Bachan Celebrates the New Year

OBACHAN COOKED FOR TWO DAYS MAKING OSECHI-RYORI, JAPANESE NEW YEARS FOOD. This is a tradition dating back 1,000 years. Uh, that's the age of the tradition, not Bachan.

ALEXIS:  Bachan! I'm taking a picture. Open your eyes.

BACHAN:  Wha chu talkoon bout? My eye open awready.

I'm soooo happy Bachan had the energy and interest to host a New Year's feast. 

BACHAN:  I closah closah [closer to the grave]. You nebbah know. Maybe dis my lass one.

ALEXIS:  Bachan! You've been saying that for 20 years.

When Bachan was growing up, women cooked osechi the last several days of the year because it was taboo to cook the first several days of the new year. Each dish and ingredient had a special meaning to celebrate the new year, such as good health, fertility, and long life. Osechi is artfully packed in layers inside laquered bento (lunch) boxes. When friends came to visit, the hostess would offer osechi. The guests would eat, drink and visit before moving on to the next house.

Because cooking so many dishes is time consuming, many Japanese today buy osechi from a store. The costly osechi can cost about $250 or more per bento box.

We're so lucky because Bachan is a great cook and cooks everything herself. She roasts, fries and simmers most things with varying combinations of shoyu (soy sauce), sake, mirin (sweet J. cooking wine), shoyu, and sugar. This year she made 17 dishes, not counting rice or dessert. Here are a few pix of our feast.

1  Datemaki (sweet rolled omelette) symbolizes a wish for many auspicious (attended by favorable circumstances) days.

2  The red and white slices of kamaboko (fish cake) represent the Japanese rising sun (flag).

3  Daidai (bitter orange) is a wish for children in the New Year, which Alexis refused to touch.

4  Kurumaebi Tsuyayu (whiskered whole shrimp in the shell) is eaten by elders hoping for a long life.

5  Roasted Tai (snapper) symbolizes a good omen.

6  Everyone must eat kuro-mame (black beans), a wish to work energetically all year. Alexis didn't want to eat them, but I insisted (heh, heh, heh).

7  Kimpiru Gobo (burdock root) represents stability and increased good fortune.

8  Namasu (pickled daikon radish and carrot slivers) express the celebratory colors, red and white.

9  Kazunoko (herring egg sack) symbolizes a wish to be gifted with many children in the New Year. Alexis refused to touch these, too. Hmm. I'm seeing a pattern here.

10 Konbu (a kind of seaweed) represents joy.





And it's not a party unless Bachan shows off a new T-shirt (a Christmas present from Alexis):

Yep. It actually says "screaming ham" [sigh].

May celebrations surround you,


Catherine