Happy New Year! I hope you’ll enjoy reading my blog again this year!
At the end of last year, I took a trip out of town for a family memorial service.
It was my first time on an airplane in about eight years, and it was a whirlwind two-day, one-night trip.
I was relieved to make it through the memorial service and get safely back home.
But that relief didn’t last long.
The very next day, I developed a fever of 39°C (102.2°F).
And I spent the rest of the year—and the beginning of the new year—sick at home.
I had been looking forward to visiting my husband’s parents for New Year’s, but I had to give that up and spend the holidays recovering at home.
It really reminded me once again how precious good health is.
In 2025, I’d like to make this a year of taking good care of both my body and mind!
By the way, today, January 7, is Nanakusa no Sekku, the traditional Japanese day for eating nanakusa-gayu, a rice porridge made with seven spring herbs.
I bought a pack of the seven herbs—seri, nazuna, gogyō, hakobera, hotokenoza, suzuna, and suzushiro ↓
Ideally, I’d love to go out and find them myself, but I still don’t have quite enough energy for that yet…
That said, I sometimes see herbs such as nazuna (shepherd’s purse) and hakobera growing along the roadside.
These wild plants are rich in chlorophyll, vitamins, and minerals.
When I see them growing vigorously even through cracks in city streets, I can’t help but feel their incredible vitality—their ability to survive and thrive just about anywhere.
By eating these hardy wild plants, I’d like to nurture that same strength to keep going and thrive in my own life.
By the way, this time I decided to make nanakusa fried rice instead of the traditional nanakusa-gayu!
I’d already had plenty of rice porridge while I was sick over the New Year’s holidays, so I wasn’t really in the mood for more porridge…
I simply chopped up the seven herbs, stir-fried them with rice, added a little salt, and voilà!
My nanakusa fried rice ↓
It turned out to be a delicious dish full of the feeling of spring.
Now I feel like I’m ready to stay healthy and energetic throughout the year!
Wishing you all a wonderful 2025. 😊