Mochi 2.0 - Microwave Mochi Recipe for New Years

As a Sansei child, my Japanese American parents use to buy white Mochi for eating on New Years Day (for good luck). I enjoyed eating it with sugar and soy sauce but other family members ate it with just soy sauce or in a soup.

I now live in South Florida and after several hours of searching for a place to buy the Mochi, I gave up. So I gave my Yonsei daughter a box of Mochiko and a recipe I pulled from the Internet. Shortly thereafter, I was invited back into the kitchen to taste her Mochi 2.0 which was made with the box of Mochiko, a Microwave Oven and Convection Oven.

Microwave Mochi 2.0 Recipe
Here is a recipe for making Mochi for New Years using Mochiko Flour in your Microwave and Convection ovens. You should plan to eat it the same day.

To Make:
1 cup Mochiko sweet rice flour (glutinous rice flour)
1 cup water

Katakuriko or corn starch for dusting.

1. Mix Mochiko and water.
3. Put in a microwaveable dish. Cover with plastic wrap.
4. Microwave on high for 6-8 minutes (depending on the power of your microwave). Take off plastic wrap. Cool for a few minutes. Cut using the cornstarch sparingly.

To Eat:
Heat up convection oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Place the cake in the oven until it puffs and becomes golden brown.

Serve it with Sugar and Soy Sauce.

Serena Williams and Asian Lineswoman at the US Open

Ugh, this is horrible. Serena Williams gets a bad call from this Asian Lineswoman at the U.S. Open and the match ends with the call. I've read some of the blogs and as an Asian American I am horrified at the racism toward Asians. If a Black or White referee made a call in NBA basketball, you wouldn't hear the referee was Black or White yet, it would just be another bad call. To make matters worse, it was a very close call at a very crucial moment in the match.

Also as a Japanese American, I also think, I wonder if the lineswoman is Japanese or Japanese American like me. I try and stop myself at that thought, it really shouldn't matter, any racism toward a person of any color is offensive. I am also disappointed at Serena for how she handled the situation with this particular lineswoman of Asian ethnicity. I am also disappointed in the Asian lineswoman for the way she handled the situation as well as the Umpire in the match.

I really hope the blogging community will step up and deter any bloggers from making racist comments against Asians regarding this issue. This was one tennis match and one linesperson and one close call to make.

Ogawa is a Common Last Name in Japan

According to Wikipedia and a study done on all the Japanese Yellow Pages for the past three years, my last name "Ogawa" is the 31st most common surname or last name in Japan. The top ten are:

• Sato
• Suzuki
• Takahashi
• Tanaka
• Watanabe
• Ito
• Yamamoto
• Nakamura
• Kobayashi
• obayashi

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_common_surnames

BTW, the 31st most popular last name in the United States is Young based on the 2000 U.S. Census. Here is the top ten last names in the United States.
Smith

• Johnson
• Williams
• Brown
• Jones
• Miller
• Davis
• Garcia
• Rodriguez
• Wilson

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_common_surnames#United_States

Asian Facial Features

Here is a link to a site about Asians and facial features.

http://cut.awardspace.info/2008/08/asian-facial-features-by-country.html

Website: Test, can you tell the difference?

Here is a site with Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Filipino and Indonesian men and women. Can you tell the difference?

AsianIQ.com
http://www.asianiq.com/

How To Tell One Asian From The Other

Here's a video from some Fresno State University students on how to tell one Asian from the Other. There is a horrible stereotype that "all Asians look alike".