Comments on: Sunday Morning Mochi

By: JL

JL — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 19:30:03 +0000

Where was this? Near Asakusa? Thanks!

By: Jenna @ Healthy. Happy. Well.

Jenna @ Healthy. Happy. Well. — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 14:33:55 +0000

Tokyo looks like such a unique and rewarding place to explore new cuisine! I can’t wait to keep reading. Mochi, soupstands, it’s all so foreign to me!

By: Lyndsey

Lyndsey — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 02:08:11 +0000

This is a great post! I love the photos, and I have never seen mochi made or have I tried it. Another thing added to my list! Thanks for sharing!

By: centralcalgal

centralcalgal — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 19:52:52 +0000

That brings back memories!
When I was younger and lived in central California, we used to pound mochi the old-fashioned way. Just before New Year’s the male relatives, led by my grandpa, would cook the rice and do the pounding, and my grandmother would add water as needed (quickly between pounding strokes) and portion it out for the women to shape it into perfectly round smooth cakes to then be either used for New Year’s ozoni, or to be frozen to be enjoyed throughout the year.

As we got older and there were fewer men to pound, we used the mochi grinder (seen in the pictures in the top row) to ‘pound’ our mochi before we shaped it (not both as you show above). We had to run it through several times to make it ‘chewier’ and smoother before shaping it.

Now that the mochi duties for New Year’s is relegated to me and my elderly parents, we have a kitchen appliance that is a combination mochi steamer/”pounder”. My mother does the portioning out and my father and I do the shaping. One nice thing about having a small appliance is that we can more easily make fresh mochi throughout the year – yum yum!!

Thanks for providing those pictures – I’ll have to show them to my parents!

By: Julia Shanahan

Julia Shanahan — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 20:10:52 +0000

Even after living in Japan for ten years I couldn’t bring myself to like mochi, but it is fun to see people making it. They do a mochi ceremony every year on Bainbridge Island where I live, near Seattle. Everybody has a great time. It’s a real treat to see your posts and pics of Japan. Thanks!

By: Fuji Mama

Fuji Mama — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 04:53:10 +0000

I miss finding those random things! Tokyo is so great for that. I miss mochi making–glad you got to enjoy it for me!

By: Melody Fury

Melody Fury — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 09:30:29 +0000

OoOoOOo! Mochi is one of my favourite foods! I love them grilled with soy, wrapped in nori, wrapped around sweet fillings, dusted with soy powder… you name it.

gah… I want.

Thanks so much for sharing. Hope you made it to church on time

By: Scootabaker

Scootabaker — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 18:37:37 +0000

Back when I was but a smallish child, every Saturday and Sunday morning my stepfather, whom is Japanese, would grill mochi balls and serve them with a dipping sauce of soy sauce and sugar. He used to tell me that if I didn’t chew my mochi well enough, I could choke and die. So mean! It scared the ba-jesus out of me, so I sort of refrained from eating it. He also used to tell me that the bonito shavings he put atop my hot rice was still alive. If you’ve ever put bonito shavings on rice, you’d know what I was talking about. Till this day I’m scared of taking the trash out at night and eating certain japanese foods cause of him. Anyway, that’s my story for the week.

Love ya!
Heather

By: wasabi prime

wasabi prime — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 17:03:07 +0000

What a fantastic post to come home to — this brightened my Friday, to be sure! I know most of the mochi making is done by machines, but seeing the old wooden mochi pounder made me smile. My grandparents used to make mochi the old fashioned way for New Year’s, as is the tradition. I’m amazed more people didn’t greet the new year with crushed fingers or a concussion! The best thing about mochi is that when it’s made, it requires several people, and you always have more than you need, so you end up giving it away and sharing with others, so it makes it such a great communal food!

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 15:22:54 +0000

Will you someday write about the amazing coffee you make? I miss it. I put cinnamon in my coffee this morning but it wasn’t at all the same.