Here's to a New Decade!

The day started off well. I made my first ozoni soup (Japanese new year's soup) for good luck. I used chicken broth, dashi, soy sauce, daikon (round for good luck), green onions, spinach, and a little chicken. Despite the number of ingredients, I kept the soup sparse as I remember it from childhood. Now you may feel the chicken or the daikon was inappropriate, however, the ingredients of the soup vary depending upon the region of Japan. Some areas use chicken, some use daikon and carrots, some add salmon, miso and/or tofu.

Oh, and the mochi. The store-bought mochi burned a bit in the broiler, but after picking off the charred pieces it seemed okay. Lani and I really enjoyed the soup, and Chris seemed iffy about it. The babies were not impressed either, which surprised me as Arden is a huge miso soup/tofu/veggie fan.

Since the early breakfast was light, I decided to trot out second breakfast. I made homemade scallion pancakes and dipping sauce. Yummy! Everybody dug this, especially Arden. She made sure she got as many helpings as she could!

I think we've got our New Year's day tradition down for future years.

Arden is obsessed with riding in the push buggy or the rocking horse. That girl wants to move.

Cari in a less happy moment.

Arden in the rocking horse that I got for $10 on Craigslist. Obviously, she got herself in there herself.

Lani and her friend "A". We had his family over on 12/27. We had a lovely time.

The girls "coloring" together.

Lani was "instructing" her sisters in the art of drawing.

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