Day 39 - Family Reunion Cont.

Reunion activities continued including making inarizushi and mochi. The inarizushi is a type of sushi made from seasoned Aburaage tofu pouches. The rice is sushi rice in this case mixed simply with black sesame seeds and packed into the pouches. This was a type of sushi that even young kids like as it is simple and the tofu pouches are a little sweet. making sushi has been a tradition at just about all of the family reunions some more complicated (and expensive) than others.

 Mochi is made from glutenous rice pounded into a smooth paste. This is formed into little patties. In this case, one of my cousins brought their mochi maker, kind of like a specialized Japanese appliance. There was some frozen mochi that was made earlier and this was fried after thawing out. My niece and I took charge of that task. It was a real toss up which I preferred. The slightly toasted crust of the fried version was nice but the freshly made version was very good. I preferred just using a dipping sauce made from sugar and soy sauce.

In this photo, the sushi rice was in the process of being made. The freshly made rice is cooled by fanning and a mixture of rice vinegar and sugar is mixed in. Not enough to make the rice wet but you want a nice shine on the surface. There were plenty there with lots of sushi making experience and it was heartening to see the younger generation there to pick up some of the techniques and learn how to make the sushi rice.

One of the other activities was billed as a short, easy hike but as my cousins son Eric pointed out, it's really difficult to find a "flat" hike in the Columbia gorge. I didn't have my phone or camera on the hike but Bridget did so she may do a post later.

Oragami is another popular activity at the reunion. This was something that my youngest son made in his free time....