Muchi and Mochi

Yesterday on Geruma we made Muchi and Mochi. I think. I was tired and didn't ask a lot of questions or get much explained during the two-hour school activity, so the content here is a little thin.


But the students grated some stuff (picture one) and mixed soy sauce with brown sugar (making a close relative to what we Americans know as teriyaki sauce) while the adults steamed already cooked rice. Then, over at the community center there was some pounding of rice with mallets (picture two) until it became a sticky, gummy substance. Then that was wrapped around something else that was sweetish (picture three). Sometimes the rice was pounded with potatoes or something else green. The kindergartners made the muchi, which was a pre-made sticky substance that I preferred. It was wrapped in leaves and then steamed? It tasted kinda like tea. I don't know what became of the grated stuff or the teriyaki sauce.


The night before was stretched late with basketball practice and it was an early morning with a long run, so I put all of my 'staying awake' efforts into photographing. I got 200 pictures and I'm pretty happy with a few, considering the harsh indoor lighting. Don't you like them?