New Year’s Day 2014

January 2nd, 2014 by justJENN

What will 2014 have in store? If the past few days of cooking and eating is any indication, this year will definitely be all about food!

Like 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013, I spent two days cooking a buffet of traditional good luck food, potluck food and lots and lots of mochi!

Brown Sugar Meatballs
Root Beer Pulled Pork on King’s Hawaiian rolls
Onolicious Chili
O.G’s Potato Salad
Sushi from Sakae
Spam Musubi
Somen Salad (noodles for a long life)
Sweet Chili Sauce 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)
Ozoni (traditional new year’s day soup)
Mochi (longevity)
Kamaboko (joy, happiness)
Broken Glass Jell-o Bundt
Pink An (azuki bean) Mochi
Nutella mochi
Chocolate Pumpkin Mochi Cake
Oranges (long, happy life)

Brown Sugar Meatballs
The easiest party food you can make, with just three ingredients!

Root Beer Pulled Pork on King’s Hawaiian rolls
This year I got a bigger, badder, new crock pot and tried it out with one of my most popular recipes, Root Beer Pulled Pork on King’s Hawaiian sweet bread rolls. The crock pot was perfect as was the pork!

Onolicious Chili
Japanese-Americans love chili and rice, so this was great comfort food for the party. At the end of the day, it was gone!

O.G’s Potato Salad
From my O.G. cookbook, when she ate it at the party she said it was the best salad she’s ever had. Um, probably because it’s her own recipe.

Sushi from Sakae
A must on any Oshotgatsu table, Gardena’s Sakae Sushi has to be ordered one month in advance!

Spam Musubi
I like to dip my Spam Musubi into furikake not only for flavor, but it makes a beautiful presentation.

Somen Salad
Another great family recipe from the O.G. Favorite Recipes cookbook.

Sweet Chili Sauce Shrimp
Wrapped in bacon and broiled, this was such a hit that I’m sure it will make it to the table again next year.

Tazukuri
Eat some of these little teriyaki fish and you are guaranteed wealth in the new year.

Kuromame
Black Beans will bring you good health and success.

Kurikinton
The ‘golden’ yellow Japanese sweet potatoes and candied chestnuts will bring you wealth, like gold in the new year.

Gobo
Burdock root makes your family ties strong in the new year.

Ozoni**
A bowl of ozoni on New Year’s day with fresh mochi ensures a good 2014!

Oranges
Symbolic of a long, happy life.

Pink An Mochi
I can’t live without mochi on a daily basis but the one thing I look forward to every new year is the traditional an mochi. Made with a sweet red bean filling I like to change it up and peanut butter or nutella. Whatever you fill it with, it’s always a hit on a dessert buffet table.

Chocolate Pumpkin Mochi Cake
I made this mochi cake for the first time this year and it has quickly become a favorite. Not only is it beautiful but the flavor combination of chocolate and pumpkin can’t be beat!

Broken Glass Jell-o Bundt
The FoodLibrarian‘s Jello Bundt is genius and always the most popular thing on a dessert buffet!

After all these years of doing this I’m finally getting it down to a science. Eating all this food and crossing your fingers for good luck in the new year is all we can hope for. Happy New Year everyone!

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