The kids had a "special" day at school Monday (not a day they usually go). It was time for mochi making.Mochi is, according to the not-so-scholarly-but-oh-so-helpful Wikipedia, a Japanese rice cake made of glutinous rice pounded into paste and molded into shape.
In Japan it is traditionally made in a ceremony called mochitsuki. While also eaten year-round, mochi is a traditional food for the Japanese New Year and is commonly sold and eaten during that time. You can read more about it by clicking here.
Mochi making is a LOT of fun.
Tons of parents were there, and like everything that has happened at the kids' school, the whole program was flawlessly run (and on time). Two classes went up to the gym at a time to watch the adults pound the mochi, and then the kids got to try it, too. All the while, mothers were carefully making and weighing the pieces of mochi which the kids would use later. It was a loud, noisy, laughing time. 
Even the head of the school (seen in the photos clapping his hands and pounding the mochi with John), who usually can be seen in a suit and tie, was working as hard as anyone.After making it, the kids then went down to a classroom to mold the mochi into smaller bites, and generally have fun with it. The teachers sent a LOT of it home with us, not just the pieces the kids played with. I think this was an attempt to be extra nice to the foreigners, and we were grateful. But...
Four of us don't really like mochi. And we have a lot of it. John tried his best to rub it in a soy-sugar paste and toast it (which is what Hiromi recommended... as well as covering it with special spices you can buy at the store)... and he is driven to find a way to make it wonderful. But so far, we haven't found a way to make mochi taste very good. It's not that it tastes bad plain... but it's not something I would spend hours making, pounding endlessly with a wooden mallet once a year as a special treat.That said -- it was awesome to see the process, and be part of a tradition. We gave one of the bags to Hiromi, who was thrilled to have it, and John continues to test recipes with the other bag.
I'll let you know if we have any luck.
2 comments:
Lisa, have you read Hitching Rides with Buddha by Will Ferguson? It's the story of how he hitched his way from the southernmost point of Japan to the northernmost point. There's a very funny chapter on mochi. I think you'd like it.
Loved your comment about "on time." Our kids had their show yesterday, and the largest contrast I have seen is between Japan and Australia. In Japan, things are scheduled, and run on time so a partent knows that they can arrive at 14:10 to see their kid at 14:12, and depart at 14:29. In Oz, a show sceduled to get started at 6:00 didn't get going until 6:30. And then there were some adjustments as the show was going on. And the kids who had gotten done ran everywhere, and preventing us from hearing the other performances.
We thought "Boy, there MUST be some happy medium here." But then I realized that pretty much everything must be between these two extremes -- Canada and the US certainly are. Plus or minus 10 or 15 minutes, roughly in order, a few kids running around...
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