Oden is a sort of Japanese stew. You put dashi (broth) in a pot and add lots of fish cakes, tofu, hard boiled eggs and daikon and you simmer it for a long time. I also add Konyaku and Udon noodles and carrots too.

I am making it right now, and my apartment smells like a Japanese city street in the fall. During FAll and Winter, in big cities, you can find Oden food stalls (yatai) set up at night by train stations. You can sit on a stool and eat yummy odens and drink sake or beer and talk to old drunk men.

It's very tasty, but it gives me a lonesome feeling to smell it cooking in my apartment, so far away from home.