Mochi Master Prompt

It isn’t too long before Arizona finds herself yet again standing outside the door of Dan’s confectionary shop. Her dango lessons prove successful beyond measure; not only has she found a comfortable routine in making mitarashi dango, she has begun to dabble in other tastes and flavors. Victoria has been more than pleased with her newfound skills and has even requested more than once for Arizona to prepare some dango to take in to work with her and share with the office. Taking the dango class was step one in a newfound confidence. Now, it was time for an even bigger leap forward.

The bell chimes as she pushes inside the front door. She is once again captivated by the sweet scent of rice cakes in the air. Arizona strides around to the swinging-side door on the counter but does not push her way through just yet. As soon as Dan comes towards the front to check the bell, he spots her and silently waves her back for their next lesson.

She fights the anxiety in her stomach again, though a deeper part of her rumbles in anticipation for Dan’s culinary wisdoms. He agreed to teach her how to make his signature mochi treats which require much more difficult, dedicated work and attention to perfect. It would be a lie to say she wasn’t considerably more worried about making a mess of these than the dango.

Arizona washes her hands thoroughly in the sink, dries them, and joins Dan at the same table as before. He has already made preparations for their class including washing and soaking the rice that they would be using overnight. Her eyes scan the table of ingredients before them. Though there seem to be less ingredients to muddle the recipe it is a given that his traditional style of preparation included labor intensive kneading. Hopefully she wouldn’t grow too tired of the physical exertion.

“Ready?” Dan eyes her in serious regard. At her prompt nod he launches into a precise explanation of what they would be doing. There was definitely cooking to be done though there would be lengths of time where the rice would be left to steam, and then kneading of the dough until the mochi could be shaped properly.

“Which mochi do you want to make?” Dan waves a hand over to his display of flavored ingredients and candied toppings. Arizona eyes the glitters, the sprinkles, and all intriguing varieties of decorated toothpicks that she recognizes from the menu photos at the front. She takes her time deliberating before settling on the perfect one.

“Chocolate sprinkle, please!” Arizona claps her hands together with glee. “My ribbow stole a bite of mine once and became the cutest little dessert. It’s a bit of a special mochi at our house.”

Dan nods with a grunted confirmation; it was impossible to keep buns and imps alike away from sneaking bites of his treats. He grabs the appropriate food coloring for the rice as well as the shaker of chocolate sprinkles from his display shelf.

“Let’s get started then.”

As they work, Arizona again fills the silence with her idle chatter. She talks about anything and everything; from Victoria’s funny office stories to everything her ribbow gets up to in their apartment. Before she knows it the rice has been steamed and is ready for kneading. While Dan busies himself scattering an obscene amount of cornstarch onto their table, Arizona is tasked with preparing the mochi dough for their next step.

It takes what seems like ages, and sporadic whining complaints from Arizona, before the dough is finally kneaded appropriately and ready to be dusted on the table. Dan provides a dough cutter and cleaves the piece in two for them both to make haste in their preparation. Arizona works diligently until all of their dough has been shaped and ready for the filling.

The chocolate paste has already been made in advance, though Dan takes the time to talk Arizona through its easy preparation, as they both work to fill their chocolate sprinkle mochis. Dan provides a canister of whipped cream for her to top their creations before following after her with his shaker of mixed chocolate sprinkles.

They stand back together and Arizona eyes the table full of mochis with a proud twinkle in her eye. Dan invites her to taste their treats with a wave of his hand, before moving to take one himself and biting into it heartily. Arizona hops with glee at the sweet taste filling her mouth. It isn’t long before she has finished a set of mochi and is asking, again, for a take-home box for Victoria.

Dan packs up their mochis during more of Arizona’s chatter and thanks. Though making mochi isn’t exactly what she sees herself doing often, the experience of learning under his watchful eye and expertise is truly priceless.

The door chimes as she waves her exit and soon she is on her way home with her hard-earned mochi leftovers.

word count: 835