Happy New Year of the Dragon. 

From 12:00 midnight January 1st until January 3rd, it's all about Japanese traditions. Here's not only what's been going on, but why. For this, I need to recognize my long-time friend C2, who did the homework on the meanings of all the New Year's food. All I knew was that we are supposed to eat it. 

Midnight, January 1st
We eat toshikoshi soba (means "year-crossing") so that literally the first thing done in the New Year is together with your family, in your home, and in the hope of a year of good fortune. The idea of being in Times Square on New Year's just doesn't compute for me.

Soba are buckwheat noodles and symbolize a long healthy life and a prosperous family. We add kamaboko, or fish cake, with special New Year's designs. This year, I have ume (plum) branches and blossoms, and kotobuki (寿) kanji. Plum symbolizes new beginnings, purity and sweetness. Kotobuki doesn't have a direct translation, but has a rejoicing/celebratory sense with a wish for longevity.

Breakfast January 1st
 On New Year's morning, the traditional breakfast is ozoni, a clear hot soup with mochi, mushrooms, soba and then whatever particulars a family includes. One of my friend's ozoni actually includes hot dogs, definitely an Americanized version. Ozoni is supposed to help nourish you throughout the year.

Rest of the Day, January 1st
We spend the day with family and friends and pick our way through lunch, dinner and assorted bowl games. Here are some of the traditional New Year's dishes and what they symbolize:

Sekihan (red rice): sticky mochi rice and azuki. In keeping with a red (azuki)/white (rice) color scheme, it is a celebratory food. This is one of my favorites.

Kuromame: black beans simmered in shoyu and sugar. You're supposed to eat one bean for each year of your age to ensure good health for the coming year and general long life.

Kobumaki: rolled seaweed tied with gourd. Sounds like Japanese "rejoice" (yorokobu, 喜ぶ) and symbolizes joy.

Datemaki: a sweet rolled scrambled egg. It's supposed to look like the sun, another celebratory food.

Gobo: julienned seasoned burdock root. The tough texture symbolizes the Japanese way of life and perseverance.

Nimono/nishime: boiled root vegetables. Includes lotus (renkon), cut so that the holes show, symbolizing that you can see the year ahead; bamboo shoots (takenoko), symbolizing fast growth, and carrots cut into the shape of a plum blossom for fertility.

Tastukuri: dried salted sardines (anchovies) for a good harvest.

Satsuma: mandarin oranges, put on top of the mochi (for good luck) and eaten for a good life.

Wishing you all the good health and happiness for 2012. Eat Well. Be Well.

Happy New Year of the Rabbit to all! This week has been all about the Japanese tradition (superstition?) of cleaning up for New Year's. We thoroughly clean the house--we're talking dusting baseboards, trips to Goodwill, rotating mattresses, cleaning up longstanding scuff marks on the floor (with a toothbrush!) and vacuuming places that no one ever sees except for when cleaning for New Year's. My cousin reminded me that you also need to take out all the trash and brush your teeth. This is supposed to get rid of the all the old/bad/unclean spirits in the house and literally start clean. Culturally, it's very interesting that the Japanese the word for "clean" is also the same as "pretty" (きれいな).

New Year's also means Japanese/Hawaii hybrid traditions. Last night, we had soba and champagne at midnight, while watching Dick Clark. My cousins did the same and rolled some sushi. In Hawaii, we'd also be shooting off firecrackers and watching Japanese TV. Growing up, I never knew anyone who went to fancy dress-up New Year's Parties. It was either at home or at a close family friend's house. 

We display special plastic encased mochi decorations that are never actually eaten--on our cars and the kitchen counter. These will stay up until Chinese (Lunar) New Year's. This is for good luck. Later, I'll get some paper 'omamori' (good luck symbols) to place in our bedrooms and over entry doors. All part of good luck for the New Year and out with the bad or worse, unclean stuff from last year.

For breakfast, we had soba, tangerines, and mochi. I went for my new-traditional mid-morning jog and later, we'll all head over to a dear friend's house for more traditional Japanese New Year foods. 

New Year's Soba
1 package soba--this is not a meal, it's tradition
Hon Tsuyu (1/2 cup to about 6-8 cups of water). Do not use the proportions on the bottle, it will be much, much to salty
Kamaboko slices
Green onions or mizuna (optional)

Heat up soup base to boiling. Drop the soba in the soup base until tender, a few minutes. Ladle into individual bowls. Add two slices of kamaboko and green onions or mizuna if desired. Slurp loudly and sip champagne.

 When I was a kid, we went to church on Christmas, then to my Grandma's for lunch, which always included ham, teriyaki meat, some kind of fried chicken, sushi, sashimi, and Aunty's snowball cookies.  

However, Christmas really seemed like the signal to start cooking for New Year's. Like most "mixed plate kids" we knew that 'calendar' New Year's was for mostly Japanese food, while "Chinese" new year was later for mostly Chinese food. Either way, it was good eating.

While I still don't cook the New Year's foods (thanks to a friend who has taken on this responsibility/honor), we do keep a few traditions.

First--New Year's means fancy kamaboko. Kamaboko is steamed fish cake. It's about 9 inches long, half cylinder and comes on a wooden block. For New Year's, there are 'special' kamaboko like what you see here--sho-chiku-bai (pine, bamboo, plum). These represent the virtues of inner strength, longevity and resiliency, and beauty and optimism in adversity.

More New Year's traditions as the week goes on.