Hinton Happenings: Happy New Year!

Friday, January 20, 2017

Happy New Year!

New Year's or Oshougotsu is the biggest holiday of the year in Japan. The country closes down as much as possible and everyone stays or goes home to their families. It is about a five-day holiday. Missionaries are asked not to proselyte during this holiday as families are celebrating together and it is considered impolite to bother them during this time. It is traditional to display a special wreath on your door during Oshougatsu. Our friend, Kadawaki san made one for us:

Many people also have beautiful flower arrangements displayed during the holiday. Sister Miki gave us this one on Thursday at eikaiwa so we would have it to display during the holidays (note: three weeks later it is still beautiful.)

This is Japanese take out. It is tempura over rice. We actually go to Hotto Motto almost every Thursday after we get home from Sakata eikaiwa. But this Thursday meal started our Oshougotsu celebration. Ken had chahan. Actually, he gets chahan every, single week. He rarely varies. I try different things. But this tempura is probably my favorite.

We planned to go out to eat on Saturday night. That's what we do at home on New Year's Eve. We didn't realize most everything would be closed. But just as we were getting ready to leave to walk to a nearby restaurant, our neighbor from across the street rang our doorbell. His wife had prepared and sent over a box of traditional Oshougotsu foods: sweet black beans, fish cake, sweet potato/ apple salad, and root vegetable/chicken dish. It was so kind of them to share. We put in the fridge to eat on New Year's and headed out. We walked to Jiro's- only to find it closed.

So we came home and got a gift for the owner of our other favorite- Hana Dining- and went there. The lights were on, so we went in, but she said they were also closed for the holiday. But we gave her the gift of chocolates and the Christ ornament. She immediately ran to the back and brought out this box of more Oshougotsu foods- sweetened egg dish (grated yolk on top and sweetened pressed white on the bottom), more fish cake, and I don't know what the other was. It was fun to try all of the traditional foods.
So we went to a chain restaurant nearby (Gusto's) and found them open and enjoyed a delicious meal, then came home to watch a movie. We didn't stay up long enough to welcome in the new year.

Ready for church on New Year's Day

The elders sporting the matching ties we gave them in their stockings for Christmas

On Monday evening, the Nomuras invited us over for an Oshougotsu dinner. They made sukiyaki,

And that same root vegetable dish.

This is the gift we brought them. I wanted Kristen and her family to see how pretty the gift tags she made us look.

And Ozoni soup- a traditional Oshougotsu Japanese dish.

Ken eating soup with mochi in it. It was really delicious- slightly sweet with a citrus flavor.

I made The Next Best Thing to Robert Redford for dessert. I'm sure you've heard of it. It's a recipe that has been around since Robert Redford was all that.

The funniest part of the evening was listening to Ken trying to explain to Ritzu the name of the dessert. This had been going on for quite some time before I got out my camera. She never does get it. She says at the end: It is a hard name.

This is their dog. They love their dog.

Doing dishes after the meal.

Roasted mochi. First you roast the squares of mochi in a toaster oven, then put a piece in each bowl of soup. Mochi is THE food to eat during Oshougotsu. It is a special kind of rice that has been pounded into a paste, then formed into blocks and cut into squares. It is sold everywhere before Oshougotsu.

The party continued on Tuesday as Sachiko and Imi prepared another Oshougotsu meal for us at FHE.

Remi often draws pictures on the board before FHE starts. This is her picture of Totoro, a popular cartoon figure here. Below is a picture of him from the Internet. You can see how good she is.