Last night, I thought I should finish some of the old ricecake
that I bought last year!
When I was a girl, rice cakes were not packed individually
like you see in the picture above,
so they used to go moldy in several days.
But there was no problem back then, because
most people got together with family and relatives for
New Year holidays and they eat lots of mochi (rice cake) for day after day.

But now, our lifestyle has been changed.
Many young people think less of family gatherings and they
tend to do something more fun, because one-week holiday
is very precious to most of workers.
Plus, most grocery stores and all convenience stores are open
even on the New Year's Day.
We don't have to persist in eating preservable food any more.

(but still, mochi plays very important roll for Japanese New Year season
even today. Most people enjoy this traditional food in January.)

Anyway, these days, most mochi pieces come with individual package,
usually 10-20 pieces in one big package.




This time, I toasted them in the toaster.
(** by the way, I often feel complicated with the words between
toast, grill, and bake....in Japanese, there is only one same word for these!)



Usually mochi rises much bigger than these.
I guess they were too old and dried inside : (
Well, these were the ones I bought in the beginning of last year, so... oh well : (
They don't seem very soft nor sticky.
I think I should have cooked it in the boiling water instead of toasting.



I made very simple, instant sauce for my mochi.
Sugar + soy sauce.
Butter + soy sauce makes also good sauce.
Grated raddish + soy sauce or Sesame paste + sugar would be good, too.

Mochi can be cooked in many ways.
Toast, fly, deep fly, cook in the soup..whatever.

I think I will make mochi by myself and eat it before it gets too old!!



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