February Sum Up

February had a lot of events, so it involved me eating different Japanese foods according to the day.

First was 節分 (setsubun).


It was my first experience with setsubun, and it was amusing, but the best part of setsubun is the (insert a drum roll here)

Ehoumaki

Previous to setsubun, I had an intense craving for American-style fake Japanese sushi, and all of those cravings were fulfilled when I bought two giant ehoumakis.



The one on the left was absolutely amazing. There was avocado, shrimp, pickled onions, shiso leaves and--of course, rice and nori. There was also a thin crepe wrapped around the entire roll. The ehoumaki on the right was a fairly typical with seafood.

The way you eat ehoumaki is pretty funny (and fun??). You aren't supposed to cut the ehoumaki and eat the entire roll in one go. While you're eating it, you're also supposed to eat the ehoumaki facing the lucky direction of the year (this year was south east).

So despite how delicious the ehoumaki was, I was trying not to choke while laughing at how ridiculous I probably looked, eating this giant sushi roll while facing my closet.

The next big event was Marumi's birthday party--which coincided with the Chinese New Year's "Common Man's birthday."

The party was super fun and I got to eat giant burgers and cake--like a real American party! The food was delicious and I got to wear birthday gear too, like it was my own birthday.









Next up was the mochitsuki, in which I got to pound and eat some mochi, see a shishimai dance.



I also found out I have terrible aim as I chipped the mochitsuki pounding bowl quite a few times..........

The mochi was also really delicious, and it really reminded me of the times back in Michigan, when I went to the annual mochitsuki hosted by the Center for Japanese Studies.

To end this fairly short post, here's a photo dump of some food :)