When I started to sell my cookbook, "Island Light Cuisine," at craft fairs, there always would be a few people who would proudly declare that they don't cook anymore. I thought, how sad, because they are putting their health in someone else's hands. My good friend Mitsuko Raben, a sales representative for Hilton Vacation Club, doesn't let her hectic schedule get in the way of preparing great food. Her background and management skills have taught her how to entertain in a simple, healthy and gracious style. She and her husband, Bob, invited my boyfriend and I to her home for dinner recently, where Bob barbecued his seasoned New York steak and Mitsuko prepared Japanese gourmet rice (Nishiki brand), homemade oden, and a Greek salad from Costco.

I have never had this soup before, but after eating it, I thought it would be a great soup to serve for Japanese New Year. Traditionally, ozoni — mochi cake soup — is served as the first meal of the day, but oden, as Mitsuko makes it, might be an easier alternative.

Mitsuko tells me that oden, also known as Japanese hot pot, is served year-round in Japan but especially during the winter. They even have oden stands (yatai), which resemble our old saimin stands. She says oden is not fattening and is easy to digest and children in Japan love it. She remembers that her grandmother always cooked a large pot of oden, nabe-style, with lots of vegetables. She now is doing just what her grandmother taught her, by serving it to her family, friends and even fellow employees.

This recipe calls for prepared oden fish cake, but I have seen other recipes calling for potatoes, carrots, mochi cakes, chunks of meat and Chinese cabbage leaves. You can make it in the slow cooker and have it on hand when you want it — perhaps at midnight New Year's Eve.

Find the oden fish cake assortment frozen at Don Quijote, Marukai or other Japanese specialty stores. Find the dashi shoyu mix where soy sauce is sold.

MITSUKO'S ODEN