Happy New Year!
Happy New Year all! May it be a prosperous, delicious and fun year for ZenKitchen and all!
Today was filled with eating Japanese cuisine, some traditional and some with new twists, in celebration of New Years, which is the most important holiday of the year in Japan and a quiet time spent with family and friends and the opportunity for a fresh start.
On New Year's morning people eat "osechi-ryori" or special Japanese New Year's cuisine. This food was prepared originally to be offered to the "toshigami", meaning "year god" or the deity believed to pay an annual visit to people's homes on New Years Day. The dishes were to be prepared before the New Year, when the god descended to the mortal world. I hope that gods that came to our house to eat were happy...
When I was a child, I remember my mom waking me up early, way to early especially in my teens when I would stay up too late with friends, but I was rewarded with numerous dishes of special foods that she seemed to spend the whole week preparing with such care. And, I was always fascinated that each dish had a special meaning and were luck for a certain thing, making sure that I ate the most of the thing I really needed or thought I would need that year. Then we would go to my Aunt Helen's place in the afternoon to eat her take on the festive food celebration and we would often go to another place as well. Not as exciting the second or third time around, but somehow you would manage to do it as it's hard to stop eating food that for the most part you only get once a year if that.
When I was away from home and after my mom passed away long ago (I believe 19 years already!), I tried to continue this tradition even in some small way, and my sister continued this as well for her family and my dad, and I have joined her throughout the years when I can. It's interesting that as you get older that the taste memories you really enjoyed when you were younger and had such a lasting impact become what you really crave for more and more.
Once of the dishes that my sister and I both love is "ozoni" which is a hot clear soup that contains mochi (steamed sticky rice that has been pounded and formed into rice cakes) that the Japanese love and are even used for a New Year's decoration called "kagami mochi", which is two mochi with a mandarine/clemintine/tangerine place on top for good luck - the mini kagami mochi is on our mantle now. We love the hot gooey and sticky nature of the ozoni dish and had to be careful not to eat it too quickly as the mochi can be hard to swallow, and actually several people die in Japan each year from eating mochi at New Years, in particular old people. Apparently, the custom of eating ozoni at New Years started in the 15th century when people took mochi that had been offered to the year god and simmered them in fresh water over a flame along with food from the sea and mountains to make a soup that is thought to provide power for the coming year.
Our menu today was all vegan. I didn't have to make it all vegan as people that were guests were not vegan but some were vegetarian and the more I cook vegan, the more I love it as almost everyone can eat it, and I love the ability to be able to test and trial things at home when I am not in work mode. Growing up we had a lot of vegetables and rice and rice-related dishes at New Years but also the addition of seafood and fish like decorative shrimp, octopus, sashimi, salmon, etc. but I didn't miss it today. In fact, Noriko's friend Yuri who came over early to help us prepare the food said that she didn't even notice until later that there was no meat or fish in the meal as she loved the meal as it was. That's exactly what people say about ZenKitchen monthly dinners and it's those who are the omnivores who are the most pleasantly surprised when they realize this afterwards, and often become the most loyal clients/guests.
It was a group effort to prepare the meal with Noriko, her friend Yuri, and of course Dave was the usual big help, always willing to test out new dishes. We started the preparations yesterday and took shifts in our tiny kitchen working on different dishes.
The menu for today:
- Ozoni soup, made with stocks from different ingredients such as sea vegetables and shitake, garnished with enoki mushrooms, konnyaku (yam cake) noodles, sakura carrot, and each containing a baked mochi cake
- Futomake sushi, rolled sushi that contains shitake, kampyo (gourd ribbons), brocoli rabe leaves, and vegan red caviar
- Inarasushi (fried tofu bags that are marinated) stuffed with roasted chesnut rice
- Kaiso (seaweed), cucumber and micro greens salad in a ponzu-chiso vinaigrette
- Tossed organic salad with a sesame kombu dressing
- Kuromame, boiled black beans, and roasted chesnuts in a sweet sauce, which represents the ability to work hard. I was worried at first that it was just hard work but the "ability" to work hard is a nicer thing to want
- Kimpira, stir fried burdock (gobo) with matchstick carrots and hijiki
- Tempura of matchstick carrots and fresh shitake mushrooms
- Quick tsukemono pickle made with nappa cabbage
- Kiribishi daikon (sun-dried daikon) pickle
- Renkon (flower of the lotus root) chips with shichimi togarashi (Japanese seven spice chili pepper)
- Cranberry teriyaki tofu steaks
- Sake to toast the new year
As a great start to the new year, I shared the celebration of the new year and food with good friends. And, like my mom growing up, I am always worried that there will not be enough food for everyone and they will starve, and I always tend to make too much, but I usually stop when Dave reassures me that we have more than enough food. However, leftovers of this kind are great afterwards, especially when you are tuckered out after all the preparations and excitement of Christmas and New Years celebrations, so who's complaining?
