Episode 8: In Which Jessica Makes Mochi and Contracts a Deadly Virus

Ok, let's start of with the important stuff...
I WENT INTO THE MTC 2 YEARS AGO TODAY!

Anyhow, yes...ignoring the obvious over exposure in this picture, you can clearly see the the mochi which I actually didn't make. My friend Shelia made it, but she taught me how and its so super easy that I can't believe I didn't make it before! Guess what I'M making tomorrow...and I'm gonna make my roommates try it too. hahahahaha. ahem. *cough*

Anyhow, all I ever needed was Mochiko brand flour, coconut milk (apparently regular milk, or even water can be used but who wants that when you can have COCONUT milk!?!) and something to stick in the middle of the mochi. (I used Anko, or red bean paste...of COURSE) Then you mix it together and microwave it til it starts to turn a little yellow. You take it out of the microwave and spoon out just a little bit at a time onto plastic wrap or a plastic bag as shown below.

Once you have it in the bag, flatten it out and put a spoonful of anko (or whatever you're filling it with) in the middle. Wrap it all up, drop it into a bowl and coat it with mochiko flour and you're done!

Here, I'll write it in recipe like form for you

1 half box Mochiko brand flour
1 can coconut milk (or about 13 oz liquid)
Anko (or whatever you wanna put in the middle)
plastic bag or saran wrap for forming the mochi


-Mix liquid and mochiko flour until fully incorporated.
-Pour mixture into separate container about half an inch thick. (it just microwaves faster this way)
-Microwave on High for about 1.5 minutes. Mixture should yellow slightly, that's how you know it's done
-Remove from microwave and spoon small amount (a teaspoon or two) onto plastic wrap
-Using the plastic wrap, flatten and thin the mochi. Try not to make it TOO thin or the filling will pop through but it can be as thick or as thin as you want. Basically, you just want it big enough that it will completely enclose the filling
-Place filling in center of mochi and completely enclose it. How much you put in is entirely dependent on preference.
-Drop mochi into a bowl of Mochiko flour and shake to coat. This keeps it from sticking to your fingers.

YAY! MOCHI!!! umm...yeah, it might not look so pretty at first cuz well...you're probably dumb like me. Notice the stupid looking gimpy one? Yeah that was totally mine =P looking at it now, I don't' know why I am even allowing you to see it. Well anyhow, it tasted delicious so NYAH!

Yeah guess what my roommates are gonna be trying soon! Hope they like it! Shelia's roommates all did, but one of them served her mission in Taiwan too...

Oh well. Oh, I also drank winter melon tea...which I thought would taste like Mugicha (Barley Tea aka Burnt Water...what? that's what it tastes like!!) but it's actually really good. It smells a lot like maple syrup, and its kind of sweet. I drank it mixed with milk and I highly recommend trying it at least once. Those asians...they can seriously make tea out of anything!

After making mochi we sat and watched Asian dramas together. It was so much fun! I haven't had someone to watch dramas with in a while but Shelia really enjoys them. She loved Buzzer Beat (hey me too!) and she likes Hana Yori Dango (which I might make my roommate watch...I dunno. I compared it to Pride and Prejudice...she compared it to Twilight...I don't know how I feel about that...haha!)

Does anyone feel I COMPLETELY overuse the ellipsis...?

Moving on, so that was TOTALLY amazingly fun. We watched Code Blue 2, Tokyo Dogs, and this hilarious one that I'm totally addicted to now called "Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge". It's about 4 good looking guys (its important that you know they're good looking, not because it's my opinion but because its part of the plot) that live in a boarding house and are told they have to move when the landlord doesn't want to have boarders anymore. They make a deal with her so that they can stay by agreeing to turn her niece into a lady. The thing about this niece? she's WEIRD! She wears a cloak, can't stand the brightness in people's countenances, and she sleeps in a coffin!

K yeah it sounds weird...and it is. but I'm addicted to it and can't wait for episode 3 to come out. I'm gonna go over and watch it with Shelia again. haha.

Well, last night I was SUPER tired to I actually came home at 8:30 and fell asleep....and didn't get up til 11:30 this morning! It felt soooooooooo good. Man, midterms really take it out of you. Along with having 8am class every day. That might kill you too.

So this afternoon, my MTC companion, Sister Webb (Amanda) came to visit cuz it was our 2 year mark!!! And cuz visiting is fun? It was so fun seeing her! Her hair is sooooooo long! She hasn't cut it since she was in the MTC. We had fun talking and then Kiku came over too and we talked some more and watched mission videos and talked some more.

Amanda and I were hungry but we were waiting for Tyler to come over and he was taking a while so we decided to look up a recipe for Nikuman (meat buns) online. I love nikuman...or I did. I don't know if I love it so much anymore...cuz I FREAKING GOT A VIRUS WHILE I WAS SEARCHING FOR A RECIPE!!!!

Yeah, life is cruel like that. So then Tyler came over and he and Amanda were talking while I called Sterling and asked him how to fix my computer.

K first off, let me put a disclaimer in here that I am NOT stupid. It was one of those viruses that tries to TELL you your computer is infected and to download something to fix it...yeah I KNOW. It's infected with YOU!

This stupid virus couldn't even speak ENGLISH. It said "You PC is at risk" Lame? Yes. Annoying? Very much so. Killer? APPARENTLY!

So I took it to Sterling's apartment and he loaded it up in safe mode and started messing with it but me and Amanda were still hungry so we went to grab food. When I came home, Sterling had gone out to play racquetball so I took my computer (which was running a virus scan) and went home. Well it STILL wasn't fixed so I called my mom and kept running spyware scans and stuff. It was freaking annoying, the thing kept jumping out of quarantine!

So I talked to my mom, could hear my dad talking to....probably Bro. Varney in the background, I went and got my neighbor Kaylynne, to come help me, she called her boyfriend, and we were all working on this thing like a MedSurge team or something! Finally, Kaylynne's boyfriend told her to download some Malware eradication program (malware bytes or something...HIGHLY recommended) and we installed it on my computer and FINALLY got rid of the dumb thing. Oh the temple has never looked so beautiful (that was my background before the dumb virus hijacked it and gave me that wonderful green screen of DEATH that you see in the picture up there. I am a happy camper. can you tell from the obviously posed picture placed there for illustration purposes?

Anyhow, it was an exciting weekend. And tomorrow is another day. But it's Sunday so hopefully nothing TOO exciting will happen. But I get to go visiting teaching, THAT'S exciting right?! Yeah I'm a terrible person and tomorrow is the end of the month...and my roommate is the visiting teaching supervisor. How on earth did I let that slip by?! Don't even ask... -_-

And PS...though I would like to say that I will never eat nikuman again...I know that's not true. haha.

Stay tuned for more adventures in the life of this Jessica!!!

Also, HAPPY 2 YEARS TO ME AND MY DOKI (everyone I was in the MTC with)!!! ^_^