New Year's

My mom made osechi for New Year's.

Setup; the inari (fried, sweetened tofu?) on the left were from my cousins, so my mom added that to the bunch. Notice the curly tail at the top right corner of this picture.


Zouni: clear chicken broth soup thingie with mochi


From top, clockwise: Inari sushi, tamago (sweet & somewhat fishy egg), kamaboko (fish paste), kuromame (black beans), konnyaku (apparently it's some sort of plant, but it smells fishy), satoimo (starchy, kind of slimy potato), kinpira gobou (burdock root), and sweet chestnut in the middle.


Mochi!!!

Based on the description of what's on my plate, none of this sounds all that appetizing. But aside from humans, Japan's only real natural resource is seafood, so what can one expect? Anyway, it all tastes good, or it's good to have once a year. The mochi though, I will eat every day from now until about March, and then completely forget about its existence until next January.

Happy New Year!