making mochi
the journal of Michael Werneburg
twenty-seven years and one million words
This morning's festivities began with an extended barbeque and mochi-making party. The weather was absolutely perfect, with clear blue skies and warm temperatures that gradually climbed to about twenty degrees. I have to say I've become a huge fan of home-made bacon.
But the main attraction was the mochi-making of course. Mochi starts life as sticky rice. It's slowly ground in an oversized hammer and bowl into a thick tacky lump similar to bread dough. This is then repeatedly hammered in the same wooden bowl. And by hammered, I mean everyone takes turns taking overhand swings with a wooden mallet that weighs about 5-10 kilograms and stands about 50cm tall. It has a metre-long handle and is a properly-finished wooden tool, not just a simple block of rough wood. The bowl is a thick block of wood carved from a tree-stump and reinforced with metal bands.
The hammering continues until the mochi has reached a consistency similar to chewing gum. One or (more person) swings the hammer, and another person kneeds the dough with wet hands. They do this in synchronized turns that take some timing.
In the past I'd done this with three or four people swinging away, but at this family event it was solo. The amount of rice being smashed was also considerably smaller than in the group efforts I've attended in the past. But I hadn't quite dialed it down enough to compensate, and my first few blows shot straight through the rice. Looking at some of the photos later in the evening I could see why. Once again my oversized nature in this country was the factor. I was hammering from a higher height and with a much longer arc thanks to my longer wingspan.
The barbeque gave way to an indoor event as the afternoon waned, and we continued eating and drinking 'til about nine thirty. Then we headed back to Maki-and-Norichan's place and took it easy for an hour or so before turning in.
It was then that I made a terrible discovery while browsing the lego.com website. The good folks at LEGO have released software allowing you to design your own lego kits.
The idea is simple, and I think it's a winner. Users design their own sets upload these to the community website established for the purpose. They can then purchase their kits, which are mailed to them. And they can buy each other's sets, too, and even download those designs and work on them for re-upload. The LEGO people in turn own the rights to any designs uploaded, and to any ideas contained in those designs. They can turn around and sell your design as a product, or take any clever bits of engineering they like and incorporate those in future products.
As someone with a LEGO tattoo, I have to say that this is simply great.
I set about designing something immediately. It's based on the space LEGO sets of the 70's (as is my tattoo) and I intend to do the following:
- post the design to the LEGO section of my website
- write some short stories based on the set
- link to the place on the lego.com site where you can buy the kit