Mochi Day 2015 - Mochitsuki

Happy New Year! Yes, I realize it is January 23, 2016, but I'm behind schedule... and many of my resolutions are already broken (one being to blog more, of course! :)

Anyway, I use this blog to tell you about some recipes, but also to keep a diary of "stuff that happens." It's fun for me to go back through old posts and remember what I was doing when I made that batch of chocolate chip cookies. Nowadays, I'm mostly documenting the trivial and delicious on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, but I wanted to capture moments from our annual mochi making day.

My Japanese American family has been making mochi every year for over 40 years. It's a family tradition. Often, it's the only time I see some of my cousins! Here are some photos of the process... for you to see, and for me to remember! My friend JustJenn make a short instagram video too!

Happy New Year!

150 pounds of rice = 3000+ pieces of hand-formed mochi. Now we're ready for the New Year.

A photo posted by Jenn Fujikawa (@justjennrecipes) on Dec 27, 2015 at 3:32pm PST

Here we go: Our assembly line for making 150 pounds of mochi for Japanese New Year oshogatsu 🍡 @foodlibrarian Family Mochi Day 2015

A video posted by Jenn Fujikawa (@justjennrecipes) on Dec 27, 2015 at 11:04am PST

Here's a short video of the process. Imagine this going on all day...

Yeah, that's 15 bags of rice for me to wash the night before mochi day.


We always have a crazy big potluck lunch...I made some Spam musubi!


The first batch...

Steaming hot rice goes into a grinder and it gets extruded (it's super hot) and someone cuts off a piece. Then someone grabs that burning hot dough and puts it into a muffin tin. The muffin tin is definitely not traditional, but it helps us keep the size consistent, and it's easy for newbies to join in the process.


Why hello there...lovely mochi!

What happens to all these 3,000+ pieces of mochi? It's traditional to eat a piece of mochi in a special soup called ozoni on New Year's Day...you get lots of good luck and health and all that good stuff. So we divide up the mochi and many people deliver some to friends and family so they'll have mochi for new years. I like to toast mine in the toaster oven and eat with soy sauce and sugar, or kinako and sugar. (The mochi is not sweetened - this is plain, pounded rice mochi).


My friend Jun came with her family for the first time. Here is Sage enjoying fresh off the line mochi. He said, "oishii" (delicious)! Next year, he's going to help out!

How many people come to Mochi Day? I always thought it was about 40 people or so... this year we counted and there were 70 people! We have a bouncy castle in the front yard, mochi making on the deck, tons of food everywhere, two rooms for mochi cooling, one room for packing up the mochi, and, of course, a video game area for some of the kids! :) I have mochi in the freezer to eat throughout the year when the fun happens again.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! JustJenn's Oshogatsu New Year's Spread of Deliciousness

Happy New Year! I hope 2014 is off to a great start!

I had to work yesterday so I wasn't able to even stay awake til midnight! Oh, getting old. I woke up this morning and watched the Rose Parade with Bob & Stephanie (Angelenos know this duo as the often bickering commentators of the Rose Parade on KTLA Channel 5. We have all grown up listening to them host the telecast...and when they demoted Stephanie from the broadcast box to the streets in 2006? Remember that LA?! Stephanie in the freaking rain on the streets? Oh...Los Angeles natives were pissed. If that happened today, there would be a change.org petition and a Twitter #bringstephanieback campaign.) Do you watch the Rose Parade where you are? It's tradition in my house to watch it - the floats really are a huge production of countless volunteer hours in a cold storage area and they come out just beautiful. And they smell great. Although I've lived in Los Angeles my whole life, I've never seen it live on the streets of Pasadena...maybe one day!

Anyway, after watching the cool Public Storage float (with the cool aliens driving off the float), marching bands, lots of flowers, and the first same-sex marriage (congratulations newlyweds Aubrey and Danny!), I was off to my friend JustJenn's house for her annual Oshogatsu New Year's Day party!

