Included in this year’s festivities, I decided to make a giant Hello Kitty sushi head. Perhaps not your traditional New Year’s food but it sure was cute. It was so cute no one cut into it! However, after I cut the first slice it was gone pretty quickly!

I’ve been doing this for a few years and I think I’ve finally got my routine down. (Check out 2010 & 2011 here.) After shopping at four markets and cooking for 2 days-here’s the whole menu I put together for this year’s celebration:

Guava Jelly Chicken Wings
Brown Sugar Meatballs
Root Beer Pulled Pork
O.G.’s flank steak
Mac Salad
Hello Kitty Sushi
Spam Musubi
Somen Salad (noodles – for a long life)
Furikake Shrimp
Tazukuri (teriyaki fish – for a prosperous year)
kuromame (black beans – for health and success)
kurikinton (sweet potato w/chestnuts – for wealth)
Gobo (burdock root – for a strong family)
Sushi
Ozoni (traditional new year’s day soup)
Mochi (longevity)
Kamaboko (joy, happiness)
Hawaiian Sunrise Jell-o
Pink An (azuki bean) Mochi
Chocolate Mochi Brownies
Yokan

Guava Jelly Chicken Wings (recipe here)
Nice and sweet with a fruity floral flavor. Chicken wings are the perfect party snack.

Brown Sugar Meatballs (recipe here)
Always a party fave and easy to prep since it’s all in the crock pot.

Root Beer Pulled Pork (recipe here)
Another easy prep – flavorful pork cooked for 8 hours and I serve it on King’s Hawaiian rolls.

O.G.’s Flank Steak
I don’t even need the other dishes, this is all I want for my new year. I always tell her to make it because she does it with all of her ‘secrets’ which I’ve yet to figure out…

Mac Salad
There were a lot of Hawaii family members representin’ at Oshogatsu this year so my Hawaiian Mac Salad was a must.

Giant Hello Kitty Sushi
Yep – I made a giant Hello Kitty sushi, 8″ wide! Sushi rice and seasoned salmon pressed together with a furikake face, egg nose and to top it off, a bow made of Spam.

Now onto the ‘good luck‘ food:

Spam Musubi (recipe here)
I make a double batch and this is always the first to empty out on the table. Nori (seaweed) is supposed to bring ‘joy’ to your life so I ensure it by making it fancy and dipping them in furikake. Extra flavor and extra joy.

Somen Salad
Noodles signify long life and my take on it is Somen Salad. This is our family version as found in the O.G. comic/cookbook.

Furikake Shrimp
All Oshogatsu meals must have shrimp – the ‘bend’ of a shrimp signifies a bent old person’s back which means you will live a long life if you eat a lot of shrimp. If you’ve got a shellfish allergy, well – I guess you’re out of luck?

Tazukuri
These tiny teriyaki fish are supposed to ensure a ‘good harvest’ meaning you’ll have a profitable new year.

Kuromame
Black beans ensure good health. Um. I never eat these and I’m ALWAYS sick. Coincidence?

Kurikinton
Japanese sweet potatoes with golden chestnuts. Anything yellow or golden is supposed to signify gold, so if you eat it you’re guaranteed to be wealthy!

Gobo – burdock root
Eating this keeps your family ties strong.

Sushi
The best New Year’s sushi comes from Sakae Sushi in Gardena but you have to order it early, we’re talking MONTHS early and uh…we didn’t make the cut. So we were stuck with this sad chain-store version. Next year we’ll get on the stick!

Ozoni
Ozoni is traditional Japanese New Year’s soup. It’s supposed to be the first thing you eat on the first day of the year to ensure a fab new year. Some are super fancy, mine is certainly not but I load it up with a bunch of stuff: shitake mushrooms, tofu, char siu pork, mizuna, green onions, nori chips and decorative kamaboko only sold once a year. The kicker – toasted FRESH mochi. You can’t beat that.

Are we done yet? No way.
Desserts and lot of them. That’s my idea of a party:

Hawaii Sunrise Jell-o
I came up with this one day when I was thinking about incorporating Hawaiian Sun juice into layered Jell-o. The taste was AMAZING and it was gone in no time. I guess this will be permanent on the menu for next year!

Pink Mochi (recipe here)
Pink and mochi, my two fave things. I hand-make these the day before the party, it’s both fun and relaxing. There’s nothing better to ring in the New Year than freshly made mochi filled with sweet red bean.

Chocolate Mochi-Brownies (recipe here)
This is another thing that will probably make the menu next year. The minute I put these out they were GONE! Chocolate brownies with that distinct mochi chew. Irresistible.

Yokan
Yokan, a traditional Japanese jelly – almost like a thick jell-o. I’ll admit I’m NOT a fan. But O.G. said we had to have it and since they only make the red and the green version once a year, it’s special for Oshogatsu.

