Tag: Japanese holidays

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Setsubun Fun

CaitlynLeave a comment

kodomomame_softToday is a rather fun holiday in Japan called Setsubun, in which you throw beans at ogres and eat large sushi rolls. That’s a pretty basic explanation, but more can be found in a post I did all the way back in 2011 on my former blog. Pretty amazing how different I look now from then!

mamemaki_fumira_softSadly, I haven’t been able to get the videos to work from that post. It’s really a bummer, because I remember them being quite clever (at least in my opinion), and now they may be lost for all time.IMG_0112At the very least, I’ve got an Asahi to drown my sorrows, and I had a pretty delicious dinner. Also, I had fun watching my students at school. We made several fun crafts for the day: Chad made cute ogre hats for the kids to wear, one of our teaching partners helped students make little ogre cups to hold the beans, and our other partner helped the kids make Eho-Maki, the special Setstubun sushi.
IMG_0107                                                                     We had Eho-Maki for dinner

I hope we were able to drive out the oni, or ogres, today with our bean throwing, and that good fortune is on its way! Have a happy day!
xx Caitlyn

P.S. Isn’t the clipart in this post freaking ADORABLE!? It also happens to be free, which is amazing. Find the pictures in this post and more on fumira.jp (it’s in Japanese, but if all else fails, I think the google translate version should be able to help you if necessary)!

Food & Cooking · Monday Matters · Tried

Hina Matsuri Dinner

Caitlyn3 Comments

Today it’s Hina Matsuri in Japan, also known as Doll’s Day or Girl’s Day, so I decided to make a Japanese meal to celebrate from Michigan.

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I was really excited to find a simple, pretty-looking recipe for chirashizushi using fresh, sushi-grade tuna. Chad went all over town in search of tuna I could use for the recipe, and finally found some at our local D&W supermarket. Chirashizushi is basically a bowl of sushi rice topped with fresh fish, and–in this case–a colorful salad mixture.

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Yes, I know this picture is blurry, but at least there are cute dolls decorating it.

In addition to the chirashizushi, I also made yudofu (recipe at my old blog, here!) and ichigo daifuku. Yudofu is basically tofu boiled with kombu (dried kalp), and ichigo daifuku is a lovely spring treat consisting of fresh strawberries wrapped in sweet red bean paste and mochi.

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Here you can see my colorful bowl of chirashizushi, as well as the plate of yudofu in the background. I used traditional white sticky rice rather than the brown rice for which the recipe called.

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So bright and cheery!

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Here are some up-close pictures of the ichigo daifuku. I had to do some conversions when using the recipe because everything was in grams and ounces, so I think I’ll be experimenting to make them look prettier in the future. When it comes down to it though, I didn’t care too much about how they looked because they tasted really yummy, and totally brought me back to Japan (they were one of my favorite Japanese sweets! Natsukashii!). You can find the recipe I adapted by clicking here.

We really enjoyed having a Hina Matsuri dinner, and I was so glad everything turned out! Hope you have a lovely Girl’s Day!

P.S. I know I had promised I’d be back last Friday, but something…unexpected came up. On the bright side, I’ve reserved the post I’d been planning to write, and should have it ready for you this Friday instead! 🙂

Monday Matters · Seen/Heard/Tried

Monday Matters

Caitlyn4 Comments

Doing something fun over the weekend–and then having something fun planned for the following weekend–helps make starting a new week a little easier. Yesterday we chose a slip out of our date jar with the suggestion, “Go hiking around the apartment.” We live on a mountain, so that’s easy enough to do! We started by walking uphill to Nunobiki Waterfalls.

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Somehow from there our uphill hike turned into a mostly downward walk and a culinary adventure. For starters, we split a chocolate waffle set at the Kitano Museum cafe. The cafe has a very simple, natural style–loved it! And the waffles…so good!!

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From there, we headed to the famous Kitano Starbucks, which is in an old house. I got a cappuccino, and Chad got a latte.

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Drinks in hand, we continued on our way. We walked around for a few hours before stopping for curry (we may or may not have had gyoza as a snack in between…). After hearing Kobe Mint Curry was supposed to be good, we decided we might as well try it.

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Chad got Kobe beef curry, and I had veggie curry. It wasn’t necessarily to die for, but the atmosphere in the restaurant was quite pleasant. Similar to the Kitano Museum Cafe, Mint Kobe Curry has a very clean, quaint feel, and the staff were quite friendly. They tried to speak English (even though we ordered in Japanese), saying, “Careful! Very, very hot!”

We continued our “hike,” grabbing some Eho Maki on our way home. Eho Maki is a special sushi roll eaten on the Japanese holiday of Setsubun, celebrated February 3rd annually.

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You’re supposed to eat the roll facing a specific direction deemed auspicious for that year, and in silence. We ate ours without speaking as we watched the latest episode of “Elementary” (love that show!). Whether we were facing the proper direction or not, I’m not one to say, but we did count out beans for our age (27 + 1 for good luck for me this year!). We ate them up for good fortune. Out with the demons and in with prosperity! Our date (and over-eating) was finished, with hope for an early spring and happy days ahead.

If you’d like to see a video of me chucking beans at Chad as an oni, or demon, please click here.

To find out more about setsubun, please read this article here.

Did you have any culinary adventures over the weekend?