We flew down to the Los Angeles area yesterday for our annual visit with my family. Today was mochitsuki, where family gets together to make rice cakes for the New Year. Afterwards, Melody, Tynor, and I drove back to Lyon Supply to have dinner with my parents and my Aunt Frances, and we got a chance to see how empty the store looked.
Since my parents needed to work on the store, this is the first year they've both missed mochitsuki that I can ever remember (my mom couldn't make it last year because she had an appointment with her oncologist). Melody, Tynor, and I gathered what we hoped was all the stuff we needed and headed to my cousins' house where the event is held (it used to be in my parents' garage, but one year they couldn't get it cleared out in time, so my cousins graciously offered to host, and it's been there ever since). Here are a few photos from the day. More photos from when mochitsuki was at my parents' house are on the Mochi page. I'll eventually merge some of these photos onto there, too.
Around the cutting/forming table
Cutting the mochi
Rice grinder
Cranking the rice cutter
Moving mochi through the cooling tables
At the an (sweet bean) table
Packaging cooled mochi
Making an mochi (with sweet beans inside)
Putting steamed rice into the grinder
Finished mochi ready to pack
Rice being steamed
We went to Lyon Supply afterwards, and this was my first look at the store since they started moving things across the street. A lot of progress has been made, and we'll start helping tomorrow.
Empty, center bay of Lyon Supply; used to have portfolios, easels, etc.
Lyon Supply front entrance; used to be pencils/pens, paints, books, engineering, etc.