Well I survived cooking for yet another New Year’s Day. 20 dishes – that ain’t half bad. At least I can rest for a year until the next one. Happy New Year!

Every year I invite different people to join in the fun, usually people with kids or who enjoy being kids – but always people who love to eat and aren’t afraid to try some different foods.

Last year was a feast, this year was more of the same, complete with dessert bar. I must always have a dessert bar…

Honey Shoyu chicken wings
Brown Sugar Meatballs
O.G.’s flank steak
Onolicious Chili
Fried Shrimp Balls
Spam Musubi
Somen Salad (noodles – for a long life)
Tazukuri (teriyaki fish – for a prosperous year)
kuromame (black beans – for health and success)
kurikinton (sweet potato w/chestnuts – for wealth)
gobo (burdock root – for a strong family)
FRESH mochi (the best mochi)
sushi
edamame
kamaboko (joy, happiness)
Ozoni (traditional new year’s day soup)
Broken Glass Jello
Pink An (azuki bean) Mochi
Peanut Butter + Jelly Mochi
Creampuffs
Milk Tea Cupcakes w/Mascarpone Frosting

The comments/emails I get most is how do decide what to make for large parties? Well for this one it’s a little bit of tradition and a whole lot of flavor.

I always do two main dishes and if it’s more than 20 people – three:

The difference between my everyday Honey Shoyu Chicken and these party wings? Sake. (Shh.)

Brown Sugar Meatballs are easy because they go in the slow cooker, turn it on and move on to the next item.

Onolicious Chili - not at all traditional but how can you pass up something so onolicious?

A dish that I ask for every year is O.G.’s secret recipe Flank Steak. It’s to die for amazing and even with the recipe I never get it right.

As far as tradition goes, there are certain things you HAVE TO EAT if you want 2011 to be extraordinary:

Tazukuri is a dried sardine that I cook in a homemade sauce. If you can get past little tiny fish heads, they say you will have an abundance of good luck.
Kuromame insures good health. Perhaps this is why I spend so much time in the ER, since I often pass on this dish…

Eating Gobo Kinpira is supposed to keep your family strong throughout the year.

Kurikinton is a Japanese Sweet Potato. It is mashed and then sweetened chestnuts are placed inside. They say the color gold/yellow will bring you nothing but fortune.

Eating Kamaboko is supposed to bring you happiness, but really how can you not be happy looking at something so pretty. These kamaboko are specially made only once a year at New Year’s.

Somen Salad – is how I serve the noodles – noodles signify long life. Every party needs a salad and this is the tastiest. A little noodle, a little lettuce, the perfect side dish. So if you want to live to 90 like O.G. you best be eatin’ some noodles.

You always have to serve shrimp because the bent angle of the shrimp supposedly looks like the bend of an old man’s back so if you want to live long you have to eat shrimp. I know. Crazy talk. But every year I am never quite satisfied with my shrimp dish. This year I made Fried Shrimp Balls. Basically anything good is fried and that sounds like ‘happiness’ to me.

Another tradition is New Year’s Day soup – ozoni. Everyone’s is different. When I was in Hawaii for New Year’s my father in law would make his with abalone. None of that here. First I fill the dishes with small tofu, char siu, shitake mushrooms, mizuna, kamaboko, fried nori chips and toasted mochi. Then I pour a dashi broth on top. If you eat this you are guaranteed a good year. Hear that? GUARANTEED.

Now for foods that aren’t at all traditional but a MUST for any party:

Sushi from Sakae. This is an OLD SKOOL Japanese American sushi shop in Gardena. Nothing fancy, this is the place to get new years sushi if you don’t want to make your own and they are back ordered for months before the new year. It’s a family favorite.

Edamame – also not traditional but I enjoy using my serving platters to the best of their ability and who can resist an edamame tree?

Soooo not traditional, Spam Musubi is a staple for all parties I do whether the party is fancy or not. People love it and I get requests for it all the time.

Forget all this stuff – where’s the desserts??

Broken Glass Jello is usually my MiL’s specialty, but she wasn’t here this year and I just didn’t have room in my fridge, I enlisted the Food Librarian to come to my rescue and make it for me. So pretty.
The Food Librarian also made cream puffs. MY FAVE.

I must make a cupcake for every occasion and this time I used some deeelish loose leaf tea from Royal T in Culver City and made lovely Milk Tea Cupcakes with Mascarpone frosting. Light enough that it was easily eaten after the buffet of new year’s food. That was the hope anyway!

The Food Librarian came over the day before so I could teach her how to make traditional an (sweet red azuki bean) mochi. As she worked on perfecting that I moved on to crazy fillings and made some Peanut Butter and Jelly mochi. Recipe to come.

I provided lots of Japanese snacks too, to eat in between…eating.

