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MOCHI party
 
Mochitsuki2008

     On December 30th some Rits friends and I went to make mochi the traditional way at Expohouse. Apparently, making mochi before the New Year brings good luck and I sure hope so! The first step in the mochi making process was steaming the rice using a giant gas powered steamer. It was a cold day so we all gathered around the steamer to keep warm as we drank hot coffee and tea. After the rice was steamed it was put in a big stone bowl and we all took turns pounding the rice with a huge wooden mallet. Sometimes after a strong swing of the mallet little pieces of rice shot out of the bowl causing everyone to duck for cover!
     After a few minutes of pounding, the rice pretty much looked like mochi. Then it was time for us all to test out our sculpting skills as we molded the mochi into small balls. There was a big table covered with flour and we gathered around to shape the large ball of sticky mochi into smaller bit-sized pieces. At this stage, the warm mochi was ready to eat. Some ate it plain, others chose to fill it with red bean paste, and both options were great! 

Osaze 

| English | 23:27 | comments(0) | trackbacks(0) | -
Mochitsuki 2008 at Expo House

It was really great for me to have a chance to join Mochitsuki – making sticky rice event – at Expo House at the end of 2008. Although it was my second time, I really had a lot of fun as much as last year or even more.

First I am so happy to not only know about one of Japanese traditions but also to participate in it. As far as I understand, there are three important stages in making mochi: Cooking the rice, pounding the rice and finally forming the pounded sticky rice into different shapes for eating. Different stages give different levels of fun. For me, I love the second stage best when I had to use a heavy wooden hammer hitting the rice in a stone bowl. Second mochitsuki, in my opinion, is more than just making sticky rice. It is solidarity work and this kind solidarity work is especially meaningful when there is a mixture of different nationalities. And I believe this is the beauty of mochituki at Expo House. This year around 20 people of almost 10 nationalities participated in this activity and I am so glad to be part of it.


Chhay Sok
| English | 23:00 | comments(0) | trackbacks(0) | -
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