Mochi pounding

Saturday, we participated in a Japanese New Year tradition: mochi pounding. Mochi is a rice cake.


Sweet rice is steamed, then pounded with a huge wood hammer in a large wooden bucket that looks a bit like a hollowed-out stump.


It was amazing to watch the perfect timing of the man who pounded with the hammer and the woman who turned the mochi and added water between hammer strokes.



The crowd shouted out encouragement at each stroke of the mallet.

After awhile, they invited the spectators to help with the pounding, so the kids joined in. Tommy and Patrick exhibited some excellent pounding skill.


It's harder than it looks.

That hammer is heavy!


John helped, too.


When the pounding is finished, the mochi is made into a large ball,



coated in rice flour, stretched, and rolled flat,


then cut into rectangles.


Sometimes it is made into a ball or wrapped around a bamboo stick to make a tube. Mochi can be fried or boiled to hold the cakes together. Often it is added to a special New Year soup called zoni. Zoni was the soup the sisters made for us at Akita a couple of weeks ago. It is full of beautifully chopped vegetables and sometimes chicken or another meat: warm and satisfying.

Despite the cold and snow (it was -4 C/24 F with a brisk wind), the mochi pounding took place outside. Inside the nursing home, they were serving delicious zoni. We went in for a few minutes to visit.

Bundled up in her pink bunting, Meghan charmed residents and visitors alike. It was nice that she got to exhibit her best skill, too. :-)

First Day of Winter

Except for one day in the middle of November, we haven't had any snow to speak of. Apparently, the weather was checking the calendar. Here's what happened last night. :-)

Playhouse

Front yard

Back yard

Sledding anyone?

Happy Birthday, Patrick!

17!


You are a gift to us, Patrick. May God grant you many years!

Have you ever...

From The Wine-Dark Sea. I had to do it too, because of number 56. :-)

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland (if Disney World counts)
8. Climbed a mountain (a pretty small, East coast mountain)
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch (counted cross stitch)
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables (I miss having a garden)
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France (rather anticlimactic)
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse (only a partial one one summer in Illinois)
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset (the first one was in Colorado at YMCA of the Rockies)
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors (Ireland and Germany, although not the specific towns)
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language (trying anyway: a little Latin, and I'm working on Japanese-v-e-r-y slowly)
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo's David
41. Sung karaoke (in the French Quarter in New Orleans with Nancy)
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance (twice)
47. Had your portrait painted (well, not painted, but an artist in the French Quarter did a drawing)
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie (if a pilot for a TV show counts)
56. Visited the Great Wall of China (climbed over 1,000 steps at the Ju Yong Pass)
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated , platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check (oops!)
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy (Judy doll)
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London (pretty sure)
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life (as a lifeguard at the pool)
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous (Seamus Heaney, Muhammed Ali, George & Barbara Bush--in a receiving line at the American Embassy in Ankara)
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake (saw it, it was stinky, no swimming, thanks)
97. Been involved in a law suit (only as the attorney)
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day (lots!)

Japanese martyrs

188 Japanese martyrs were canonized in Nagasaki at the end of November. We wanted so much to be there, but couldn't get it worked out.

Fr. Finigan has their story at his blog here. It's inspiring.

On our way

We left for Beijing on Wednesday morning, Joseph's birthday.


He spent the day riding trains, mostly the Shinkansen.


Not a bad birthday for an 8-year-old.


We stopped for water bottles at one of Japan's ubiquitous vending machines.
It takes about 4 hours by train to get to Tokyo from Misawa, so we ate lunch when we first got on the train and were ready for dinner by the time we checked in for our flight at Narita airport. Luckily, we have a favorite curry restaurant there. It's sort of a tradition to stop there to eat on our way out of the country now.


Meghan wasn't hungry. Just sleepy.


A quick, four-hour flight later and we were in Beijing. We got to the hotel around midnight and crashed. Our wake-up call was 7 a.m. I woke up a little early and was able to take a few photos from the hotel window.

There wasn't much to see. Just a lot of buildings. Mostly buildings that looked like the ones in any other city in the world.


With a population of 9,532,000, Beijing is the ninth-largest city in the world.


Ah, finally, something unusual atop a neighboring hotel.


Hopefully, the rest of the day will yield better photos.

6 months

How fast she has grown!

June 4, 2008

December 4, 2008

Beijing for Thanksgiving

Our trip to China has reminded us to be thankful for

1. central heating
2. potable water
3. clean air
4. soft beds
5. being born in a republic

That said, it was an amazing, wonderful, exhausting trip. We are still recovering. Photos to come.