With the winter cold finally arriving in Tokyo, it's the perfect time for nabe (pronounced "na-bay") , a Japanese hot pot dish traditionally prepared on the table top in an earthenware pot. It keeps us warm during winter, and also nutritious as you can eat a lot of veggies in this dish.

In class, we made a yose-nabe a dish that includes seafood and meat. Yose in Japanese means to "gather" and as this dish is a  gathering of anything that you have left over in your refrigerator. In class we used shrimp, cod, chicken and made chicken balls.  

Another popular ingredient will be clams and oysters. I've  included a page in my Tokyo Grocery Guide on how to buy and clean oysters here in Japan >>>

Inspired by the popular summer salad " Spinach and Strawberry Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing" I've come up with a similar salad using a popular Japanese vegetable Shungiku (Edible Chrysanthemum) Leaves. Strawberries, which is originally a summer fruit, comes in season during the winter months due to the high demand for the Christmas season. For the Japanese, strawberries are a indispensable item for the Christmas shortcakes.     

Shungiku is mostly used as an staple ingredient in the Nabe (Hot Pot ) during the winter months but can also be used raw in a salad. This Shungiku and Strawberry Salad will be a great alternative to your ordinary salads and a big hit for pot luck parties. To get the recipe, Please visit my Tokyo Grocery Shopping Guide page.
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Happy New Year! Kids are back to school and I finally found some time to sit in front of my PC to update my blog. This year we went back to my husbands hometown, Himeji in the Hyogo Prefecture. Himeji City is known for the Himeji Castle - one the most beautiful castles in Japan. After 5 years of major restoration, it reopened last spring and we had been waiting for a chance to visit it. 

Himeji Castle is also known as the  White Heron Castle (Shirasagijo) due to its elegant, white appearance. Although we have visited the castle many times, we couldn't help taking photos from every angle. It is more a fortress than a castle as it is very stragetically laid out to prevent the enemies to come into the castle.