MOCHI MOCHI
Pounding the rice treat helps welcome the New Year
FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
John Au, left, and Bert Morikawa pounded mochi yesterday for the New Year, a tradition at the Lums' in Manoa. Family and friends gather for the occasion.
FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Mark Kobayashi turned the mochi in the "usu," a stone pounding bowl, during the pounding process.
FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
The mochi balls were filled, some with peanut butter, and shaped by hand.
FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Clyde Kobayashi carried hot mochi rice from the steamer to the usu.
FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
David Kobayashi stoked the fire of the cooker under the mochi rice steamers. The "kine," mallets for pounding, made of guava wood, soaked in buckets of water.
