Turned out that it was New Years Day that was the big holiday, and it's really much more akin to something like Christmas morning minus the presents (unless you're a kid, in which case you get red envelopes of nice cold cash). The whole family gets together at the parents or a relative's house and everyone sits around and eats lots of food and watches TV telethons or plays mah-jhongg. Most also visit a local Shinto shrine (they're everywhere) to make prayers/wishes for the new year.
Now that I'm older and less liquor-worthy, I've really come to appreciate importing some of these customs into our own home -- notably the special New Years Day meal. Some families go all-out and do several days of advance prep so that there is food for many days and no cooking needed, but we usually try to crank out one meal and call it a day.
Someone once said that they wouldn't eat Japanese food because they were against eating cusine that was based on a dare. I think that there's probably some truth to that -- if you've ever ventured beyond Benihana or the local Armenian sushi shop then you're probably aware that there are a lot of 'taste acquistion' skills required.
Still, here's the menu we were able to throw together, in spite of half the house suffering from head colds.
We like to mix in a lot of western ingredients to brand the dishes as our own:
1. Hijiki That's the black stuff in the top corner. It's a type of seaweed. R's is killer because she fries it up with Niman Ranch bacon, which really pumps up the smokiness. And really, what's better than bacon?
2. O-Hitashi: Steamed spinach served with a few simple drops of sesame oil.
3. Tsukemono: Japanese "pickles" - these are cucumbers that are pickled with a Shiso leaf that turns them bright purple. Pretty and an irresistible wet crunch. Great with rice.
4. Tamago-Yaki: Basically a square egg-fritata. For this one we included crab meat and avocado, and then topped with a single dab of salmon roe.
5. Potato chowder: Traditionally you serve a white miso soup on New Years, but this was a riff that R thought up.
6. Mugi Cha: Hot Barley Tea to wash it all down.
Yum!
What? What's that you say? You're glad I didn' post this on Jan 1st for your hung-over eyes and stomach to feast on? Ah well, patience grasshopper -- at least there were no grasshoppers on the menu. But that gives me an idea...
Anyhow, Happy New Year!.