What a great start to the new year!
Today was filled with eating Japanese cuisine, some traditional and some with new twists, in celebration of New Years, which is the most important holiday of the year in Japan and a quiet time spent with family and friends and the opportunity for a fresh start.
On New Year's morning people eat "osechi-ryori" or special Japanese New Year's cuisine. This food was prepared originally to be offered to the "toshigami", meaning "year god" or the deity believed to pay an annual visit to people's homes on New Years Day. The dishes were to be prepared before the New Year, when the god descended to the mortal world. I hope that gods that came to our house to eat were happy...
When I was a child, I remember my mom waking me up early, way to early especially in my teens when I would stay up too late with friends, but I was rewarded with numerous dishes of special foods that she seemed to spend the whole week preparing with such care. And, I was always fascinated that each dish had a special meaning and were luck for a certain thing, making sure that I ate the most of the thing I really needed or thought I would need that year. Then we would go to my Aunt Helen's place in the afternoon to eat her take on the festive food celebration and we would often go to another place as well. Not as exciting the second or third time around, but somehow you would manage to do it as it's hard to stop eating food that for the most part you only get once a year if that.
When I was away from home and after my mom passed away long ago (I believe 19 years already!), I tried to continue this tradition even in some small way, and my sister continued this as well for her family and my dad, and I have joined her throughout the years when I can. It's interesting that as you get older that the taste memories you really enjoyed when you were younger and had such a lasting impact become what you really crave for more and more.
Once of the dishes that my sister and I both love is "ozoni" which is a hot clear soup that contains mochi (steamed sticky rice that has been pounded and formed into rice cakes) that the Japanese love and are even used for a New Year's decoration called "kagami mochi", which is two mochi with a mandarine/clemintine/tangerine place on top for good luck - the mini kagami mochi is on our mantle now. We love the hot gooey and sticky nature of the ozoni dish and had to be careful not to eat it too quickly as the mochi can be hard to swallow, and actually several people die in Japan each year from eating mochi at New Years, in particular old people. Apparently, the custom of eating ozoni at New Years started in the 15th century when people took mochi that had been offered to the year god and simmered them in fresh water over a flame along with food from the sea and mountains to make a soup that is thought to provide power for the coming year.
Our menu today was all vegan. I didn't have to make it all vegan as people that were guests were not vegan but some were vegetarian and the more I cook vegan, the more I love it as almost everyone can eat it, and I love the ability to be able to test and trial things at home when I am not in work mode. Growing up we had a lot of vegetables and rice and rice-related dishes at New Years but also the addition of seafood and fish like decorative shrimp, octopus, sashimi, salmon, etc. but I didn't miss it today. In fact, Noriko's friend Yuri who came over early to help us prepare the food said that she didn't even notice until later that there was no meat or fish in the meal as she loved the meal as it was. That's exactly what people say about ZenKitchen monthly dinners and it's those who are the omnivores who are the most pleasantly surprised when they realize this afterwards, and often become the most loyal clients/guests.
It was a group effort to prepare the meal with Noriko, her friend Yuri, and of course Dave was the usual big help, always willing to test out new dishes. We started the preparations yesterday and took shifts in our tiny kitchen working on different dishes.
The menu for today:
- Ozoni soup, made with stocks from different ingredients such as sea vegetables and shitake, garnished with enoki mushrooms, konnyaku (yam cake) noodles, sakura carrot, and each containing a baked mochi cake
- Futomake sushi, rolled sushi that contains shitake, kampyo (gourd ribbons), brocoli rabe leaves, and vegan red caviar
- Inarasushi (fried tofu bags that are marinated) stuffed with roasted chesnut rice
- Kaiso (seaweed), cucumber and micro greens salad in a ponzu-chiso vinaigrette
- Tossed organic salad with a sesame kombu dressing
- Kuromame, boiled black beans, and roasted chesnuts in a sweet sauce, which represents the ability to work hard. I was worried at first that it was just hard work but the "ability" to work hard is a nicer thing to want
- Kimpira, stir fried burdock (gobo) with matchstick carrots and hijiki
- Tempura of matchstick carrots and fresh shitake mushrooms
- Quick tsukemono pickle made with nappa cabbage
- Kiribishi daikon (sun-dried daikon) pickle
- Renkon (flower of the lotus root) chips with shichimi togarashi (Japanese seven spice chili pepper)
- Cranberry teriyaki tofu steaks
- Sake to toast the new year
As a great start to the new year, I shared the celebration of the new year and food with good friends. And, like my mom growing up, I am always worried that there will not be enough food for everyone and they will starve, and I always tend to make too much, but I usually stop when Dave reassures me that we have more than enough food. However, leftovers of this kind are great afterwards, especially when you are tuckered out after all the preparations and excitement of Christmas and New Years celebrations, so who's complaining?
What a great start to the new year!
posted by Caroline at 7:50 PM
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