laurainlimbo (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
laurainlimbo) wrote2010-01-02 03:22 am
laurainlimbo) wrote2010-01-02 03:22 am
Entry tags:
New Year's Traditional Foods in Japan (with some pics)
Hi Everyone and Happy 2010! It's already the end of the second day of the year, and I haven't done anything. Nothing at all! I feel so lazy, but really most people have been on holiday, even Masahiko's parents, and some businesses close during this week, so I don't feel too guilty. However, I have been eating way too much - especially snacks and unhealthy foods like potato chips, chocolate, and other yummy cookies and snacks we bought before NY Eve. I think if I make one New Year's resolution every year, it's to stop eating so much junk food. I usually don't stick to that resolution very closely though ^_^
Anyway, I wanted to write a little bit about the food that Japanese people traditionally eat for New Year's. I will put this all behind a cut, since it's lengthy and all of you might not be interested in how mochi is made. but if you're interested,
One of the biggest traditions for Japanese is to make and eat their own mochi (rice cakes). It's actually made of glutinous rice called mochigome, which is stickier than regular white rice that Japanese people usually eat. The texture of the finished mochi is very sticky, and the taste is very bland. Most people will heat up the mochi on the stove, and then wrap it in nori (seaweed like what's used for sushi) and eat it with soy sauce. But besides just eating it, some Japanese people make a big production of making it themselves. The methods for making mochi have changed throughout the years, and now there are machines that do everything for you. But some older people, like my mother-in-law, actually use older methods, which require more work. A couple of days before New Year's, I was able to watch her prepare mochi in our kitchen. First she takes the raw mochigome and puts it into a wooden steamer, which she then puts on the stove to steam for perhaps 25-30 minutes.
Here's the steaming containers, which are made of wood. Each of these has rice in it, wrapped in cheesecloth:
This steaming makes the rice more solid, so that it turns into a huge, sticky mass which is then put into another machine, resembling (in my opinion) a small washing machine:
In this machine, the sticky mass is turned around and around so that it becomes more solid, and my mother-in-law stops the machine every once in awhile to add water to the mass. It looks like this when it's been turning awhile:
When it's the right texture, she takes it out of this machine and puts it onto a huge wood board, on which she has spread flour (made out of potato).
She takes the dough and first forms some dumplings which she will put onto the shrine in her room (this is a shrine for their deceased ancestors), and which is given as an offering to "kamisama" (God).
She then flattens the mochi, which resembles bread dough, and puts the flattened mochi into a tray, on which it will harden. It can't be cut into squares when it's so soft and sticky:
When I lived in Japan years ago, I got to see mochi made with a very old-fashioned method. They put the sticky mass into buckets, and one person adds water while another person hits the mochi with a stick until it forms the right texture. I don't have the picture I took years ago, but here's a pic I found online:
Nowadays, you can buy very expensive machines which steam, turn, form and flatten the mochi for you. No work is needed. But where's the fun in that? I really appreciate the work that my mother-in-law put into the preparation - altogether it took her a few hours to get the mochi completed from start to finish.
After that was done, we used some of the mochi to make what's called Daifuku (which literally means "Good Luck"), which is Mochi filled with Anko (sweetened red bean paste made from azuki beans). The anko is formed into hard balls, and we wrap the soft mochi around the anko to form a dumpling. Here we all are making Daifuku (sorry you can't see my face, I was busy stuffing anko into mochi - but that's my mother-in-law, and my husband in the second pic):
Then while the mochi is still warm, I ate one of the Daifuku that I had made, and it was so yummy!
While I love Daifuku (because it's sweet), I'm not a big fan of mochi, mostly because the texture is too sticky and the taste is so bland. I've also heard that some older people die every year from choking on the mochi because it has to be cut very small to be eaten carefully, unless you're used to the texture. But tradition is tradition!
