Ikeda's Osechi

	The Nest of Boxes, a set of japans, is a japanese traditional container for the special dishes called Osechi to celebrate a happy new year.
In my home, we begin with a cup of green tea with a pickled ume (salted plum).
	Decoration is important as well as its taste.
The zodiacal sign of 1996 was a mouse. The hedgehog also watches for Osechi.
	The first box contains happy Sho-Chiku-Bai, a pine made of a cuttlefish, a bamboo made of a spinach rolled by a laver, and a plum flower made of a boiled egg. Black soybeans, herring roe, boiled and scrolled tangle, and roasted sardines with sesamis are also happy foods. A boiled fish paste and a boiled shrimp color the dishes with happy white and red.
The second box also contains traditional relishes. Chikuzen-ni, one of my favourite dishes, is a boil of a lotus root, a burdock, a carrot, a bamboo shoot, etc with soy, sweetened sake, and brothes.
	The third box contains original terrine and scotch egges. My mother insists the scotch egges are the eyes of the Chinese phoenix.
Gelatinized strawberry and milk and gelatinized orange are very popular among children, while gold egges and gold chestnuts are traditional desserts. Gold is a very happy color.