As is customary at the end of the year, I help out with making New Year's Eve soba noodles at my family's restaurant, "Shokujidokoro Mine," in Makinohara.

Along National Route 150 in Makinohara, at the corner of the Shizunami Coast entrance intersection, you'll find "Shokujidokoro Mine," a Japanese restaurant where you can enjoy handmade soba noodles, eel, and set meals, with a soba banner flying and an orange, hand-dyed noren curtain swaying in the breeze. Actually, this is my family's restaurant. My parents opened it when I was little...

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The performance at Tempura Tenkin, where they dip their hands into the piping hot pot and fry the tempura with gusto, is a must-see.

Tenkin is a long-established tempura restaurant where you can always see a line of customers outside. The proprietress can be seen opening the sliding door and calling out, "How many people are in your party?", confirming the number of people outside. Even in the cold winter, the line never ends during lunchtime. Lunchtime hours...

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Even with ingredients you already have in your refrigerator, you can have fun with a little creativity.

As soon as Christmas is over, the atmosphere of the year-end hits me all at once, and I'm already heading straight for the New Year (lol). Since I always go back to Makinohara on New Year's Eve to help out at my family's restaurant, "Shokujidokoro Mine," with their New Year's Eve soba noodles, I try to use up as much of the ingredients in my refrigerator as possible...

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