28 October: A dinner party for 7 at home. The centre piece is a big, whole tai, ordered by mail. (In Japan you can order almost anything direct from where it's produced or caught, to be delivered by special courier - either refridgerated or frozen - which doesn't cost much.)

The head goes into the hot pot first...

... then the vegetables. When they are cooked, you pick the thin fish slices, dip them in the soup for a few seconds, and eat them with ponzu sauce.
Some of the fish was set aside, to be eaten as sashimi (along with amaebi. The fish on the smaller plates is a smaller kind of tai marinated in vinegar/kombu. One of the guests brought the eringi mushrooms & beans in sesame sauce here, as well as aubergine & bacon in spicy soy-based sauce.

Matsutake mushrooms (yes, the expensive stuff) for the hot pot. And all this garlic went into the spicy dish on the right...

...of aubergine & potatoes with tomato & green pepper, cooked by our Chinese friend. Looks a bit messy in this photo, but it was delicious.
29 October:Below: Spotted in Nagoya - bunny mochi cakes.

Right: at a cafe in Nagoya - a strange vase!