This is How We Do It

Every New Year's day (or a day close to that - our schedules are somewhat crazy so this year we did it on the 5th), my mom and dad put together a traditional Japanese feast to celebrate the new year. Most Japanese celebrate this way, though the food varies depending on personal taste and region. Here is a breakdown of what we had this year:

Everyone gets a little flower at their place setting. My mom is a wizard with table settings.

This year, we had many of our traditional favorites the parents' house, including yellowtail, tuna, and something new this year - sea bass from New Zealand. All of these are served sashimi-style.

We also had a Japanese dish of cooked chicken, peas, carrots and tarot root, all flavored with a mild sauce and a few lemon rinds. This was served room temperature, though you can eat it hot or cold as well.

Of course we had cold sake. You must, MUST drink sake for a Japanese New Year's meal.

This is my mom's famous shimesaba. Basically it's raw mackerel that is marinated in seaweed and some flavorings. We all look forward to this every year.

This vegetable side dish is a combination of a root vegetable (name escapes me at the moment) and carrots, all marinated in a slightly spicy sauce.

This is al dente green beans with a miso paste (my mom makes the paste with some miso, I believe a bit of sugar, and a few other ingredients).

Everyone got a little foil envelope, and inside were some mushrooms, Japanese sweet potato, shrimp and salmon and a very light and flavorful broth. Delicious!

After the meal, the sake-drinking continued for quite a while. Ake-mashite-omedetou-gozaimasu, everyone!