Porcini cheese risotto & honey glazed ham

 Cooked porcini cheese risotto with porcini and Grana Padano gifts from a friend. Also, made honey glazed ham! Delicious dinner! 

Naoya cleaning up the honey glaze

Panino breakfast at Pascucci

A quick breakfast between open school and parents meeting at junior high school.

アジの塩焼き定食＠たき下

 Grilled fish lunch with Chikage. 

東京ドウジャン生活

 Taiwanese breakfast with Chikage. Yum!

Dinner at Saizeriya

Happy boys

Naoya having a dessert, Masaki watching

虎屋のお雑煮

 毎年のお楽しみ。今年も無事にいただけました。帰りに花びら餅を買って、子供達といただく。甘い牛蒡と白味噌餡が食べ慣れないらしい。

虎屋さんによると：
『花びら餅』は、宮中の正月の行事食、「菱葩（ひしはなびら）」を原型とする味噌餡仕立てのお菓子です。
菱葩とは、円い餅に小豆色の菱形の餅を重ね、中央に甘く煮た牛蒡と白味噌を置いて、二つに折ったものです。鏡餅や大根、押し鮎（塩漬けした鮎）など、かたいものを食べて長寿を願う「歯固」という行事に由来するともいわれています。餅は望月（満月）の「望」に通じることから円満の象徴であり、牛蒡は押し鮎の見立てとされ、地中深く根をはることから家の安泰を願う意味が込められています。

Lunch at Din Tai Fung

 Everybody's favorite soup dumpling restaurant from Taiwan. Lunch with Emi, Maiya, Chikage, and the boys. Too busy eating to take pictures. Happy!

Waiting for food...

Naoya and his favorite soup dumplings!

Breakfast at Drogheria Sancricca

 The boys were so grumpy, probably because they were very hungry, and they got happy after having two croissant each and maritozzo. 

Grumpy boys eating croissant

Grumpy Masaki

Latte

Happy Masaki with maritozzo

Happy Naoya with maritozzo

Started the day with breakfast at bricolage bread

It's been very crowded but it was not so that morning, and we could have a table inside. Lucky!

After breakfast, we went to robot park, book shop, and Streamer Coffee to end the outing. 

Naoya eating pain perdu

Masaki

Avocado toast

Beautiful day

Naoya playing with an old style phone toy

Masaki playing with an old style radio cassette recorder

Break at Streamer Coffee

Soba lunch with Riku

 He wanted soba for lunch, so we went to the regular soba restaurant. 

Mo with omlet

Tempura soba

天南そば

息栖神社

 鹿島神宮か香取神宮には行くのだけれど、こちらはお初。交通の神様と言うことで、航空安全もお祈り。招霊（おがたま）の木と言う、神霊を招く木と言うのがあったので、あやかりたく、葉っぱを撫でておく。近くにある忍潮井（おしおい）の男瓶と女瓶にも行き、何気なく見かけた力石の説明に、笹川の繁蔵の名前を見つけてちょっと興奮。この辺りも天保水滸伝の舞台なのだ。

女甕

男甕

Mochi pounding at jiji baba's

 

Naoya's happy making mochi

Naoya emotionally helping jiji

Naoya flattening mochi

Ton happy with tuna

New Year's Day at jiji baba's

 9 hours later from hitting the bell of New Year's Eve, we were on the road to my parents. Koji, Riku, and papa took highway bus, I drove all the girls in a car. 

Neighbor bathhouse was open and we rounded up everybody and headed there. Very nice sitting in a hot tub, managed to see the sunset and Mt. Fuji. 

Realized there was a big earthquake after the bath, and it was very shocking to see the news on TV at my parents' afterwords.... 

Boys enjoying the drink 

Mt. Fuji!

除夜の鐘＠天真寺

Annual tradition of hitting the big bell hanging at a temple on New Year's Eve. Went to a temple run by a family of Riku's friend from elementary school before midnight. It wasn't cold at all, Corrine, Emi, and Maiya joined us, though Koji was sick he stayed home. 

Riku was happy seeing some of his friends from elementary school, some of the neighbor friends were there, too. Had AMAZAKE, fermented rice drink, as a return of hitting the bell from the temple. Happy New Year!