We spent the day after Christmas celebrating the upcoming New Year the Japanese way, pounding mochi. A Japanese friend organized the pounding party at her local community center and I was excited for DaddyO to get the opportunity to join me at one of our get togethers.


Kaori prepared the rice. She got the mochigome もち米 (glutinous rice) kernels from a cousin who grew it on his farm. She prepared it in her rice cooker and then transferred the steaming hot rice into a tradition mortar (usu) and we took turns pounding it with a wooden mallet (kine).


The result was a sticky mass.


This was divided into individual portions and served in three different ways: with sweet bean paste (anko), wrapped in seaweed (nori) and served with soy sauce (shoyu), and rolled in soybean powder (kanako).


A variety of pickled vegetables were also prepared.


We loaded up our plates and enjoyed the lunch outside together.


What a fun New Year's tradition.