Setsubun
Sorry to all of you who check this daily and have to keep seeing the same thing. At least it’s not the picture of the cicada anymore!!
So on Wed, I will be heading up to the northern most island in Japan, Hokkido. I will be in Sapporo for 4 nights and Otaru for 1 night. Every year Sapporo has a snow festival, Yuki Matsuri, where there are large ice sculptures on display. It is a big event for the tourists, and many Japanese residents say they want to go, but have never been. So in a week or so, I should have some new pics.
This past weekend, I was offered the oddest “food” so far. I went with a couple friends to a Buddhist monk’s house for a party. They were celebrating “Setsubu,” which is some kind of new year thing, where eat your age in beans, throw beans out the door yelling “Devil out! Blessings in!” then throw beans at children dressed like devils while eating an uncut roll of sushi pointed in a specific direction. But, no sushi rolls, and no children to throw beans at, so I played with the cats and drank sake with some monks. The monk’s wife was busily cooking away in the kitchen and plates of food kept pouring out. The first thing I tried, I thought was deep fried squid, like calamari, well it wasn’t. So in a chicken, there is the breastbone called the keel bone. And that was what they deep fried, and I ate. No meat, just the cartilagey, crunchy bone. Unfortunately, Japanese people don’t use napkins, so I couldn’t spit it out, and had to swallow the bite I took. Then came various types of fish, prawns, and ?, but the weirdest dish was raw horse meat. Luckily no one offered me any, so I left it far, far away from me. Oddly enough they had meatballs (I hope to god it was beef), gyoza, gobo ( a very tasty root), and strawberry shortcake, all of which I happily ate.
It turns out I may actually be allergic to the gobo root. I had a rash break on on the palms of my hands. Very itchy and sore. It was either the cats, the gobo, or the sake. Today was better, but Sunday was miserable!
When I got home I ate 30 beans, my age, +1 for good luck, then threw some out the door, which happens to be at my neighbor’s door, but I think they were asleep.
And this is how you celebrate Setsubun in Japan, Leilani style! :)
It turns out I may actually be allergic to the gobo root. I had a rash break on on the palms of my hands. Very itchy and sore. It was either the cats, the gobo, or the sake. Today was better, but Sunday was miserable!
So on Wed, I will be heading up to the northern most island in Japan, Hokkido. I will be in Sapporo for 4 nights and Otaru for 1 night. Every year Sapporo has a snow festival, Yuki Matsuri, where there are large ice sculptures on display. It is a big event for the tourists, and many Japanese residents say they want to go, but have never been. So in a week or so, I should have some new pics.
This past weekend, I was offered the oddest “food” so far. I went with a couple friends to a Buddhist monk’s house for a party. They were celebrating “Setsubu,” which is some kind of new year thing, where eat your age in beans, throw beans out the door yelling “Devil out! Blessings in!” then throw beans at children dressed like devils while eating an uncut roll of sushi pointed in a specific direction. But, no sushi rolls, and no children to throw beans at, so I played with the cats and drank sake with some monks. The monk’s wife was busily cooking away in the kitchen and plates of food kept pouring out. The first thing I tried, I thought was deep fried squid, like calamari, well it wasn’t. So in a chicken, there is the breastbone called the keel bone. And that was what they deep fried, and I ate. No meat, just the cartilagey, crunchy bone. Unfortunately, Japanese people don’t use napkins, so I couldn’t spit it out, and had to swallow the bite I took. Then came various types of fish, prawns, and ?, but the weirdest dish was raw horse meat. Luckily no one offered me any, so I left it far, far away from me. Oddly enough they had meatballs (I hope to god it was beef), gyoza, gobo ( a very tasty root), and strawberry shortcake, all of which I happily ate.
It turns out I may actually be allergic to the gobo root. I had a rash break on on the palms of my hands. Very itchy and sore. It was either the cats, the gobo, or the sake. Today was better, but Sunday was miserable!
When I got home I ate 30 beans, my age, +1 for good luck, then threw some out the door, which happens to be at my neighbor’s door, but I think they were asleep.
And this is how you celebrate Setsubun in Japan, Leilani style! :)
It turns out I may actually be allergic to the gobo root. I had a rash break on on the palms of my hands. Very itchy and sore. It was either the cats, the gobo, or the sake. Today was better, but Sunday was miserable!
posted by Leilani at
8:01 PM
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