Sweet & Savory

New Beginnings

New Year's Eve has never been a night of tradition in my household. Until this year. This year is a year of many firsts. Not only is this the year that I married my soulmate, but this is also the first year that I got to decorate my own Christmas tree and the first year that I celebrated the coming of the new year. A and I are starting our own traditions this year ... in place of watching the ball drop over Times Square, we stared at a simmering hodge-podge of veggies and meats all thrown into the hotpot. The medley of colors and the blending of aromas satisfied the senses (and plus we are still trying to decide between cable vs. the dish, and unfortunately have no reception of any kind in the meantime).

In the hotpot for tonight's meal was napa cabbage alongside lightly-bitter mustard greens. We had an assortment of mushrooms as well - enoki, shiitake, button, and oyster. The other goodies were composed of: yasai tempura - a fish cake filled with green onions and various legumes; cuttlefish balls - a springy ball composed of julienned and minced cuttlefish, whose texture reminds me of rubber, not in its toughness, but in its elasticity; codfish balls - minced cod rolled into small meatball shapes; cuttlefish rolls - minced cuttlefish rolled into finger-length logs, then wrapped with a thin cuttlefish sheet; fish dumplings - much like the cuttlefish rolls but filled with minced pollack instead of cuttlefish, these rolls were then twisted to resemble the circular shape of tortellini; and yamasa kushi - lightly fried fish cake balls. To round out the meal, we also had thin slices of pork sukiyaki.