Mochi MASTERED!

Dan had sent a personal request to Ione to come over and help with making the mochi as he had abundance of mochi orders that needed help filling out. Not to mention that Ione would be getting a free lesson out of it. A free lesson that would span few days.

He had requested the gluttony to purchase some glutinous short grain rice and bring them over. Ione had agreed and bought the largest package possible because Dan had not specified the size.

Shibani had spat out his milkshake he had been drinking and started giggling loudly which caught Dan's attention and he came out only to gape at the sight of Ione carrying an impressive size of rice package on a shoulder.

"What the fuck? That was NOT what I meant!"
"You didn't specify the size so I got the largest one" Ione shrugged "Where should I put this?"

As Shibani's giggling continued, Dan sighed deeply and led the gluttony into the kitchen where Ione easily set the bag down.

"........I will open this later. I still have a bag with some left in it. Come" Dan jerked his head as he walked to another area in kitchen with Ione easily following.

"We need to start off by washing the rice then soaking it overnight." Dan explained as Ione picked up the open bag with a quarter of rice remaining in it to pour into a large bowl on the counter. It filled up nearly all the way and Ione went to start pouring large cupful of water into the bowl till it was full then began to wash and drain until the water ran clear. The bowl is then filled up with water once again and left to soak.

"We will soak the hammers and mortar as well" Dan explained "So they won't crack when in use or rice sticking to them." They went to put the equipment into water.

"We will be steaming the rice then pounding them tomorrow. Come back then." Ione nodded and left for the evening.
The next day, they returned to drain the bowl of soaking rice, transferred to mesh cloth and set them over a steamer for a half hour or so.

While the rice steamed, Ione and Dan checked the equipment and got them all warming back up again in preparation. Dan also set aside a bowl of water to dip his hands in for when he needed to touch the rice during the pounding stage.

When it was time to start pounding the rice, Shibani came out from the pillow pile to watch the pair fall in easy rhythm with swinging of hammers and turning of rice. Ione had often come over to help pound the rice but Dan had never taken them through the full process until today.

Shibani sat on a stool nearby and hummed with a delighted smile while he watched the tall pair of gluttony and pride dolls swing their hammers and sweating as the rice slowly formed to the way they needed to be: a delicious dough of mochi, ready to be eaten with its chewy properties.
There were bowls of sweetened soybean powder, red bean paste, black sesame paste, and custard; ready to be used.

Oh he was absolutely salivating as he waited patiently for the mochi to be ready. When it finally was ready and had been cut into smaller pieces to be rolled into the sweet powder, with several other pieces being filled with other options.

"This is really delicious!!" Shibani declared as he took a generous bite out of the mochi rolled in sweetened soybean powder as Ione wiped sweat off their forehead.

"It's hard work but it's worth it." Ione nodded as Dan gave them a black sesame paste mochi while taking the red bean paste mochi for himself.

Several more mochi had been prepared and set aside, decadent chocolate, sprinkles and whipped cream for one variation while another variation had some ice cream filling. Ione would bring the ice cream mochi by Citrusy Cream Parlor for Limon to enjoy.

Hard work makes for happy buns who get to feast on them afterwards and to relax with results of what they had produced.

That is why Ione always enjoyed helping Dan out with making his confections.