I’ve now got this party down to a science and I even made notes to myself from last year, which was weird. I highly suggest you write notes to your future self, “You don’t need to make pork” is something that I will always hold dear.

All in all I made 18 dishes this year, that’s LESS than years past. I must be slacking. Here’s to a lot of good luck in 2011!

**Read about how I shopped for all of this, here. Craziness.

Toasted:
Let’s go old skool here. In January I serve this to the kids for breakfast. Mochi toasted in an oven so it gets nice and warm and crisp, then served with soy sauce and sugar. (Really, it’s a teriyaki sauce base if you think about it.)

Or…and this is how family eat it in Hawaii: I pan fry the mochi in a tiny bit of butter, then serve it with a mixture of kinako and sugar.

An Mochi:
My fave – sweet filled mochi. These are filled with an aka azuki bean (sweetened red bean paste) or white lima bean paste. I’ve even seen more modern versions filled with peanut butter for the kiddies. Me – I only eat the pink ones.

You can buy it in the stores or make your own. (recipe, here)

Mochiko:
Sweet Rice Flour, I use this in a lot of baking. Sure you can make some amazing Hello Kitty Moffles (mochi-waffles), Chocolate mochi brownies even – or you can also make some deeeelish Hawaiian Mochiko Chicken with it. Love it.

Mochi balls:
This is how most people are familiar with mochi, as a topping in the ever popular frozen yogurt craze. Personally, I prefer mine Hawaiian-style on Root Beer shave ice w/ice cream and mochi balls. YUM.

Mochi Ice Cream:
Another familiar form of mochi, Mochi Ice Cream served and priced high at a lot of Japanese restaurants. But *I* can tell you where you can get mochi filled with GELATO. Shh. It’s like crack – I’m your pusherman.

As you can tell, I know my mochi. I plan on eating a lot more of it in the coming new year too!

Like an Olympic athlete I’m saving my energy for the big game – New Year’s Day Oshogatsu. Last year’s event was epic and I need to at least make it up to par again.

A key component in my party is fresh mochi, so off we went to Food Librarian’s house for their annual mochi making event. 50 years of tradition don’t lie – these people know their stuff.

It starts the night before with the soaking of the mochi rice. Normal people do this about 2 cups at a time – this right here is 150 pounds of rice being prepped…

Then it goes to the steamers!

Next, into the extruders, where rice goes in and mochi comes out…

…and is grabbed by ‘The Catchers’. If you are asked to be a mochi ‘catcher’ you must have nerves of steel (or no feeling in your fingers) to perform this task.

The Catchers hands are sprayed with Pam because the fresh mochi is SO sticky, the Pam helps when then they form the burning hot mochi (no joke) into nice rounded shapes.

Then the mochi goes to the racks to cool down.

Then it’s off to the flour rooms. Here mochi goes to cool some more and then be covered in Mochiko (Sweet Rice Flour) so that it won’t dry out.

This is ‘my’ fave task because I get to play in the flour like it’s snowing. The only white Christmas I’ll get in soCal is a mochiko one!

Then the little mochis go off to the packing room. Here the older generation sort and pack all 150 pounds of mochi into various containers for church, family and friends. This is where the love is.

Now I can enjoy the fruits of – er, everyone else’s labor – and eat! FRESH mochi with soy sauce and sugar the old skool way. There is nothing better in the whole world. And now to get ready for…New Year’s Day!

For different ways to eat mochi, go HERE.

Vote for this post in the PAM Top Tips contest, here!

Eating soba noodles on New Year’s Day is supposed to guarantee you long life. Hm. So much for ‘an apple a day’, I guess.

Anyway, I took the kids to the Japanese American National Museum where they had an ‘Oshogatsu’ New Year’s Day celebration. They showed the kids how to put together a bowl of soba noodles and then the kids got to eat it too! Not bad for a FREE museum day.

ingredients:
12-14 ounces dry soba noodles (buckwheat noodles)
dipping sauce
nori (dried seaweed)
green onions
kamaboko (fish cake)
cucumber

sauce ingredients:
2 cups dashi (soup base)
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup mirin

First make the dipping sauce, put the dashi, soy sauce and mirin in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Turn off the heat and cool. Quite honestly – I’m not gonna be a stickler here – you can get a bottle of dippin sauce for like two dollars at the Japanese market if you are so inclined. I won’t say nothin’.

Fill a large pot with water, approx 4 – 6 cups. Bring to a boil. Add the dry soba noodles and stir – usually this take only 2-3 minutes. Drain the noodles well and rinse with cold water.

You can top the noodles with anything really. Cucumber cut small, nori cut into fine strips, sliced kamaboko. Shredded chicken or char siu works too. (See somen salad recipe.)

