Opening the Mirror

Happy New Year!

Hi everyone,

How was your New Year's break? Mine was great! Although I didn't do anything special (I just stayed in Kagawa), I did enjoy spending a relaxing two weeks with my family. I also enjoyed eating delicious traditional New Year's dishes (おせち料理), including Sanuki-style rice-cake soup (お雑煮) with white miso and sweet-bean-paste (餡) mochi!

I had a similar dish (似た一皿の料理) this evening called zenzai. This Western-Japan version of the traditional Japanese dessert called shiruko is made with a mixture of sweet bean paste (餡子), crushed (潰した) azuki beans, and rice cakes.

The rice cakes in the dish are kagami mochi, the Japanese New Year decoration traditionally displayed (飾れている) until broken (割れた) in a ceremony held on January 11th called kagami biraki, which literally (文字通り) means "opening the mirror." The broken pieces of the rice cakes are then cooked and added to the sweet porridge for a yummy winter treat.

Just warming up,

Alan