Osechi

We had our New Year's eve meal, osechi, from 6:30 tonight. We always eat downstairs on New Year's eve with the whole family. This is an old photo. We basically had the same thing this year except for the fried chicken. Aunt and Baba made potato and carrot wrapped in beef slices. We eat our own osechi upstairs for the first three days of the year.

Check here for posts and more photos of osechi, the new year's meal.

Osechi

This year Big Sister bought a box of osechi from Isetan, a department store. It served two people. She bought it so we could sample some fancy side dishes. She ordered it several days ahead and then picked it up on the 31st (osechi is eaten the first three days of the new year including dinner on the 31st.) The osechi box was wrapped in a furoshiki and was packed in a cardboard box.

We had other traditional side dishes. Like walnuts and small dried fish.

Stewed vegetables that include lotus root, sato imo, mushrooms, carrots, gingko nuts, burdock, bamboo root, and konnyaku.

And datemaki, spongy sweet egg cooked with fish broth. It is served at room temperature.
Check this post for more pictures of osechi. I didn't take pictures of everything this year.

Check Kids Web Japan-- New Year's Day and New Year's Cards

Ready-made Osechi

Some traditional foods are pre-packaged to cut down on all the cooking. Department stores sell food arranged in boxes. It can be transferred to the traditional lacquer boxes. This is the salty soy sauce covered dried fish.

Sweet black beans.

Small dried shrimp.

Ham. About six inches long.

Thinly sliced smoked salmon from Russia.

Packaged pre-cooked vegetables. Baba cooks her own.

Packaged kamaboko.

This is how kamaboko looks before it is cut.

Chestnuts. We bought these and other things to eat at our house upstairs for the rest of the holiday.

Kids Web Japan--New Year's Day
New Year's Cards

Osechi Ryori, New Year's Food

New Year's food is served in lacquer boxes. It is eaten the first three days of the new year. Our family eats osechi on the night of the 31st. Some families eat it on new year's Day. This is what our family eats. Some of the dishes are traditional. The fried chicken was added for Little Brother.

This box has bamboo shoots or takenoko, sato imo, carrots shaped like ume of plum blossoms, snow peas, gobou and renkon or lotus root.

Gobou or burdock.

Renkon or lotus root. Jiji used to always hold a piece of renkon up and look through it saying he was looking into the new year.

These black beans are sweet. The small fish are coated in salty soy sauce. The chestnuts are sweet. Kobumaki is in the upper lefthand corner.

Konbu is seaweed. This is kobumaki, rolled seaweed.

The pink and white pieces are kamaboko or processed fish. Datemaki is sweet rolled
egg.

Sashimi or raw fish. Soy sauce and wasabi (horse radish) are put on a small plate to dip it.

New chopsticks are used to eat New Year's food. Aunt made these chopstick covers. Special fancy chopsticks are sold in the grocery store.

Kids Web Japan-- Introduction to Japanese Food

Kids Web Japan--How to Hold Chopsticks

Kids Web Japan--New Year's Day

Kids Web Japan--New Year's Cards