And speaking of tradition, we also ate other New Year's foods this year, including soba noodles with shrimp tempura, and crab legs (which we had on New Year's day). For New Year's lunch, I tasted some of the traditional Osechi-Ryori , which my mother-in-law had prepared; this included kuromame (black beans, which are not like Mexican black beans), nishiki tamago (a double-colored egg cake which is made by separating the yolk and the whites), Zoni (mochi in miso broth), and renkon (boiled lotus root). Younger people, and westerners, may not really like Osechi-ryori, because it's mostly eaten cold, and the flavors are either bland, or very fishy (like kamaboko, which is fish cake), and fish eggs and konyaku (another root, which is very good for digestion), but which is also doesn't taste very good.
Anyway, I mostly enjoyed the shrimp tempura soba, and the crab legs. But it has all been an interesting experience.
I should probably catch you up on any news that has been going on here. My husband might have a job starting next week - it's not glamorous or anything, but the hours are good, and he'll have weekends off. We will know for sure about it in the next couple days. I'm still waiting for calls and emails about jobs, but I do have an interview scheduled for January 12th in Tokyo. It's with a recruiting (or dispatch) company that places teachers at private schools or universities. They don't have any openings currently in my area, but they said that they want to meet me in person, and maybe have a teaching demonstration. Apparently if they have a good candidate, they actively search for openings, and if I'll registered with them, they can place me right away if something comes up. Otherwise, I've sent my resume to many places, and I'm just waiting - most jobs start in April, so I may be waiting awhile for interviews.
anyway, after my interview in Tokyo, I'm going to travel a bit north of Tokyo to Saitama and stay with my good friends the Yoshinos. They have known our family since I was 15 - Fujiko was good friends with my cousin Byron's wife Keiko, and we invited them to visit us when we lived near Denver back in the '80s. Fujiko and her two daughters stayed with us and we took them sightseeing in Colorado. I visited the Yoshinos several times when I lived in Japan 10 years ago, and Fujiko also came out to Port Angeles for my wedding in 2001. I'll stay with the Yoshinos for a day or two, and then come back and actively search for jobs again. I should also be meeting my former student Narumi, who is back visiting her family for the holiday. She lives in Singapore now and works at an international hotel, where she speaks English, Chinese and Japanese! I also hope to meet my friend Naomi again, and maybe Akiko too. It will be nice to get out and do stuff - I've been spending so much time in this house! Finally, I hope to start studying Japanese with my husband's good friend, this woman named Takai-san. She might come to my house every once in awhile, and converse with me in Japanese, so I can become more fluent and confident.
Well that's it for now. Hope everyone's New Year is going fine so far! stay warm:)
Anyway, I wanted to write a little bit about the food that Japanese people traditionally eat for New Year's. I will put this all behind a cut, since it's lengthy and all of you might not be interested in how mochi is made. but if you're interested,
One of the biggest traditions for Japanese is to make and eat their own mochi (rice cakes). It's actually made of glutinous rice called mochigome, which is stickier than regular white rice that Japanese people usually eat. The texture of the finished mochi is very sticky, and the taste is very bland. Most people will heat up the mochi on the stove, and then wrap it in nori (seaweed like what's used for sushi) and eat it with soy sauce. But besides just eating it, some Japanese people make a big production of making it themselves. The methods for making mochi have changed throughout the years, and now there are machines that do everything for you. But some older people, like my mother-in-law, actually use older methods, which require more work. A couple of days before New Year's, I was able to watch her prepare mochi in our kitchen. First she takes the raw mochigome and puts it into a wooden steamer, which she then puts on the stove to steam for perhaps 25-30 minutes.
Here's the steaming containers, which are made of wood. Each of these has rice in it, wrapped in cheesecloth:
This steaming makes the rice more solid, so that it turns into a huge, sticky mass which is then put into another machine, resembling (in my opinion) a small washing machine:
In this machine, the sticky mass is turned around and around so that it becomes more solid, and my mother-in-law stops the machine every once in awhile to add water to the mass. It looks like this when it's been turning awhile:
When it's the right texture, she takes it out of this machine and puts it onto a huge wood board, on which she has spread flour (made out of potato).
She takes the dough and first forms some dumplings which she will put onto the shrine in her room (this is a shrine for their deceased ancestors), and which is given as an offering to "kamisama" (God).
