Today I had the rare pleasure of being invited, with the Delightful Miss E and some Australian friends, to my landlord’s house for a lunch of osechi ryori, the special new year’s food that Japanese love to eat at this time. The photo shows the main foods, all of which were hand cooked by our landlord and his family. Starting at the snow pea and going clockwise, we have:

  • A steamed snow pea
  • Beneath the snow pea, barely visible, Burdock root cooked in Mirin and soy sauce (as well as some lightly pickled carrots, invisible in this shot)
  • Two pressed fish cakes
  • A little flower of pickled carrot (the deep red flower-shaped thing)
  • A boiled sato imo (a type of potato)
  • Poking out from beneath this potato, just barely visible as a little tongue of yellow, cold herring eggs
  • A boiled kyo imo (a type of potato)
  • Konyaku (yam’s paste, sometimes called “Devil’s Tongue)
  • In the centre, the yellow curl is sweetened rolled grilled egg

It’s extremely rare to get an invitation to a Japanese family’s home on New Year’s Day – the equivalent of getting an invite to a Christmas dinner in the west – so we were feeling very privileged, especially to receive delicious home cooked food (actually the herring eggs were pretty awful). What’s more, one of our friends was vegan, but Mrs T had cooked a special version of the grilled egg, which used pumpkin and arrowroot flower instead of egg (and I would guess was probably much more delicious!) So, in return, I made my famous vegan lasagne, also known as “the carnivore conversion kit” or, amongst representatives of the meat industry, “public enemy number 1.” I shall put up the recipe in the next few days.

If you value your carnivorosity, stay well away from this!

今日、家主さんのお家にお節料理を食べるために誘っていただきました。オーストラリア人の友達の３人が今東京で観光しているから、連れて行かせていただきました。お正月に日本人のご家族に食事の招待をもらうのが珍しいですから、とても嬉しかったです。英語圏のクリスマスみたいです。上の写真は、そのご家族が自分で作ってくれた御節です。美味しかったです！（実は、あのカズノコが美味しくなかった）。家主さん達は、欧米人が御節が好きじゃないとわかるから、私達が何も食べられないと心配していたが、いろいろが美味しかったから安心でした。

その優しさの上に、友達の一人はビーガンですから、普通の御節料理が食べなくて、家主さんが特別なビーガン料理も作ってくれました。ビーガン御節！すごく優しい家主さんです。だから、私は自慢のラザニャを作りました。下の写真は、手作りビーガンラザニャです。味なワンポイントは、味噌が入っています。もうすぐ、レシピをアップします。
友達一人