when i was approached with the idea of doing a mochi tweetup, i honestly didn’t think people would come out during dinner time just for mochi. i love my tweet tweet pals & thought it would be a fun opportunity to cook for them too. that, plus being shy & feeling more at home in a kitchen than in a room full of people—and a poor case of time management (which i’m working on =p — i really didn’t plan on showing up THAT late) contributed to my not arriving at little oven until well into the tweetup. i figured the effervescent Traci Toguchi was already the perfect hostess & since Junie & Sara I. had taken care of set-up, my presence wasn’t needed early on. i can’t tell you how awesome it was to be greeted by a room full of old & new twitter friends when i walked in the door. seriously, all the fatigue from a relatively sleepless weekend melted away. =)
wish all my tweet tweet pals could have come, but mochi-production limitations & little oven room capacity didn’t allow for it.
as much as i love making mochi, i do miss catering and being in the kitchen at diamond head market & grill. i was planning to post the menu prior to the tweetup, but ran out of time. here’s what was there:
ume edamame
matsutake okowa (mochi rice with matsutake mushrooms)
lindy’s salsa
cheesy spinach artichoke dip
artisanal cheese platter: Humboldt Fog goat cheese, Saint Andre Triple Cream, Vella Mezzo Secco, & Westcombe Red cheddar – grapes, dried fruit
baguettes/pita chips/tortilla chips/multigrain crackers
mini caprese salad with kahuku toybox tomatoes, fresh mozzarella perlini & basil
roasted vegetable pasta salad
butter mochi & blueberry mochi
plantation iced tea with Zhena’s Gypsy love rose tea

culinary peeps in action =)
I am very grateful for everyone who attended, tweeted, took pictures AND video (!) =) – i have yet to go through all the tweets & twitpics but am SO encouraged by all the positive comments i’ve seen so far & that everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves (my kitchen is still a disaster area =D). Thank you Traci for organizing – hope i didn’t cause you too much stress. Many thanks to Little Oven & Joyce for coming in on her day off & letting us hang out at one of the coolest venues in town. Heartfelt thanks for the wonderful people who volunteered and helped out including Laurie, Derek, Mitchell, Junie, Sara I. & Gregg — you rock! i’m awed by how much some Hawaii twitter peeps are so giving of their time & willing to lend a hand. if any of you ever want to hang out at mochi house & help do stuff like make peanut butter balls, let me know. this holiday season is going to be crazier than last year, with a newborn in the family – she’s limiting the help i get from my two major helpers (mom & sis), Mahealani’s on the mainland, and Joni is unavailable due to being severely understaffed at work. still paying off debt, so can’t afford to pay money, though i’d feed you (incl. mochi =) ).
Oh, and happy b*day Jeannemarie! =) glad you were able to stop by & i’m happy that we were able to play a small part in helping make your day a memorable one! =)
here’s an awesome video by Susie! love the music too! =)
this is Chris’ cool video – and folks, please don’t try this at home…
…………………………………………………….
below are just my personal notes on the food for improvement & future reference. i like to keep my notes in one place & my blog be it…
ume edamame – i love ume spaghetti, so thought i’d use my sauce on soybeans. need to take into account carry-over cooking =p… though part of the coloration WAS due to being boiled in shoyu dashi. grandpa grew soybeans in the garden and i grew up eating them well-done. will tweak recipe)
matsutake okowa – 1pkge makes 4 cups. -from marukai – smelled good, but was gone before i got to taste it.
lindy’s salsa – tasted better when lindy made it. wonder if she used fresh corn. i’d defrosted a bag of frozen corn, but didn’t like the texture, so didn’t use it & had mitchell bring canned corn. definitely tastes better with a squeeze of lime juice.
spinach artichoke dip – used Paula Deen’s recipe plus knorr veg. soup mix. mixed in most of the cheese and used some to top (only used half the block of pepper jack); bag spinach instead of boxed, so had 6oz more spinach than recipe called for. it looked very solid… should have put more mayo/sour cream…want to adjust consistency.
cheese platter - (oops, forgot the table water crackers, apricot preserves, fig spread + nuts, garnishes… and wasn’t able to get my hands on the mango stilton in time =p)
pasta salad – the veggies were a little softer than i usually like them for a salad, but there’s nothing like the flavor of roasted, caramelized eggplant & onion.
finally got around to opening my can of chaokoh sugar cane. like bamboo shoots, they don’t do well in cans. =p
…and twitterless D’s help with the mountain of dishes the day after (and peanut butter ball-making) was invaluable. =) —not to mention getting me out the door to exercise despite my protest of time constraints. shave ice mo arigato! =)