A feast from Japan

Tonight my niece was here for our trip to Japan.  We woke up this morning and in our pocket for the 3rd was a box of Botan Rice Candy and a card that said “Let’s travel to Japan!”.

This morning started off with Breakfast with Santa at the station.  It was super fun and the kids spent the morning eating pancakes, playing games, and winning little toys.  They had a blast!

Afterwards we did some school and finished up with a tale from Japan called Tree of Cranes by Allen Say.

Then came the food.  For dinner I had gotten the stuff to make California Rolls and all the recipes from the Japanese section of Eat Your Way Around the World from Jamie Aramani.  We made California Rolls, Yakinegi (Leeks with sesame oil and soy sauce), Sukiyaki (beef stir fry with mushrooms), and Daigakuimo (candied sweet potatoes).  It was AMAZING!  What an incredible feast! 

The kids all helped set the table and make the food.  We ate it Japanese style… on the floor with pillows to sit on.  We read about table etiquette in Japan and all took off our shoes before the meal.  We each served someone else because in Japan you only serve yourself if you are alone.  And at the end of the meal we each left a tiny bit on our plates… because if your plate is empty that signifies that you are not done yet.

After dinner we had planned to have some friends come over and they were just in time for an origami lesson!  Alex taught us all to make paper cranes to turn into ornaments for the Christmas tree. 

It was a super fun lesson and Alex did a great job teaching everyone!

We finished off the evening reading Come and Look with Me: The World of Play by Gladys S. Blizzard and the kids went off and played with their friends until bed.  It was a wonderful day!

{Best book for Christmas in Japan - Tree of Cranes by Allen Say}