So
today is December 30, 2012! Which means the New Year is coming around! In Japan Christmas isn’t as big but, New Year
is HUGE!! I’m with my new host family
who also happens to live in the country and I love it! I have two sisters, one older, one younger! They have very kind neighbors!! We had crab
last night which is like a special food that they eat for the New Year! My host mom is awesome!! I absolutely love this family! My host mom has been explaining each thing
to me and if I don’t understand she’ll help me understand in English! So the big reason I wrote was because I got
to help make おもち read as Omochi which the Japanese tend to call it rice
cakes! It was a long day I have lots of pictures! So I will explain as they
come up! ENJOY! J
Omochi is a product of rice!
This is the machine they use to get the rice to the right
consistency!
It was all steamed and that meant it was almost ready!
Our Lunch table was all set! Guess what we ate! おもち！！:D
That is what it looked like!
This was another machine (you crank it by hand) that will
push pieces of it out!
There it is the first batch! That was coming straight from
the yellow machine! J
They were putting pieces of it in Daikon (spelling?) and it
had soy sauce with it!
From left to right; our neighbor, my host dad, my host mom!
My host dad offered to take some pictures! From left to
right; our neighbors daughter, me, host mom, and younger host sister!
Neighbors’ Daughter, me and Host sister! J I’m learning! J
Flattening it and rolling it!
Putting あんこ in おもち,
instead of just “Omochi” it then becomes a sweet!
The ladies! J
From left to right; Me, Host mom, Neighbors’ mother, neighbor, and host sister
おもち！！！
This is the final product!! These aren’t the sweet ones!!
This is おもち in soy bean powder with sugar! It
is considered a sweet too! It was soo yummy!
This is the daikon (spelling?) with soy sauce Omochi! It was
good but a little spicy!
Here is another picture of the plain ones but instead of
eating it plain, you ripped it up and put it in the bowl behind it and then ate
it! (In the bowl is soy sauce!)
This is the neighbors’ daughter who will be going to
Georgia to college for 6 months! She speaks really good English! J
The picture below: This is the second batch! J
Here is another picture, of the second batch coming from the
Machine!
Here it is! : P with the neighbors! J
The neighbors!! From left to right: Daughter, Mom, and Dad
あんこ (pronounced unko) this is a sweet bean kind of paste
filling we used!
The beginning of A LOT!!
My host sister who is a year younger than me!
The Big おもち！ They are
used like statues to wish good health and happiness in the coming year!
A LOT!!
Bean paste ones!! (The sweets!)
A LOT!
The machine!
My host dad added some of these beans into one because we
ran out of the bean paste!
Aren’t they PRETTY?!
CLOSE UP!!
In between we had to wait awhile and so the neighbors’ daughter
was working on a flower arrangement piece for the house and I got to watch her!
It was so much fun! And ended up so pretty!!
The berries were nice and bright and add nice color to the
piece!
Still in the process!
The pretty white flowers!
Having fun with my camera!
Again! : P
Again!
The berries! They were soo pretty!
Again!
Almost done!
Oh another batch had to go help!! Yes that is steam coming
off it!! IT was extremely hot!!
YESS!! IT IS DONE!! AND SOO PRETTY!!
The last batch (I think!) SOO MANY!!
Neighbors’ Daughter! Hahaha!!
The neighbors’ mother! Making our “snowman” (that’s what it
looks like!)
Again!!
While we did everything the phones were left behind!! Can you
imagine?! ;)
The soybean powder mixed with some sugar!
Our box of Omochi
The lucky “statue” that I talked about before!
Again!
The Neighbors’’ father doing the dishes! J
The hall almost back to normal! J
Well hope you enjoyed the pictures!! Sorry I haven’t been
blogging! I will try to keep up! J
That’s all for now! :) This only one of the many very special things the Japanese do to celebrate and bring in the New Year!! Hope everyone had a good Christmas, and
hope you have a GREAT NEW YEAR!!
I loved learning about making the special rice cakes for the New Year. It looks like a lot of work but a great family time. So glad you had the opportunity. <3
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely love this blog with the photo progression of this process. What a wonderful experience and lots of great memories. Thanks for sharing.
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