so yesterday from 10-3pm i was pounding mochi.  :?

 

haha you heard that right.  :laugh:

 

i was invited to a mochitsuki, an annual japanese new years tradition in queens.

 

wiki sez:

 

Mochi is 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. Mochi is also a prominent snack in Hawaii and Taiwan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mochi

 

here is the sponsor, tenrikyo new york center church/shrine (its one of 13 official shinto religions w/ 2million followers). they had three of those gigantic cleveland shoreway/lakewood type homes in a row, but tore one down to build this sharp modern new building last year. i happen to work nearby sometimes and actually watched it being built before i knew what it was.

 

lots more very cool pics & info about the building here:

http://marblefairbanks.com/?p=2704

 

inside -- the stage is called the jodan

http://nycenter.tenri.org/en/index.php

 

all about tenrikyo:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenrikyo

 

soaking the kome, which is what uncooked rice is called in japanese

 

steamy! cooking the up the rice, which when cooked is called gomen

 

i saw they ran several gas lines behind the house just for these

 

one of our sensei's tends to the rice steamers

 

if you look close you can see the teapot the guys were puting on top of the steamer to heat up...hint...not tea  :drunk:

 

:laugh:

 

the rice then goes into these giant mortars called usu, with some salt

 

 

then you grab your large 'hammer of thor' type wooden mallet...

 

and away we go!

 

 

 

:-D  yes it looks like a free for all, but its not! we took turns under the head guy's direction "ich!"(one), "ni!"(two), "san!"(three), "yon!"(four), etc., along with some joking around too. in between he rolls the rice dough, adds some water and pats it after every whap.  :bang2:

 

like bread dough, its an informal science as to how many times the rice gets whacked, too much will pulverize it.

 

 

 

here its done, now its called "mochi" -- much goo-ier and more rubbery than bread dough

 

rolling out the mochi dough

 

packing up the mochi w/ red azuki beans, its very tasty

 

 

here is a bowl of warm and sweet azuki bean soup w/ the fresh mochi. it's called oshiruko for a good reason, it is oishii (delicious)!

 

they have a lot of festivals in japan, but new years is the biggest deal and mochi is a big part of the new years celebrations:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_New_Year

 

* domo arigato -- i hope you enjoyed this cultural detour -- best wishes to all uo'ers in the new year! *

 

 

 

Neat way to celebrate the new year. In this cold weather, the soup sounds like a great idea.

So cool!