Rice Pounding

It's that time of the year again, where people get together to whack glutinous rice with a mallet.
Freshly pounded rice cakes (mochi) coated with toasted soya bean powder;
Mochi wrapped in seaweed;
Mochi in oshiruko (sweet red bean soup);
And mochi in ozouni (savoury soup)...
I was in mochi mochi heaven...

I don't usually bring my camera to school, so I had to make do with the ones provided by the school for student use...

[Left: The PTA showing us how to do it. Right: The PTA Mochi-Making Army.]

 [The set-up for roasting sweet potatoes.]

[Left: Mochi dunked in soya sauce and wrapped in seaweed. Right: Toasted soya bean powder-coated mochi.]

[Roasted sweet potato.]

[Osekigohan a.k.a. red bean glutinous rice.]

[Left: Mochi in ozouni. Right: Red bean soup with mochi.]