Sukiyaki Party

Here is a pic of the sukiyaki that Reverand Yoshida prepared for us yesterday after church. You can see thinly-sliced pieces of high qualiy marbled beef, leeks, mushrooms and other veggies all boiling in a sweet sauce made from sugar, soy sauce and sake.
It's all cooked-up in a iron pot over a portable gas burner that is in the center of the table. Everyone ate as the food cooked and periodically Rev. Yoshida refilled the pot with meat, veggies and sauce. It's awesome.


But, here's the thing that gives you the willies the first time you partake of this feast. When you pull your food out of the pot you immediately dip it in raw egg and then eat it. It may sound a bit scary, but this year was our second time to have this special meal with the Yoshida's you could see the smiles of anticipation on our faces as we used our chopsticks to mixed-up our raw egg for dippin'.

Here is a close-up of traditional New Year food in Japan. The yellow is sweet egg. The white and pink are fish cakes. And the beans and little fish are sweet.

And finally, you can see a shot of all of us at the table in the dining/guest room of our church.
It was just a wonderful day! We have really been blessed by Rev. Yoshida and his wife...this is just one of so many times they have welcomed us and treated us like their own children.