A happy finding

As my husband and I are originally from Japan, we've consistently followed the traditional way to celebrate a new year's day by having a special feast even after we came to the U.S. 11 years ago.
The picture above is that of 2009.
And today I came across an interesting article whose content is about some interesting soup.
As our special feast for a new year's day contain the one (most left orange one in the picture) which is based on the similar idea as it, I was so pleased to find the article.
In the plate in the picture, I topped mashed sweet potato which contain juice of squeezed orange and a bit of Grand Marnier (orange liqueur) on a sliced orange.


I don't remember exact when, but I came up with this idea several years ago to substitute for the menu which is usually included in the traditional special new year's feast.
It is so-called "Kuri-kinton".
"kuri" is a Japanese name for a chestnut and "kinton" is the name given to mashed Japanese sweet potato.
So "Kuri-kinton" is the dish the both are mixed , and this dish is usually quite sweet because "kuri" candied in advance and "kinton" has a lot of sugar in it.
When I was a child, I hated this dish because it was too sweet for me.
And I also couldn't understand why this dish was dished up with other salty and savory dishes in one plate as if it had been a side dish as well.
For me it should've treated as a desert rather than a side dish.

Anyway, in the U.S. it is difficult to get chestnuts and Japanese sweet potatos (Japanese ones are different in color and texture from those of U.S.'s) in a good timing, I need to replace that side dish with something new that I can make with the ingredients which are easy to get here for me in the end of December.
Thus I came up with my new creation, "Orange-kinton".
It is definitely for adults, because I use sugar modestly to bring out the natural sweetness of sweet potatoes (actually I use honey not sugar) and drizzle one or two tablespoons of Grand Marnier.
My kinton is kinda dip, and we eat our Orange-kinton like we eat "chips and bean dip" or "strawberry and melted chocolate".
I have to wait this side dish ( "Kuri-kinton" or its sort) became one of my favorite new year's feast till my creation showed up.






We've been pleased with this new version of "kinton", I just haven't been sure if this is acceptable for other people or not.
Because it's not Japanese or American, and the idea was accidentally introduced to the world, I was just curious about that.
But today, I made sure that it's OK.
I don't know how many people accept or are pleased with this idea, but at least one cook has adopted and introduced it to the world, and it's enough for me to be happy. :))
(The second picture is the version of 2010's new year's day.)