pounding the mochi!

We have been dying for a true mochi experience since we arrived in Japan. We LOVE mochi and have been known to prepare it many different ways (check out other mochi posts here & here). When we interviewed at Ella's school and discovered they held a mochi pounding event we were over the moon! In fact, I'm pretty sure they were creeped out by our excitement. Flash forward to last weekend and we finally got our chance to pound the mochi!

The fathers took turns pounding steamed rice in a large mortar & pestle while the teachers splashed warm water to keep the rice moist. After the rice was pounded into a smooth ball they removed it and placed it on a table of flour. While the kids got to pull the mochi apart and roll it into balls the parents prepared the edible mochi for eating. We made balls of warm mochi covered in soy bean power (which is also amazing on vanilla ice cream). We also dipped warm mochi into (soy?) sauce and rolled it in seaweed. In the end we all sat around the table and feasted on mochi, tea and pickled cabbage.

It was a great experience and as always, the cute babies running around in tiny people aprons and bandanna's made it all the more enjoyable!