There was soooo much to eat! Some traditional (you need to eat certain beans and fish for longevity and good luck) and some a reflection of our Los Angeles-Southern California-Japanese-Hawaiian influenced lifestyles. It was all delicious! Go to JustJenn's blog later to find details and recipes.

Footballs! I mean, inari sushi from Gardena's Sakae Sushi - old school sushi the way your grandma used to make it. And Jenn made Spam Musubi - yummy!

I sat really close to the buffet table and kept reaching over for more of these bacon wrapped shrimp with adorable cherry blossom picks.

Remember all that plain mochi my family made last Saturday? Well, here it is in a bowl of ozoni - a special soup eaten on New Year's Day to bring you a year full of good times.

Mochi filled with sweetened red beans (recipe here) and JustJenn also filled some of them with Nutella (recipe here)

I brought a Broken Glass Jello Bundt (recipe here) Bundt love in the New Year!

JustJenn's delicious Chocolate Pumpkin Mochi Cake (recipe here). Yes, you CAN have mochi a million different ways!

Thanks Jenn for inviting me once again to your delicious lunch with your extended family. It's wonderful to see them all again and talk about our love of See's Candy.

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you have a delicious 2014!

- mary the food librarian

Mochi Making 2013 - My Family's Annual Mochitsuki

Mochitsuki 2013

Making thousands of mochi for New Year's with my family and friends

On Saturday, it was time for my family's annual Mochi Making day! We thought they started this tradition in 1955, but my dad remembers it even earlier - sometime after they returned to the Los Angeles area after World War II (the family was interned in Jerome, Arkansas and Gila River, Arizona because they were Japanese American) so it was probably even before 1955. It is a long family tradition to make mochi for the New Year.

I've posted about our mochi day on the blog several times, and my friend JustJenn writes about joining us and then making all the yummy Japanese New Year's foods (along with some Southern California Japanese American classics). Here is a pictorial view of my family's mochi day that included many special friends and guests - including my friends from Connecticut who were adopted into the family immediately.

Mochitsuki making posts:  2012, 2011, 2010, 2008, 2007

130 pounds of rice. So much rice. It's a Koda Farm California special premium sweet rice that has beautiful large kernels. After soaking overnight, it is steamed and then placed in a grinder with extruder. The pounded rice that comes out is boiling hot.

After it comes out of the machine, a catcher quickly rolls it into a ball and places it on a tray. This year, we debuted a new system - Muffin Tins! This kept our mochi more consistent. Over the last few years, our mochi was spreading out too much, resulting in a too thin mochi. The muffin tins solve that problem! And yes, that was me at Target mid-day buying up all their tins.


Here is a quick little Instagram video of the process I made:

The mochi cool for a bit in the tray and then are placed on a table sprinkled with mochiko powder (rice flour). Yes, there are six tables (each 6 foot long) covered in plastic for this process...and it keeps repeating itself all day!

The cool mochi are gathered up and await packaging into boxes for delivery to friends and relatives.

Photos can't really detail how many hands you need for this operation. It's a full-on production line. We have a minimum of 20 people working a shift at a time - from kids to grandparents!

And what happens when we take a break? We eat!

There are two tables of savories. All Japanese American gatherings in Los Angeles have a boatload of Mexican food. We had two types of enchiladas, chili and tamales (that we cooked in the rice steamer - so fusion, no?) I made a ton of Spam Musubi - always a favorite. I'll post the recipe and details soon. My aunt makes a killer Chinese Chicken Salad and my cousins made awesome Kalbi BBQ beef. And then there was the Mac and Cheese, Chow Mein, Fried Chicken, Sushi, Sushi Rice with Toppings, another homemade chili, and much much more. You didn't go hungry!

But you have to save room for dessert too!

JustJenn's famous red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting

Cousin Emily's homemade cookies

Auntie Linda's delicious cookie tray

We picked up some sweetened mochi from Fugetsu-do Japanese confectionery store

JustJenn also made a delicious Jello treat

...and we also had some lovely 7 layer Jello too!

