at New Year's

Happy new year!
I stayed in my parents' home during the holiday.

At the end of the year, my relatives got together at my uncle's and made plenty of rice cakes for New Year's Holidays.

This is a kind of rice cake called "mame-mochi" (bean rice cake) because black beans are inside it.
"mame" means bean and "mochi" is rice cake.



This is so hard that you cannot eat without heating up.
White one has no bean.

Then, I baked it.
Mochi expands when baked.

And it gets tender.
You can extend it easily.


Rice is most important food for Japanese.
So rice cake is the fertility symbol.
And rice cake represent longevity because it extend longer.

Thus, mochi is eaten at New Year's as auspicious food.