Happy New Year to all my dearest readers!
I hope you had a wonderful New Year celebration with your friends and family. The New Years (Shogatsu) is one of the most important annual festivals in Japan, probably equivalent to Christmas or Thanksgiving in the US. We follow unique customs including eating special food called Osechi, and decorate the house and entry way to the house with special decorations. One of the decorations we decorate inside the house (see the picture above) is called Kagami Mochi, which literally means “mirror rice cake”. It is considered to bring good luck and prosperity in the near year.
Kagami Mochi is made from two rice cakes of different sizes with the smaller one placed over the larger one. The mochi are placed on a konbu sheet, a symbol of pleasure and joy. The decorative mochi is taken out on January 11 and hammered into pieces for Ozoni or traditional Mochi soup. It is extremely unlucky to cut Kagami Mochi with a knife so people break it into smaller pieces with a hammer.
This year we couldn’t get to celebrate Japanese New Years in the traditional way since my mom is visiting from Japan and we are in San Diego for a short vacation. My children had a blast spending the past few days in all the local attractions like LEGOLAND, San Diego Zoo Safari Park, San Diego Zoo, and Sea World.
I just wanted to take a moment and say a special thank you at the beginning of the new year. I’m thankful for your comments and emails, your encouragement, and finally your support. I started my blog last year without knowing what a “blog” is. I had no audience besides my husband, a couple of friends, and myself back then. My blog evolved throughout the past year, and without you, I wouldn’t be able to celebrate the winning of CBS San Francisco’s Most Valuable Blogger 2011 and 1st Blogiversary today!!
I wish to meet each one of you to thank you, but that’s not possible, so I prepared this giveaway in a token of appreciation. Thank you from bottom of my heart!
*****
YOU could win one of three: one (1) $50 Amazon Gift Card or Cash via PayPal or two (2) $25 Amazon Gift Card or Cash via PaPal.
To enter, please leave a comment on this post with any feedback or suggestion for me to improve my blog.
For Bonus Entries to maximize your chances of winning, please:
1) Subscribe to Just One Cookbook by Email and leave a comment.
2) Tweet this giveaway daily through January 15th (one entry per day) and leave a comment for each entry. For example:
I just entered to win $50/$25/$25 Amazon GC or Cash via PayPal @justonecookbook. #giveaway https://www.justonecookbook.com/happy-1st-blogiversary-giveaway/
The Rules: This giveaway is WORLDWIDE and expires on Sunday, January 15th, 2012 at 11:00 pm PST. Entries that do not meet the entry requirements will not be considered. Winners will be selected by random.org and announced on Monday, January 16th.
Full disclosure: This giveaway is sponsored by yours truly.
Congrats Nami!! What a great giveaway to celebrate you milestones. Improvement? You don’t need any! You have amazing photos, and your recipes are true to your Japanese heritage, and what we all come here for!
Congrats! Love your blog!
Congratulations! I love your blog and look forward to another year of great recipes.
Happy blogiversary!! How exciting! I can honestly say I like your blog the way it is, just keep posting delicious recipes 😀
Thank you for the blog and all the wonderful recipes.
I love your blog! I’m planning to try many of your recipes in the new year. It would be cool to see a post about how to properly brew Japanese tea, if you have any tips. 🙂
Love the blog, especially your gorgeous photos! 🙂 Very tempting recipes! 🙂
I love your blog so much! I just found it in time to make some delicious recipes before the New Year!!
I’d love to see some more about your family’s traditions, food or otherwise! I love reading about them when you post them!!
By the way, your recipes really ARE amazing!!
Happy New Year, Nami! It’s hard to think of a suggestion for improvement when your blog is already so great. But despite what you say about not being much of a baker or dessert maker, I would love to know more about Japanese desserts!
I am already an email subscriber
Congratulations Nami
You are one of the most talented and dedicated bloggers I know and to top it off you are humble caring and sweet
Keep up the great work you are doing..wishing you a year full of success and joy
I love your blog and think that you should just keep on being your wonderful self! Happy New Years Nami to you and your loved ones! HUGS!
Congratulations on your 1st Year Anniversary blogging and Happy New Year! We began blogging at about the same time–I look to your blog as an example of how comprehensive a blog can be! Keep up the great work!
Happy New Year Nami! I still can’t believe you’ve only been blogging for 1 year, and we’ve only “known” each other for several months! I can not thank you enough for sharing these wonderful recipes, and showing me the ways to properly “blog”, my photography has improved also just by watching you! I am proud to call you a friend and honored to have been a small part of your blog world while you were on vacation. Hope 2012 brings you happiness and health, and I can’t wait to read more!!!
I already follow by email