Redtonic's Blog: shiina ringo

Day 15 is a special day, one to be spent indoors usually. It is no other than new years eve day.

I woke up feeling a lot better and this only improved when mom brought us breakfast. It was something i had never eaten before, pre-made buns with my favorite sausages, lettuce, ketchup and wasabi.

Green tea cappuccino and the buns.

After cleaning the room very carefully, I usually clean the room before new year (regular and chinese as well), mom invited us to go food shopping.
We got in the car and I was very surprised to see most stores and businesses were completely closed. It felt like a ghost area.
Mom wanted to buy some special meat that is supposed to be ultra delicious. She had intended to shop at the most famous store in the region and kept saying how fabulous the meat was and how famous the store was so I was somewhat excited.
When we arrived there I could not believe my eyes! The place was completely packed! They had a parking service and the parking was a vacant lot in front of the building. I have to remind you all that this thing is in the middle of nowhere, not in the center of some amazingly famous and populated city.

Kawai meat. Look at the people waiting in line!

They also had a side stall with different products for sale but people only wanted the meat. I was getting really curious at this point.

Outside stall.

After a while mom came back carrying a bag with some meat. I wanted to take a peak but i would get my chance in the car. They even had a vending machine so we all got something for the ride.

Vending machine.

And this is the parking lot, isn't this crazy? o.o

Kawai butcher parking lot.

So finally after much anticipation i could see what was bought. It looked delicious sure but also... normal japanese meat. I suppose i know nothing about japanese cuisine and meat in general (I don't cook very often at home because i'm not that good at it, my husband is much better than I am) but it did look like teir typical style of meat that can be bough at any supermarket.

Kawai bought beef.

We also went to the supermarket to get some other necessary items and also to my favorite chinese restaurant in Oji to get a special new years eve obento box. It was huge and made me curious. They also included some sake. <3

When we got home mom wanted to show me that it was delicious so she prepared a bit of meat. It was super tender but very fatty. I remember thinking that my brother would probably want to destroy its yummyness by cutting off all the fat as he always has been doing since we were kids. I think mom would be very sad. haha not only because in her eyes this is what delicious meat means but also because this meat costs a ton a kg. I am thinking 100 euros. I'll ask and then correct this info. But anyway ridiculously expensive!

Cooked Kawai meat treat.

We had not had lunch so we ate some delicious tempura soba and salad. Yummy yum yum!

My mother in law really is a great cook!

After lunch we always watch a bit of tv and play around with the fattest and one of the cutest cats ever to set foot on eart, Mi-chan. He wasn't very cooperative so we just pet him and took a shot. He is huge, he is so huge that when we came back out two cats (who are not tat small) looked tiny! They always look tiny when we return from Japan.

Mi-chan's size when compared to a pack of smokes.

In the afternoon my mother in law always takes a nap for health related reasons so we move to the other side of the house and just chill out a bit. We take naps, we browse the internet, i chat with some of you, i post on facebook etc... and we fold clothes and do all those very interesting daily life things.
Basically on new years eve it becomes even more ridiculous since all one does is literally wait for dinner time.
That time came and we went back to the living room.
Mom had already set the table and the tv was on. Someone checked the newspaper and we could clearly see who was performing this year. (every year there are several live shows where bands and singers perform; j-pop, j-rock, traditional music, etc)
I found out that (due to the tv series on NHK having an intro song by her) that shiina ringo was performing so i was waiting for that. Mom likes her too so we both waited.

Japanese beer. This one was a gift from my husband's friend, it is made by Kanagawa university. Interesting.

Finally, shiina was on. She appeared in a very 50's looking coat with baloon sleeves, completely in crimson red. She sounded like the angel she is.

Shiina ringo performing carnation

Under the coat was this ballerina looking tutu dress, she looked stunning and was very energetic as usual.

After a couple of performances and a bit of joking around in familly the time was finally there! People usually go to temples for good luck but due to my mother in laws health we can't go so we watch on tv instead.
After hitting the bells people are allowed in the temples and they are packed. It was very interesting to see that a foreign couple was among the ones that got to the temple first. Let me remind you that it was freezing cold.

People entering the temple for good luck.

It was finally time to dig in! I could finally see what was in the obento!

Chinese food obento for new year. A bit of everything

Level 2 of the obento

Level 3 - nobody ate the pidan eggs XD

New Year's Eve table view, very colorful a lot of fun!

And that was my day, after that we just went to bed and fell asleep once more. Not a very interesting day to read about but i really enjoyed myself.

Anyway because clearly that's what some people want to hear about, i'll leave you with photos of the things I got during my Tokyo trip. I got less prints than I wanted but that got to second plan when i found my all time dream bag. Expensive but i was happy and i actually used it there already. Haven't used it ever since which is sad, though. Anyway enjoy.