Boy's/Chidren's Day 2012-- Grocery Store Options

 snack display (some of this is on the bottom shelf)

 kashiwa mochi  (old post)

shobu (old post)

Click on the labels below for more information about Boy's/Children's Day.

Year of the Rabbit

Aunt brought us this mochi from the grocery store. Inside, there is potato paste (sweetened mashed potatoes) that was dyed pink. It is supposed to look like rabbits. Four little rabbits huddle in a plastic hutch.

There was a time (not too long ago) when things were never sold in fours. In pairs, threes or fives, but not fours. Four is an unlucky number because the word in Japanese (shi) is the same sound as the word for death.

Times are changing. Big Sister told me that some people are saying that shi (four) should be considered as a short form for shiawase which means happiness. It will be interesting how much this changes. Gift packs are still being sold in pairs or threes or fives.

Scroll to see earlier posts about mochi or click on the label below. Click here to read about the number 4.

Oshiruko, A Winter Japanese Dish of Beans and Rice

Atsuki beans can be bought dried or canned. They are used in a rice dish eaten on special occasions, sekihan, and to fill glutinous rice cakes or mochi. A bowl of sweetened atsuki beans are also served with mochi in them. Those things that look bars of soap are the glutinous rice cakes before they are cooked. After they are heated they become gooey. They should be eaten carefully.

Click on the labels below to see other posts about mochi and sekihan.

Kagami Mochi

Yesterday, Baba asked us to buy one of these. We ended up with three. I bought one for us upstairs and she had asked Aunt to buy one, too. Kagami Mochi is displayed at this time of year. It will be eaten in ozoni, a vegetable and meat soup. The mikan on top is plastic.

Check out Kids Web Japan-- Kagami Mochi

Click here for mikan.

Click on the label below for more posts about the New Year holiday in Japan.

Different Kinds of Mochi

Mochi, glutinous rice, on a stick is called dango. These are bigger and are flatter than usual. Dango are usually small round balls of mochi. There is no adzuki bean paste in them.

These were toasted next to charcoal. Click to enlarge the picture and you may be able to see the flame.

This was at Jindai Botanical Gardens.

This looks like bars of soap, but they are bars of mochi. This kind of mochi is available by the bag at the grocery store. It is put in azuki beans to make oshiruko. Click on the "snacks" label to see a picture of that. This mochi can also be grilled on the stove. Little Brother likes to put it in the microwave. It puffs up. He eats it with soy sauce and nori, sheets of dried seaweed.

This is sweet potato mochi. Before it is cooked, it looks like the mochi in the picture above. Mochi is really gummy and sticky. Children and old people are warned to be careful while eating it. It can be a choking hazard.

Decorative Mochi

This New Year's decoration was for sale at a department store. It is quite elaborate. Today is the day to put it away.

This mochi is used as part of the decoration. It is sold at grocery stores before and during the holidays. This one is the size of Little Brother's palm. (He's ten years old.) Today is the day to eat the mochi.

Kids Web Japan--kagamimochi