sukiyaki for christmas

We made sukiyaki for Christmas!

I love sukiyaki. Every time we go to Japan I'll try to have sukiyaki for a meal during the trip. This Christmas we thought we'd have sukiyaki, because sukiyaki is indeed a festive dish, and we already had ham for Thanksgiving.

And who knows, I actually own a cast iron sukiyaki pot!

It even has the cool wood lid on it!

First we melted some butter (traditionally you'd use beef fat, but either will do) and started caramelizing some onions first. Umm. I think I put in a bit much!? But they were tasty!

Then in with the sukiyaki stock.

John got some prime beef. Yummy. I wish we could slice it as thin as the kind we had in Osaka.

Yummers!

We also put a couple different mushrooms in the sukiyaki. The skinny tall kind with little heads, and big kind called "King Trumpet Mushrooms." There were also tofu, tofu skin (age), vegetables, and udon noodles.




And how cute is the packaging for the King Trumpet mushrooms?!

I was also going to make some mochi, but didn't have enough time, so I bought some Korean rice sticks instead... they were delicious in the sukiyaki as well!

Oh my. I love sukiyaki! I think I'm going to make it again soon.

this new year

This new year is shaping up to be a good one! I've been *working on* losing a few pounds since Christmas in preparation for our trip to Taiwan at the end of January. 

"Why are you trying to lose weight?" you ask. Duh! Other than the obvious reasons, I'd like to clear up a few pounds now so when I get to Taiwan I can really enjoy all the food that I'v been missing and thinking about for the past few years. 

The other night at the radio station I played a bunch of songs that I had never played before. I thought, hey, it's a new year, and I want to try playing something different.

When I drove by some restaurants that I always see, but had never stepped in, I thought, hmm, it's a new year, and I'm going to try you some time soon.

I don't think I really have a new year's resolution, but I do want to try new things, and to be super nice to all the people and pets that I love, and be a better me. 

Happy New Year! :D