it's a mochi day

I was at the Ogawa's for lunch. It's お正月 (o-syou-gatsu) in Japan, somewhat very similar to our Chinese New Year, except they only celebrate the first 3-4 days of Jan, while ours last for 15 days =)

I can't imagine what it's like to have 5 kids. But after being ard the Elliots and Ogawas, it's beginning to feel like that's the norm.





they sure look like they can handle 5 kids ;p

it's good to train them from young!


wat gr8 opportunity to join a japanese family for their Japanese New Year's celebration. I was told we're having traditional Japanese お正月 food. I knew mochi's a Japanese thing, but I din realise they were that big on mochis. It's mochi all the way in different forms!

starters: 2 mochis each, u put some soup and other stuff like naruto, greens, mushrooms, meat etc...

and it becomes おそうに (i think).

next, it was something called　いそべ (isobe). mochi dipped in slightly thick salty sauce sandwiched in 海苔 (nori - seaweed). it has something to do with the sea. i can't catch the explanation. a japanese camp should come after english camp.

納豆with大根 (nattou-fermented soy and daikon-radish). not really my kinda thing. it was a bit hard to breathe with the bowl of 納豆 sitting right in front of me the whole afternoon.

everyone's fav: peanuts and sugar. it's like the kinda mochi we often get in KL =)

they have あんこう (adzuki - red bean) everything here. dessert is あんこうmochi =)

other interesting stuff we had:

黒豆 (kuromame) - black beans

it's kinda like what we Chinese call porridge (congee for some) except that it's sweet and has a rather strong ginger taste.

tea @ 5pm. if we stayed longer it would be dinner time!

our gracious hosts:



really thankful for the 小川s. such hospitality warms my heart =)