Roots and Recipe Rough Draft

When I woke up, I instantly smelled the Katsuobushi being boiled. I popped out of bed like a firecracker raced down the hallway to the kitchen.  I knew my news year’s day has just begun. I saw my grandmother straining the Kastuobushi in the sliver shining sink. The smoke started to rise from the sink making light puffy clouds. I stared and my grandmother with big bug eyes watching her every move like a hawk. She took a green bowl and started to throw in the dried shiitake mushrooms. I hovered over the bowl as the mushrooms soak up more and more water until it was about the explode. I ask my grandmother “Why is ozoni soup important to our family”? “So the next generation of our family understands Japanese traditions,” she replied while taking out the big juicy shiitake mushrooms from the yellow bowl. As my grandmother took the giant knife out of the drawer she started to cut the mizuna with detail. As my grandmother continue to cut the mizuna with precision, I started to wash the dishes before the dishes star to look like Mount Fuji. To my left I saw the wet slimy greasy piece of pork in a bright yellow bowl. The pork look so slimy that it could fall out any moment. I walked over to the greasy piece of pork I wondered, “Why use pork”? My grandmother told me “Since I from Okinawa, Okinawa’s like to use pork instead or chicken, plus its pork is more commonly found than chicken”. Finally when the ozoni soup was done my grandmother took a shiny sliver ladle spoon and severed us each a big spoonful of mochi, shiitake mushrooms, pork, kamaboko and mizuna.  I look at the ozoni glazing and glowing in the sunrise I reflect about this past year and the ups and down that my family and I went through.  I asked my grandmother “What memories do you with ozoni soup”. She told me she remembers “Sitting down with her mother, father, three brothers, and two sisters eating ozoni soup on news years day”. Once the sun finally peeked up the rest of my family started to come over. My uncles and aunties finally arrived. We sat around the clear circle dinning table enjoying the ozoni. Before I took a bit of the ozoni I admired all the ingredients that went into making this dish, the grilled chewy mochi, the tender moist pork, the julienne mizuna, and the juicy crispy shiitake mushrooms. As I took my first bit I immediately wanted to take a second. I finally understood the true meaning of ozoni soup and what it means to my grandmother and myself. Now I can’t wait to make the ozoni soup myself.