The New Year is a Time for Mochi Making!

After a week spent crazily planning my wedding in Arizona, I returned back to Sendai shortly after the New Year.  When I got back, the New Year celebrations were still in motion.

At church we had a special mochi pounding event.  The staff cooked tons of mochi rice and set up two mochi pounders outside.  One was a mini one and one was a regular sized one.  The kids all lined up and I watched as they pounded (or attempted to pound) away!  Aaron assisted the kids as the mallet was really heavy.

He got a few good whacks in too!

And so did I.

When the mochi was all pounded up and mushy and sticky, we all went inside to turn it into something we could actually eat.  The church tables were set up on the floor and covered in mochiko flour.  We then used our hands to roll the mochi into little balls and coated them in the mochiko flour.  After covering ourselves in stickiness, we dipped the mochi balls into warm water and then stuck them into plastic baggies filled with different types of powder.  One was traditional kinako powder (which is made from sesame) and the other was cocoa powder (or the stuff from hot chocolate packets).

The cocoa powder wasn't very effective.  The wet stickiness just turned the powder into goo and it didn't really stick to the mochi and give it flavor.  Mostly it was just a mess.  The kinako was the winner.  

It was my first official time pounding mochi and definitely eating them right after.  This was Aaron's first time eat mochi for New Year's period.  Also his first time pounding and eating mochi in the traditional fashion.  It was his first time trying kinako.  He loved it.  He didn't really like the chocolate either.  I'd say it was one of those cool "Yay, I'm in Japan!" moments where you get to appreciate the Japanese culture for what it is.