on the 11th, we went to a community center in hiro's school district to make mochi. it was pretty interesting, and i took lots of photos.

first you cook the glutenous rice, then transfer it to the pounding bowl (i'm sure it has a special name, but i didn't catch it.) here is tommy helping out.






when it's mashed together pretty good, then you pound it. here is sasha, then yoshi, helping out.







hiro helped, too, but i didn't get any video.



after it has become a smooth, sticky ball, it is ready to be shaped! i think that some kind of starch is used, either potato or corn starch, to keep it from sticking to things.









the dads usually did the final pounding of the mochi. i have a great video of it, but for some reason it didn't upload in iphoto. I'll try again sometime soon...



then it was time to eat mochi. some mochi had anko in it.



some was put into hot bean soup (which is sweet), called zenzai in fukuoka.







tommy loved the zenzai.



some mochi was served with grated daikon flavored with soy sauce and yuzu.



and one other way to serve it is with soy sauce (and i think it was flavored with ginger, but i'm not sure as i didn't try it) and wrapped in nori.





that was pretty fun, but tiring! afterward i took hiro on a 'boy's day', because he was so upset sasha got a girl's day the day before! on the way to the mall, though, he fell asleep in the car!



edit: another video