Celebrating the New Year

By Sandy Hu
The latest from Inside Special Fork

On the last day of the old year and into the new, our house takes on the delicious aromas of a Japanese restaurant – the smell of shiitake mushrooms, gobo (burdock root) and soy sauce simmering, intermingled with the tang of rice vinegar and the ever-present fragrance of dashi, the soup stock that’s a signature flavor in Japanese cooking.

As a third-generation Japanese American, my cooking is quite eclectic and more Western than Eastern. I use olive oil by liter, but soy sauce? Not so much.

Still, once a year, I go for tradition – I love that my family has a rich Japanese food heritage nurtured over three generations and I’m proud to carry it forward.

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