, but I hope I can persevere.
ReplyDeleteMy husband is Japanese-American, he has very fond memories of the food his mom, aunties and Grandma would make for New Years. We take a quick trip to Portland, Oregon, to stock up on some of the foods he remembers. We also soaked 35 pounds of mochi. New Years Day we had a fun time eating and making mochi. We are loving having a freezer full of yummy mochi! Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteI love cooking specially when it is for my family, I agree with you.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing it.
Kisses, Mª José
Wow.. Looks very delicious!! I came here by chance, but I am lucky! Your blog has many beutiful things~ I will come again~ :)
ReplyDeleteGood for you! The food looks lovely. I'll bet your family are proud of you that you took the time, love and effort to do what you did. Looks yummy.
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful spread that is. I just started following your blog and have been perusing past posts. I'm really enjoying it. I use to have one of those myself. I didn't realize it was for food. I put jewelry and keepsakes in it until it got lost in a move. What a beautiful meal. Thank you for sharing your lives. Kat
ReplyDelete