Our New Year’s Eve was spent doing what we do every NYE – help Kevin’s parents with Osechi making. Well, I say “making” but I don’t do any of the cooking, of course. Kevin’s parents do all the cooking, which can take up to a week to prepare, and Kevin, my sister in law and I go and help pack all the little dishes into a box called “ojyu” (お重) on the day they are either picked up or delivered.
Osechi is a traditional Japanese food that’s enjoyed on the first of the year, and they make about 10 to 15 boxes every year for their friends.
Even this process takes about six hours. It’s pretty hard core.
大晦日は毎年恒例のおせちの準備日でした。準備と言っても料理は全て義理両親が３、４日掛かりで調理し、私と旦那と義理姉は当日にお重に詰めるだけで（←私の場合は邪魔をしないのが一番の課題）。これだけでも６時間程掛かります。
この量と数、いつ見ても圧倒されます。
完成した御節はこんな感じです。ご苦労様でした〜。
Afterward, we headed over to our friends’ house for another great yearly ritual — our ghetto fabulous KFC celebration dinner! This time, Popeyes chicken joined in the fun for a taste test.
The verdict: KFC all the way.
御節の後は友達の家でこれまた毎年恒例のケンタッキーディナー。今回は食べ比べで「ポパイス (Popeyes)」のチキンも参加。勝者は圧倒でケンタでした。
お腹いっぱいになるまで食べたら急いで家に帰り、ギリギリだったけど大好きな嵐を紅白で見れました〜。大ちゃん最高っす。
ランキングに参加しています。応援ありがとうございます。
にほんブログ村
It’s not a myth but a fact that the majority of Japanese women (living in Japan, that is) are thin. Living in Japan and experiencing the way they live for two weeks, I figured out how they manage to maintain their svelte physique. I even lost three pounds doing it, although I probably gained it all back in the last two days … shucks. They eat three, small, nutritiously balanced meals regularly every day and walk everywhere. I think they strive to eat at least 30 different types of food daily. That’s all. These are few of the wisdoms I picked up in Japan.
My mother and I were off to Kyoto for a much-needed relaxation. The last few days in Chiba required us to take care of some business and fulfill family obligation so we were definitely looking forward to spending the stress-free week in the cultural and culinary capitol of Japan. We stayed at my other aunt and uncle’s house (my mother’s sister), located in the middle of all the historical action of the city. It was very strange to walk on the streets of Kyoto and find Seven Eleven sitting right next to a 1,000-year-old castle!
My mother, my aunt and I stopped at a tea shop and enjoyed a real matcha tea at Kinkakuji. Unlike the green tea Frappacino many of us are accustomed to, the traditional kind is very rich and bitter which is why it is usually enjoyed with a small piece of Japanese sweet. It was a perfect place to enjoy the scenery (people-watching in Japan is so much fun!) and rest our tired feet from walking around the temple.
One thing I was most looking forward to on this trip to Japan was to finally visit the Chinese restaurant my uncle owns in Tokyo called, “
I spent the last two weeks in Japan with my mother (the best travel partner ever, by the way), eating great food and having a blast. It was intended as a “satogaeri” trip (which translates to “returning home”) but it felt more like a full-blown vacation for me, with opportunities to visit all the touristy places one would see in travel guides.
They were very kind and fed us very well during our stay, taking us to great places, like this stylish tempura restaurant in Matusdo. (By the way, what you see in the above picture is not a sushi bar but a tempura counter where a chef deep-fries all great things imaginable in front of the hungry patrons!)
We enjoyed tempura shrimps, crabs, assorted seasonal vegetables, fugu (puffy fish!) accompanied by dashi-based dipping sauce or just lemon and salt (my boyfriend only eats tempura this way), finishing up the meal with tempura anago bowl (saltwater eel) with a side of delicious miso soup.
And speaking of being well fed, they even took us to a noodle shop for lunch and I ate soba that was cooked to perfection. I ordered the cold buckwheat noodle bowl with tororo imo (grated mountain potato), raw egg and crab meat.
Lavender and OliVE 