smash_logs | Delicioussss mochi!

Entry tags:

Delicioussss mochi!

Who: Louie, Espio
What: Making mochi rice cakes~ ~~And maybe more? I forget.~~
Where: Just outside of campus.
When: December 9th

Louie rarely ever made rice cakes. As much as he absolutely adored them and their flavor, he wasn't really the kind of guy to make that very often. Espio making him an offer to, however, spurred him into wanting to do it, and thus, here he was, heading outside to find the chameleon at their designated meeting spot.

How long had it been since he made mochi, actually? He didn't really know. It's been months, maybe even years since he did that, but surely when they started getting to cooking, it'd all come back to him. He was pretty good at remembering recipes, anyway. He felt that any chef should adapt to that kind of ability to be able to recall some recipes at the tops of their heads. He was sure he could do just that today.

Was that drool dribbling down his chin at the thought of the food? I think it is.

((I may be slow on tagging at first because of the LJ notification problem, sorry |D;;))

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Espio had arrived their meeting spot a little too early. In the inside, he was very excited for this. The end of the year was nearing, and it was customary, at least in the Japanese tradition, to eat rice cakes along with a large assortment of food to celebrate the coming year. He was planning to make another new years feast this year too.

But whatever he was feeling in the inside, Espio presented himself being calm and sat on a rock nearby doing his meditation, as Louie arrived.

~~New Year's feast yesssssssssss~~

Louie paused when he found Espio there. He was very, very still, very tranquil and quiet. Was he concentrating on something? Was he trying to think of something? He didn't know at all. Should he present himself or just wait for him to finish? He didn't want to seem rude.

Thus, he did what he did best: he approached Espio from behind and stared at him ~~in an unintentionally creepy way like his icon~~. Espio could probably hear the grass beneath Louie's feet crunch as the Hocotatian approached.

Espio did hear the footsteps approach him and opened his eyes to greet Louie with a smile.

"Greetings. I have prepared the necessary materials and ingredients." He gestured over to the ingredients on a table to mix, along with the rice cake pounder (http://image.rakuten.co.jp/wshop/data/ws-mall-img/genkiworld/img128/img10241379692.jpeg) set on the side.

Espio nimbly hopped off from the rock he was sitting on, quietly landing onto the ground.

"Shall we start cooking?

Louie nodded and approached, looking over at the ingredients. Thankfully, these shouldn't be far too hard. Louie didn't make this dish often, so he might be a bit rusty, but it still shouldn't be difficult.

"Okay," He took the rice flour and paused. "How shall we split the work?"

((Hurr I dunno how they'll do this since I keep finding different ways of doing mochi, so um... lead the way? %D; *sucks at this*))

"I will prepare the pounder ready while you clean and mix the ingredients." Espio responded as he got a thermos out that contained boiled water. "I had soaked the rice last night, so all that is left is to drain the water and heat them up under a fire."

He had an electronic stove set on the table next to the ingredients for convenience. The ninja almost brought a manual one where one had to prepare the fire under the stove, but he figured that would take too much time. ~~What a dork.~~

Louie silently nodded, obediently going to work on the ingredients. It took him a little longer than usual, due to his not making these in a good while, but he got it all done. He took the rice, and poured it into a strainer, letting it drain the water within.

"The rice is drained," He spoke, handing it over to Espio to heat up.

"I am finished with heating up the pounder as well." Espio responded with a smile.

"Please have a bowl of warm water ready. I will be doing the pounding, and the materials are rather heavy, so I will not be able to hold it in the air too long."

Espio took a moment to think over what he just said, feeling a little unsure. Hopefully he didn't scare the other one too much...

Louie didn't seem too freaked out. It didn't sound like the best of situations and did worry him, but hey, there were always somewhat more dangerous situations in cooking. He had to be used to that.

He spoke a soft, "... Alright," and prepared a nice bowl of warm water real quick.

"The first few poundings are to grind the rice pebbles, so you do not need to worry until it starts to become sticky." Espio reassured, or at least he tried to.

With a small grunt, the ninja got the pounder hammer(?) up into the air and swung it down towards the wooden bowl(?), causing a loud smash.

"Oops."

Ouch, well... ouch. That was very loud. Was it really that necessary to grind down the rice? Ouch ouch ouch.

Louie's ears drooped, but he uttered an, "... it's okay, keep going." He spectated, waiting on hand and foot for whatever else he'd need to do himself, but right now, he was just waiting for Espio to be done with the rice pounding.

Okay, now that he was getting used to the weight, he'd be able to control the swings a little more now. Espio swung down the pounder a few more times until the rice started to turn into more of a blob. The surface still looked rough with a few rice pieces not fully smashed, so the ninja gave it a few more swings until the smashed rice started sticking to the end.

"I will need your assistance from here, so it will be much easier to keep the mochi round and prevent it from sticking to the pounder." He told the other.

Louie nodded and approached, looking down at the rice in the pounder. "Ah... alright." He looked at Espio, as if confused on what to do next. ~~Essay sucks at this~~ He completely forgot by now what to do at this point. Did it have to do with the warm water?

((Durrr I'm so bad at this sorry %| I had something for better reference but lost the link. orz))

"Dabbing the water onto the mochi will prevent it from sticking onto the wooden hammer, and folding over onto itself will enable any possible ungrounded rice pieces to be hit." Espio said. "It would have to be swift, though, since I am not strong like Knuckles to keep the hammer up in the air for so long."

((Hurr it is okay I am kind of guessing around too |D))

"... Ah," Louie nodded obediently. How did he forget that? He really didn't know. It was a very simple step. Ah well, now he remembered thanks to Espio, so that was all that mattered. He took the warm water into his hands and dabbed the mochi with it, flipping it over a little so that some of the harder, ungrounded pieces could resurface.

