Kaninabe! No, no, it's not vulgarity even though it sounds like a common favourite in Singapore. 
In Japanese, kani is crab and nabe is steamboat or hotpot. Kaninabe (カニ鍋) is a popular winter dish in Japan. Winter is just the perfect season to sit around the table, eat nabe dishes and get toasty warm. 
When my Mister was here a month ago, we visited my host family.
And they prepared kaninabe for us! YUMMY!
So when my friend was here to visit, we decided to cook our own kaninabe!
But first...
...guess what this is.
It's a ball of collagen jelly!
2000mg of collagen goodness to be infused into your nabe dish! 
I usually consume 5000mg collagen a day in powder form, but this collagen-dama is so interesting!
Ingredients bought from Seiyu.
Crab, veggies, my darling collagen-dama and a cheese-flavoured soup base! 
We don't have a 土鍋 (donabe - clay pot) that is usually used to prepare nabe dishes, so this steel one will just have to do!
How the collagen-dama looks like.
Just plop it into the soup...
...throw in the rest of the ingredients....
...and we're done! いただきます！
But I think I'm dealing with the cold better than last year. I could even go out in a mere short-sleeve top underneath my coat! 
I love them so much! They always invite me over to their place for whatever festivities there are, and they treat me like their own daughter. I will miss them sooooooooo much when I leave Japan. 
