MOCHITSUKI

On January 15th, the kids and I headed to Quinn's yochien for some mochi pounding. What is "mochi" you may ask, and why do you pound it? Well it is a traditional Japanese activity for the New Year (to ensure it will be a good one). Sweet rice is soaked over night and then steamed in the morning. The rice is then placed in an "umu" mortar and pounded with a wooden mallet until it is smooth and shiny (gooey/goopy). It is a lot of work. Finally the mochi is formed into balls and seasoned with different ingredients such as sweet bean paste, sugar and soy powder, green onion and soy sauce. The last part of the tradition is to eat "Ozoni" soup made with veggies and mochi balls. The Japanese usually eat this on New Year's Day.

At yochien, they let the kids take turns pounding the rice. Scarlett didn't want to try but Quinn did a couple times with the help of the school's bus driver. You can't really see Quinn's face in the picture but it's him. Surprisingly, Quinn doesn't like mochi but Scarlett does! It was a fun day.