Seafood & Noodles

The tradition is to eat a bowl of piping hot soba at midnight on Omisoka (大晦日) to usher in the New Year. Perfect if we're partying and having drinks. However, the man and I were way stuffed from a splendid NYE dinner and were in bed before midnight. Hahahaha. So we shared a small bowl of hot soba in the morning as breakfast since the skies poured and we couldn't take the dog anywhere fun. 

I couldn't really fit in that much food anymore. I’m extremely wary of indigestion. We didn't exactly go lighter on the palate, but we did avoid heavy meats and chicken for dinner on New Year's Day, and January 2nd. For once, the man had had enough of chicken. Hahaha. We opted for seafood. I popped antihistamines in preparation for ingesting small amounts of shellfish. 

The dog was included in all our New Year meals (over January 1 and 2), of course. She doesn't know anything about any special occasion, but she feels our happy vibes and she never minds coming out with us even though she only gets her dinner when we go home. (She gets a snack at 5pm on these days.) It's no wonder that we've been leaning towards eating at restaurants that have outdoor spaces that permits dogs, or indoor spaces that allow dogs. I made her wear a pom collar for New Year. She wasn't impressed. But it wasn't uncomfortable. The size was right, and the collar sits nicely without constraining fur or skin. She looked adorable in photos.

New Year's Day dinner was eaten with the friends at NUDE Grill. We put in a pre-order for a lovely pot of Boston lobster in tom yam broth with rice noodles  It was tangy and delicious. It oddly went well with our appetizers of blue mussels in white wine broth and confit garlic, Hokkaido scallops in chincalok emulsion and nori shoyu, grilled Tiger prawns, and coleslaw in ponzu aioli. 

We ordered conservatively. Only two other mains were had. We shared a grilled red snapper and Grandpa's pomfret soup. No dessert for anyone. Hurhurhurhur. The friends and the man gave in to a glass of Asahi. Instead of alcohol, I had a berry smoothie. I generally love berry smoothies, and since NUDE does a good one, I might as well have that. It was super satisfying. 

On January 2, we had a simple meal of sushi and inaniwa udon for dinner at home. Just the man and I. I ordered sushi and the man went to pick it up, giving the dog a pee break at the same time. I cooked the udon at home. 20 pieces of sushi and a negitoro maki fed us very well. Most of it went to the man since I couldn't really stomach that much rice, although I really liked it. Then we took a long stroll after dinner. The rain had stopped; the night beautiful and so cool. Dog was extremely happy.

Udon at home is easy to whip up. I always have stock of soba and udon, and dashi in ready packets, extra kelp, seaweed and bonito flakes. We didn't need the extra carbs, but I thought it would be fun to slurp. Since the year is still new, we might as well continue with 'lucky noodles'. Heh. #ImpieCooks2021 I was thinking that in future, perhaps next year, instead of a bowl of piping hot soba for New Year's Eve as '年越しそば', if we're awake, I could just prep cold inaniwa udon too, as '年越し稲庭うどん'. Hahahaha. It could sit in the fridge to wait for us!