The day is long. The preparation is exhausting (my cousin and I need to clear out three rooms of the house), but continuing a tradition to the fourth generation of our family is awesome.

Happy New Year to you and your family! May you have a wonderful 2014 filled with happiness, family and friends!


Note: The mochi we made is NOT sweet mochi - it is a savory, plain mochi mostly used in a special new years soup (ozoni) or toasted and eaten with soy sauce, sugar or soybean powder (kinako).

However, lots of people end up at this post looking for more sweet mochi dishes, so here are a few I've made on the blog:

Dessert mochi treats (gluten free!):
Sweet Mochi with Red Bean Filling (pictured)
Blueberry Mochi Cake
Chocolate Mochi Brownie Squares
Zunda Mochi
Cherry Mochi Cakes
Matcha Mochi Cupcakes


Also, be sure to buy JustJenn's cookbook: Mochi: Recipes from Savory to Sweet! Vol. 1 for more recipes and ideas!

New Year's Oshogatsu at JustJenn's House 2011

Happy New Year! It's Year of the Rabbit in 2011!

My friend JustJenn came over for my family's mochi making and walked away with two trays of mochi. Her kids ate it every morning and night. But the main reason for all the mochi is for ozoni soup on New Year's Day!

Jenn made lots of traditional and not-so-traditional but yummy foods for her annual New Year's Oshogatsu luncheon.

Last year, I got some comments that indicated people thought I made all this food. No. JustJenn made everything unless noted! She is a Oshogatsu machine. I'm sure she'll have lots of good luck in 2011!!!

Check out this spread! JustJenn is amazing!

 

Nothing like a mountain of desserts...that I kept returning to over and over!

JustJenn's mom brought sushi from old school Sakae Sushi. This little store has been around forever, and they don't do cream cheese in their sushi. As if. If your grandma made sushi, this would be the kind. They sell out of their New Year's orders in November.

Traditional foods...read JustJenn's story of shopping for these at the Japanese market.

A few non-traditional, but delicious meats!

Making Ozoni soup. We used the fresh mochi made with my family! You have to drink this soup or you'll be out of luck for the new year. ;)

All the traditional foods have meaning. Eating shrimp will give you long life, somen or soba noodles will give you more long life (see why the Japanese have the greatest life expectancy of any country in the world?!), those black beans give you health and success, and the little fish give you good harvest and wealth.

I brought over some Broken Glass Jello and Cream Puffs...yeah, not so traditional, but fun to eat. JustJenn and I made homemade mochi on New Year's Eve (I'll post about that next) and Jenn made delicious Milk Tea Cupcakes.

Happy New Year everyone! Thanks Jenn for inviting me to your delicious celebration! I hope everyone's new year is filled with peace, love, joy, bundt cakes, mochi, friends and family! :)
- mary the food librarian

P.S. Here is JustJenn's post with links to recipes!!

The Mochi Factory...in Gingerbread by JustJenn

The Mochi Factory Gingerbread House

I hope you and your loved ones had a lovely Christmas! My December consists of:
Dec 7th - My Birthday. Yes, you may have heard about that! :)
Dec 25th - Christmas
Dec 26th - Mochi Making with the family
Dec 31st - New Year's Eve

Every year, my family makes tons and tons of fresh mochi (pounded rice cake) for a Japanese American New Years celebration. I'll post about this year's mochi making next...but on Christmas, my friend JustJenn dropped off the most awesome gingerbread masterpiece! Check it out!

Since she was a little girl, Jenn would make elaborate gingerbread houses with her mom (a librarian). And you wonder how Jenn grew up to become an architect, huh?! Now Jenn makes them with her boys!

See the Mochi conveyor belt in the window! Too cool. The mochi pieces are represented by cut marshmallows.

You can see thru the window and the conveyor belt goes up the side of the house! Jenn draws out ARCHITECTURAL plans for her gingerbread homes. Yes, gotta use that degree for good and yum.

The mochi conveyor belt climbs up the side of the house. The lamp post is a lollipop! The top of the house is covered with chocolate licorice. Awesome!

