Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year!

Mom and I prepared a traditional Japanese New Year's feast (called osechi), few days before the Eve. It's a great way to keep and maintain the traditions.

First off, I decided to try my hand at making datemaki, an egg omelett roulade. Mom's recipe involved making a meringue with one egg white and folding that into the rest of the batter to give it a fluffy texture. The whole thing is baked in 360F for about 20 minutes.

In the process of rolling it into a roulade. The omelett is first rolled loosely to gradually ease it into a rolled shape. That way, it's less likely to break.

Finished roulade. Rolled nice and tightly.

We spent the entire day of the New Year's Eve on making the rest of the feast. The finished food is arranged in a pretty lacquered box, called ju-bako.

First Tier: kuromame(black soy beans), kinton(sweet yam pate), datemaki(egg omelett roulade), nishiki-tamago(bi-color egg), kamaboko(fish cake)

Second Tier: kohaku-namasu(carrots and daikon slaw), tako-sunomono(octopus-seaweed salad), suzuke (red cabbage pickle)

Third Tier: nishime(braised taro roots), iri-dori(braised chicken & veggies), kombu-maki(salmon wrapped with kombu)

The tiers are then stacked neatly.

The year 2011 has been an eventful year. Many people died from the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. My cat died. My uncle passed away. We finally got to visit my sister and her fam.

I had a bittersweet Christmas. And another bittersweet experience followed the day after, which I'm not going to mention.

I have a feeling that this year, 2012, is going to be the year of redemption and reconciliation. The year that I/we make amends for the past and tie up loose ends. Who knows? Maybe the world will really end on December 21 of this coming year.