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Yes, it’s the time of the year for NABE, or Japanese hot pot.<\/p>\n
When we moved to the condo in the city from the house in the suburbs a few years ago, one of the thing we did was downsizing.<\/p>\n
A big one.<\/p>\n
Well, we had over 3500 square feet in the house and we shrank our home to less than a half of it.<\/p>\n
We got rid of a lot of things, and we actually enjoyed the whole experience.<\/p>\n
When you go through a process like thins you realize how much unnecessary stuff you accumulate over years.<\/p>\n
Since we moved to the condo, I’ve been careful in terms of what to buy, and I pay attention not only to the price but also to how much space it would take and how often we would use it.<\/p>\n
I bought this NABE pot after we moved here.<\/p>\n
It was rather an impulsive buy, but overall I’m happy with this purchase.<\/p>\n
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I was happy to find the dried shiitake mushrooms and dried Kombu seaweed at the local grocery store.<\/p>\n
I used these as the base of the NABE soup in which I cooked the fish and vegetables.<\/p>\n
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NABE is probably one of the easiest things to prepare.<\/p>\n
Basically you cut ingredients into bite-sized pieces, and that’s pretty much it.<\/p>\n
Of course if you have extra time, you can always make your carrots look pretty (lol).<\/p>\n
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Add all the ingredients into the boiled soup.<\/p>\n
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Turn the heat down, cover, and then wait.<\/p>\n
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You can basically use any vegetables, meat, and seafood.<\/p>\n
This time I used cod, napa cabbage, scallion, carrots, tofu, and clear noodle, and served with a mixture of soy sauce, white vinegar, and sesame oil as a dipping sauce.<\/p>\n
A great thing about NABE, other than that it’s tasty, is that it brings people to the dining table.<\/p>\n
Well, in our household “people” would be me and my husband, but it did bring us to the dining table, and had us sit across from each other and a have a great conversation while taking time enjoying the dinner.<\/p>\n
We always eat together if both of us are home, but we don’t always sit at the dining table and we often sit next to each other on the couch and eat while watching TV.<\/p>\n
We don’t have to do this all the time but it was a great way to enjoy each other’s company, and I wouldn’t mind doing it again soon.<\/p>\n