Did you see this detail? The fish pond is sprinkling sugar and the goldfish is, naturally, a cheese goldfish. Everything is edible! Jenn uses royal icing as her glue.The walkway is a fruit leather and the railings are pretzels.

My whole family was in awe during mochi making! And the kids were good that they didn't pick off all the pieces. Thank you sooo much Jenn for including our family tradition in your gingerbread tradition!!!

** Updated to add JustJenn's post about her Mochi Factory...you have got to click here and see it. It includes the behind the scenes architectural drawings, paper mock up and hints for making your own masterpiece! **
Next post, Mochi making!

Happy New Year at JustJenn's House o' Tradition

JustJenn's New Year's feast!

Happy New Year! Can you believe it is 2010 already? I'm excited that 2010 will include the Winter Olympics (with commercials featuring Morgan Freeman), World Cup, and another season of Glee. Yeah, I'm easy.

My family made a zillion pounds of mochi again last weekend. And by zillion, I mean 250 pounds of mochi. This year, JustJenn and her family came along to visit. And by visit, I mean place themselves in the factory line that is the Food Librarian's family mochi day. Read about it here or here on JustJenn's blogs.

Ozoni - New Years Soup with toasted mochi

So, what do the Japanese do with all that fresh mochi? We make a special soup (ozoni) and pop a toasted mochi in it. It brings you good luck all year. Or at least til tax season. Or until something not so lucky happens. Then you blame the soup.

Jenn goes all out and makes a huge feast. Tradition says that you cook enough for three days...because back in the day the stores in Japan would close so everyone can be with their families. Luckily, we have Trader Joe's, but Jenn did cook enough food for days! It was all so delicious!!

JustJenn's son, The Kid made this sticker for me! I think I'm known as "the lady who has mochi making at her house...along with a bouncy house."

Jenn made her own pink mochi with an (sweetened red beans inside). Recipe here.

Spam musubi. Sure, probably not a traditional dish served in Japan, but our people made it to Los Angeles a long time ago so we have Spam musubi. And who's keeping an eye on the musubi? None other than Johnny Depp Pez. Awesome.

Kamaboko - Fish cake. During New Years, you can get it with all sorts of purdy shapes inside. I'm looking for the George Clooney Kamaboko.

Kinpira Gobo (Burdock Root and Carrots) - Like hella good for you (lots and lots of fiber).
Kurikinton (Sweet Potatoes and Chestnuts) - Giving you good wealth and fortune.

Kuromame (Black Beans) for health and success and Tazukuri (whole little fish) for good harvest and wealth. These are way traditional...and I skip them every. single. year. Looks like I'm outta luck in 2010.

Ise-ebi - Shrimp salad

Jenn makes cute signs with explanations. Yes, she IS the hostess with the mostess.

Edamame in a cute holder.

Lumpia (egg rolls). Yeah, not traditional but who wouldn't want fried rolls of goodness for lunch?!??!

Potato salad. This is the point where I start making up the cultural significance of potato salad... :) Delicious Honey Shoyu Chicken Wings. Recipe here.

Jenn's grandmother (O.G.) made this delicious flank steak before watching the Rose Parade this morning. We had a discussion about watching the Rose Parade every. single. year. without. fail.

Jenn made yummy Root Beer Pulled Pork.

I heart the Satsuma Tangerine. They are my favorite winter citrus. And if the "long life" you get is based on how many you eat, I'm going to live forever.

Of course, JustJenn made a bunch of yummy desserts. Here are the Green Tea Cupcakes with Strawberry Mascarpone Frosting.

Jenn's secret recipe Red Velvet Cupcakes and Broken Glass Jello (here is my post about the Broken Glass Jello)

Whew! It was a delicious feast! THANK YOU so much JustJenn!

Of course, I'm starting my long list of resolutions tomorrow...

Happy New Year to you! Wishing you a great 2010!!! - mary the food librarian

(edited to add JustJenn's top photo! Check out her blog post here)