We had an unexpected break in our blog last year due to some unforeseen events that absorbed most of our attention. As the saying goes, life is what happens when you are planning something else. Hope we can start up and continue the blog again with the start of the new year. Although it is getting repetitious our first post of 2019 starts with our Kagami-mochi 鏡餅 new years decoration and since it is year of the boar; two figurines of boar. We placed this in the"tokono-ma" 床の間 alcove of the small Japanese-style room we call the tea room.
The larger boar is made of fired clay in the form of a bell called "Do-rei" 土鈴 and the small one is carved from wood.
As we are entrenched in our routine, it is very hard to start the morning without coffee and bread. So we had our usual cappuccino and assorted breads for breakfast instead of the traditional new year's soup "Ozou-ni" お雑煮 which we had for lunch. Although, as usual, we got the osechi box from Sushi Taro yesterday, we are not going to touch it until this evening. So the lunch consisted of dishes I made in addition to the soup.
Although this was a lunch, we had a small cup of symbolic sake for good luck and health. The sake cups are a gift from our sisiter-in-law in Japan many years ago and made of thinnest porcelain.
These are are the dishes I made for this year (all posted in the "Norio's New Year dishes" tab in the main blog page); salmon kelp roll 鮭の昆布巻き, herring roe in broth 数の子, Russian salmon marinade 鮭のロシア漬け(from left to right in the back), Date-maki omelet 伊達巻 and simmered freeze-dried "ko-ya" tofu 高野豆腐 (front right to left).
Of course, I had to serve daikon in sweet vinegar or "daikon-namasu" 大根なます with boiled octopus leg and ikura salmon roe いくら.
So we did what we could to make an auspicious start for 2019 and we're looking forward to hitting the Osechi box this evening.
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