<Begin Segment 12>
TI: Now for special occasions, like Thanksgiving, what was that like? Did you guys have a special meal on holidays?
EN: No, we celebrated more on New Year's, like the Japanese people do.
TI: And so explain or describe that. What would New Year's, what would you have for New Year's?
EN: All the sushi and all the chicken teriyaki and things like that, and tempura. We have to stay up 'til late to make it. My mother used to teach me, but I'm glad at least I got to learn.
TI: Now, would you have a lot of guests on New Year's day?
EN: Just the old friends of my parents used to come. And they liked to drink their sake. [Laughs]
TI: Now who would, where would your dad get the sake? Would he make it?
EN: No, buy it. Didn't the Yamashita open that? The Japanese grocery store here in Watsonville.
TI: How about things like birthdays? When someone had a birthday, was there any celebration of any type?
YN: I don't remember that.
TI: My mother couldn't afford birthdays. [Laughs]
YN: We're old-fashioned. [Laughs]
TI: So on your birthday, did anyone at least say, "Happy birthday," or anything like that?
EN: No.
TI: So you've got to tell your grandkids this. They probably don't believe that. 'Cause now when they have birthday parties, it's such a big thing, each one.
EN: That's why we celebrate more now than before, after we got married, because we didn't celebrate birthdays then.
TI: Now, of all the things that your mom made, what was your favorite? When you think back, as just your favorite meal or something that's very nostalgic when you think back? Yoshiko, what would be your favorite?
YN: It wasn't that fancy, but it's called maze gohan. Do you know what that is?
TI: Uh-huh.
YN: All kinds of vegetables in the rice. She'll make this great big pan full of it. I can never forget the taste of how she made that. And I used to like all the mashed potatoes that she used to make for us. We used to have mashed potato sandwiches even.
TI: Wow. So you guys had lots of potatoes, it sounds like. [Laughs]
EN: [Laughs] But we still do.
TI: So Eiko, what was your favorite meal, when you think about your mom and her cooking?
EN: Well, she cooked easy food. I mean, not complicated like we do nowadays. Like weenies and fried potatoes, bacon, that's the fastest for her to cook for the family.
TI: When you think back, which one do you think back fondly, that you really liked and that's kind of special?
EN: Well, she made good sushi. And the Japanese foods with all the Japanese vegetables, she used to make with.
<End Segment 12> - Copyright ©2008 Densho and the Watsonville - Santa Cruz JACL. All Rights Reserved.