He then drew his hand back to let Espio take his hit(s).

Since the amount of rice cakes they were making weren't for a large party, the blob of white was already looking like it was done after only a few more hits. Of course, just looking at it wasn't enough, so as the mochi started to stick onto the hammer Espio paused to let Louie take note of the surface.

"I am guessing we will need to pound it a few more times from how the mochi is becoming smooth... Are there still any rice pieces that are not smashed yet?"

Louie looked at the mochi, flipping it about with his damp hands and speaking, "Only a few more pieces. We are almost done." Thankfully, this was turning out not to take very long, and the pieces were cooperating very well with them.

Oh thank goodness; his arms were starting to get a little numb from holding onto the pounder for so long.

"Alright." Espio responded before letting the hammer fall into the pounder a few more times.

Louie's ear twitched, his eyes locked on the crushed and pounded rice. It was all nice and ready to go, it seemed!

"And now... we must cook it?" That is what he assumed from what he vaguely remembered.

"Indeed. I have also brought a miniature stove to cook on, along with the soy sauce to flavor the mochi while we cook." Espio responded with a smile, gesturing towards a stove by the table as he placed the hammer down onto the floor. Good thing he never slacked off on his daily training, otherwise his arms would ache the next day from holding a heavy hammer for so long.

((And here is to hoping I have this right from my research! 8Db;; If not, um, I'll edit this if need be, or you can have Espio fix Louie's mistakes (since he barely remembers the recipe ... because of my own fail).))

Louie nodded and took the prepared mochi, taking it over to the stove and sticking it into a pan with a little water. He turned it on low heat to let it cook, and looked over to his friend.

"And now... the soy sauce?"

((It is okay, there are different ways to heat them up o3ob))

Mmm, the faint scent of mochi cooking. He almost couldn't wait to have a taste. Almost was the keyword here; he wasn't some pink floating ball who ate everything that stood in his way.

"Yes, just enough to cover the top."

((Okay sweet! <3))

Louie was also very pleased with the scent of the rice cake deliciousness before him. That was, at least, if that dribble dripping down his mouth was enough conspicuous evidence of this.

He nodded, very much mesmerized by the simmering sticky solution. He dabbed the tops of the mochi pieces with the soy sauce, quickly covering up the tops of them. He did it quite well, too. These would surely taste delicious!

"...Perhaps it is ready to be served..." Espio responded, his eyes set on the rice cakes. He could just taste the delicious sweetness...

"... They seem to be ready," Louie nodded, beginning to remove the mochi from the pot. He shifted it a little in the bowl with a spoon and took note of the texture, the solidity, the way it looked, and everything else that he needed to. It seemed to be ready to go, that was for sure! It held its own unique fragrance, being such a savory rice dish unlike any other.

Okay, now Louie was REALLY drooling.

Edited 2010-01-06 01:57 (UTC)

Espio already had his chopsticks ready. He picked out a couple from the pan for himself and let the scent travel to his ~~horn~~ nose.

"Ah, it is done quite nicely." Espio replied as he took a bite out of one of the rice cakes. Or at least he tried to say; the rice cake was so nicely done that it seemingly stretched forever, making it hard to chew.

Louie decided then that he just had to try it. It definitely looked very stretchy, which probably would make each bite take a while longer to swallow due to its difficulty with chewing. He didn't mind, though, because once he tasted it, his mind went to a whole 'nother world.

He just stared. He chewed, he savored, he stared.

It probably looked pretty freaky, but he was in heaven right now.

It was a pretty freaky sight, indeed. Espio eyed the other as he slowly ate his rice cake, but didn't say anything about it. Unlike certain people, Espio wasn't the type who would go out of his way and bug into other people's business. He hadn't had any meals with Louie before; perhaps this was how the other enjoyed his meals.

So he kept quiet as he continued to enjoy his rice cakes. It did feel a bit awkward seeing Louie just stare off into space like that, though.

Louie just continued to stare, his eyes bugged out in a stupor of 'oh wow this is really delicious stuff'. He just munched like that for a few minutes before finally paying attention to his surroundings again.

"... I must make this more often."

Espio didn't know Louie's eyes could do that. He slowed down on his eating as he just watched the other eat. He blinked when he heard the other speak.

"Yes, it would be pleasant to have another day to make rice cakes again." Espio responded, smiling, as he resumed eating.

Louie nodded and continued to feast on his rice cakes. It really didn't take him far too long to finish, although his time was about as stretched out as the mochi itself in comparison to how fast he usually ate. He has a huge appetite, what can he say?

"... I think I'm done now."

Espio was in the middle of finishing his second rice cake when he heard the other speak.

"...Are you sure? There are still quite a few left."

Even he could easily consume about four of them.

"Perhaps... I may save some," Louie spoke, and then paused. "Though you can have the rest." He was no longer all that hungry for now ~~even if that'd probably only last a few minutes~~.

~~Plus Essay can't think of much else for them to do, blagh.~~

"Ah, there are a little too much for me to keep. If they're wrapped and frozen, they can last for quite a bit." Espio responded with a small laugh. "So if you'd like, you can keep some for later as well."

"Ah... thank you," Louie responded gladly, taking some of the rice cake deliciousness and separating them into two bowls. He would take his own half, and wrap the mochi up and store it as soon as possible.

"... I will see you later," He waved and nodded, giving off a silent 'thank you' in his direction.

"You are welcome. See you around, Louie." Espio responded with his smile before going to his equipment to clean and put away. It wasn't so bad cooking something up with another person...!

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Delicioussss mochi!

(It is okay, I am slower |D)

Re: (It is okay, I am slower |D)

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totally winging this process haha

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i suck with terminology

Re: i suck with terminology

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not so much as the icon

lmao it's the best icon

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End tag...? idk :c