Put some soba into bowls, top with the toppings you like and add a small ladle of the sauce. You don’t want a soup, you just want your noodles to be wet. Aaaaand…eat!

My friends and family all love to celebrate Oshogatsu (Japanese New Year’s Day) but no one wants to do it, of course. I enjoy taking on the the task for some reason, and every year I try to outdo the year before and see how many dishes I can make. Maybe I’m trying to hedge my bets with the ‘good luck food’, that this year will be better than last. Next year I’m scaling back, um, honest.

I always make some traditional foods, some party foods, and some just cause they taste good foods – and of course, lots and lots of desserts.

So here’s all that I made for New Year’s Day – here’s to hoping for a good 2010.

Honey Shoyu chicken wings
Root Beer pulled pork
O.G.’s flank steak
Shrimp & Bacon salad
Lumpia
Potato Salad
Spam Musubi
Somen Salad (noodles – for a long life)
Tazukuri (teriyaki fish – for a prosperous year)
kuromame (black beans – for health and success)
kurikinton (sweet potato w/chestnuts – for wealth)
gobo (burdock root – for a strong family)
FRESH mochi (the best mochi)
sushi
edamame
kamaboko
tofu
Ozoni (traditional new year’s day soup)
Broken Glass Jello
Pink mochi
Green tea cupcakes w/mascarpone strawberry frosting
Red Velvet cupcakes

**some photos by foodlibrarian

In the old days my family used to pound mochi by hand with mallets. THAT’s old skool. Me? I use the new electric plugged in machine with very minimal work on my part because I live in the future.

I recently went to thefoodlibrarian’s house where they used old school machines to make their mochi. They’ve been doing it for 50 years and they’ve got the process down – steaming the rice, extruding the mochi, cooling the mochi, forming the mochi, letting it sit in a bed of mochiko flour, and then finally packaging it. We made over 150 pounds of mochi. Unbelievable.

It was a lot of work but so worth it. There’s nothing as good as fresh mochi!

ingredients:
4 cups powdered sugar
3 sticks butter
3 tablespoons champagne

Luckily I had the world’s smallest bottle of champagne on hand. I’m not sure where I got this, but since I don’t drink, it was just the right size for baking.

In an electric mixer, beat the butter and the powdered sugar til combined. Gradually add the champagne, more or less, as needed. Once combined, set the mixer to high and beat for about 1 minute. This was perfect for my Laker championship cupcakes! (recipe here)

ingredients:
1 (1 lb) box mochiko
1-1/4 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1-1/2 cups milk
3/4 cup oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 (16 oz can) an – sweetened red bean (optional)

Mochiko can be found in most japanese markets, it’s a white flour, in a one pound box. Really useful to keep in your pantry, you can use it for a lot of other recipes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prep a cupcake pan with liners. I get about 18 cupcakes out of this recipe.

Mix all the ingredients together, EXCEPT the an, in a bowl.

IF you are using the an, only fill the cups about 1/2 full, add a teaspoon of an, then cover with more batter. If you don’t want the an, just fill the cups 3/4 of the way full.

Bake for 30-40 minutes depending on your oven, until you get nice little slightly browned tops. Let cool on a wire rack. Now these are best, just like this, dusted with a bit of powdered sugar. However, I was making these for New Year’s Day and added a little something extra.

I made some kagami mochis out of fondant, iced the cupcakes with a lemon frosting and stuck my little fondant creations on top. They were festive for the party and were a fun nod to the tradition of New Year’s Day mochi.

However…I advise you to just go to the mochi store and pay 80 cents, cause this recipe is a pain in the azz, seriously. But here it is if you want to try it. It’s absolutely delicious.

Ingredients:
3-1/2 cup water
1 cup sugar
¼ tsp food coloring (I prefer pink)
1 box mochiko
1 can/bag an (prepared sweet red beans)
potato starch

To start – prep a cutting board by sprinkling liberally with potato starch. Set aside.

Boil the water and the sugar until the sugar is dissolved. Add the food coloring and stir. I prefer to always make my mochi PINK, but my MIL prefers green, and since she is demo’ing this recipe, well…

Now the fun. Add the box of mochiko and stir like crazy!! I’m dead serious – if you don’t work fast you are so screwed. It gets really really hard to stir.

Once combined, dump onto your prepped cutting board.

Pull off a round piece. Flatten out, and add a dollop of an beans to the center. (Here is where you’d substitute peanut butter if you like). Pull up the corners around the an, closing up the pouch. Pinch closed. Are you tired yet? You will be.

Warning: This makes a TON of mochi. You better be going to a party or something, cause it’s plenty. Also, because there are so many, (just look at the picture) you will be filling these things for hours. You know what I mean? TIME CONSUMING. Just saying. But they are so soft and delicious, there is nothing better than freshly homemade mochi. MMMM…