[Sangetsu]

My favorite winter food is oden. When I was a teacher, I usually got home fairly late in the evening, with no time to cook. I would stop at the Family Mart combini on the way home and pick up some oden, and enjoy it while chatting with friends before bed. I used to make curry and rice every Friday evening, and it would last me through the weekend.

Nowadays my favorite wintertime food is fish-and-chips from a local "British" pub. After several years of Japanese food, I now crave things which are less Japanese.

For New Years we had food catered by the Isetan department store, and my mother-in-law made mochi and other traditional foods. I gained a little weight over the holidays, but will try to burn it off in the spring.