お餅
I was full of anticipation for this breakfast because I had so little idea of what we would be eating, only that it would be fairly slimy. Before eating, I was told to beware not to choke on my 'mochi' (spelling?) as a lot of old japanese women apparently do. I was wondering why until I tried it and had to keep cool at the table with a large gelatinous lump in my mouth unable to be quite swallowed. After this initial encounter I found myself eating more and more.
It was first hidden within a miso soup, then on its own with soy sauce and then with a sort of sweet soy powder called 'kinako'. I went crazy and tried mixing the two which proved to be equally yummy. Mochi is essentially rice pound into square cakes. Keiko (who prepared the meal) told us about the traditional mochi-pounding ceremony that happens in Japan. It sounds great - I love the idea of rituals based around food. Perhaps more of the food we eat should be symbolic of certain things, or maybe that should just stay with ceremonial meals. It might be time to get out Nigella's 'Feast' and see what festivals are coming up.
The other dishes were sweet potato and chestnut with sherry (Keiko had run out of sake), very salty preserved roe, those white/pink circular pieces of processed fishyness which look like rubbers, and a carrot salad. Thank you to 6 Hestercombe for this feast!
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