She then flattens the mochi, which resembles bread dough, and puts the flattened mochi into a tray, on which it will harden. It can't be cut into squares when it's so soft and sticky:
When I lived in Japan years ago, I got to see mochi made with a very old-fashioned method. They put the sticky mass into buckets, and one person adds water while another person hits the mochi with a stick until it forms the right texture. I don't have the picture I took years ago, but here's a pic I found online:
Nowadays, you can buy very expensive machines which steam, turn, form and flatten the mochi for you. No work is needed. But where's the fun in that? I really appreciate the work that my mother-in-law put into the preparation - altogether it took her a few hours to get the mochi completed from start to finish.
After that was done, we used some of the mochi to make what's called Daifuku (which literally means "Good Luck"), which is Mochi filled with Anko (sweetened red bean paste made from azuki beans). The anko is formed into hard balls, and we wrap the soft mochi around the anko to form a dumpling. Here we all are making Daifuku (sorry you can't see my face, I was busy stuffing anko into mochi - but that's my mother-in-law, and my husband in the second pic):
Then while the mochi is still warm, I ate one of the Daifuku that I had made, and it was so yummy!
While I love Daifuku (because it's sweet), I'm not a big fan of mochi, mostly because the texture is too sticky and the taste is so bland. I've also heard that some older people die every year from choking on the mochi because it has to be cut very small to be eaten carefully, unless you're used to the texture. But tradition is tradition!
And speaking of tradition, we also ate other New Year's foods this year, including soba noodles with shrimp tempura, and crab legs (which we had on New Year's day). For New Year's lunch, I tasted some of the traditional Osechi-Ryori , which my mother-in-law had prepared; this included kuromame (black beans, which are not like Mexican black beans), nishiki tamago (a double-colored egg cake which is made by separating the yolk and the whites), Zoni (mochi in miso broth), and renkon (boiled lotus root). Younger people, and westerners, may not really like Osechi-ryori, because it's mostly eaten cold, and the flavors are either bland, or very fishy (like kamaboko, which is fish cake), and fish eggs and konyaku (another root, which is very good for digestion), but which is also doesn't taste very good.
Anyway, I mostly enjoyed the shrimp tempura soba, and the crab legs. But it has all been an interesting experience.
I should probably catch you up on any news that has been going on here. My husband might have a job starting next week - it's not glamorous or anything, but the hours are good, and he'll have weekends off. We will know for sure about it in the next couple days. I'm still waiting for calls and emails about jobs, but I do have an interview scheduled for January 12th in Tokyo. It's with a recruiting (or dispatch) company that places teachers at private schools or universities. They don't have any openings currently in my area, but they said that they want to meet me in person, and maybe have a teaching demonstration. Apparently if they have a good candidate, they actively search for openings, and if I'll registered with them, they can place me right away if something comes up. Otherwise, I've sent my resume to many places, and I'm just waiting - most jobs start in April, so I may be waiting awhile for interviews.
anyway, after my interview in Tokyo, I'm going to travel a bit north of Tokyo to Saitama and stay with my good friends the Yoshinos. They have known our family since I was 15 - Fujiko was good friends with my cousin Byron's wife Keiko, and we invited them to visit us when we lived near Denver back in the '80s. Fujiko and her two daughters stayed with us and we took them sightseeing in Colorado. I visited the Yoshinos several times when I lived in Japan 10 years ago, and Fujiko also came out to Port Angeles for my wedding in 2001. I'll stay with the Yoshinos for a day or two, and then come back and actively search for jobs again. I should also be meeting my former student Narumi, who is back visiting her family for the holiday. She lives in Singapore now and works at an international hotel, where she speaks English, Chinese and Japanese! I also hope to meet my friend Naomi again, and maybe Akiko too. It will be nice to get out and do stuff - I've been spending so much time in this house! Finally, I hope to start studying Japanese with my husband's good friend, this woman named Takai-san. She might come to my house every once in awhile, and converse with me in Japanese, so I can become more fluent and confident.
Well that's it for now. Hope everyone's New Year is going fine so far! stay warm:)