MOCHI TSUKI

　One of the great New Year traditions in Japan is a Mochi Tsuki, or ricecake making party. Fresh rice cake is usually included in many of the soups and sweets eaten over the holiday, and even though it can be made by machine it’s much more fun to get together and do it in the old fashioned way. It provides our guests a chance to experience some Japanese culture and also gives them a chance to meet some of the locals they might not come in contact with on the ski slopes. So for the second year in a row we invited all of our friends to join us for a party.

　Special Mochi rice gets steamed and then the fun begins. Several batches of the steamed rice are placed in a large mortar carved from a tree trunk, and everyone takes turns pounding it to a smooth consistency with a huge hammer-shaped pestle. The person swinging the hammer and the one turning the rice cake over between swings have to develop a rhythm to avoid sore fingers and hurt feelings. Luckily this year passed without any accidents.

　The final event was to enjoy making some of the fresh mochi into sweets which everyone shared. The rest will be used to make dumplings for Ozoni, the traditional New Year’s soup, and as decorations called kagami mochi.

SKK Ltd.