Happy New Year, everyone!

We have just finished (burp!, excuse me) our traditional Japanese New Year's breakfast.

Two foods are popular at this time: Ozoni and Osechi.

Ozoni is soup made with miso or other ingredients, and includes mochi, plus maybe other vegetables or even meat. Our Ozoni had carrot, spinach, taro yams, miso, and mochi.

Our Osechi included many foods, but I'll explain what I had on my plate. From the bottom left and going clockwise, I had Onishime, which are various foods cooked in a broth, kuromame or black beans, marinated salmon, fried chicken, roast beef, and in the centre, kurikinton (sweet potatoes and chestnuts).

We also had a small bottle of sake that had gold flakes inside.

All was special, all was delicious, all was appreciated.

This was/is a nice way to start the new year. Happy New Year!