It’s not that Angelenos are totally oblivious to the changing seasons, it’s just that we’re so easily misled by our own weather. When we get a July day tossed in with our typical February lineup, we ignore the calendar and act accordingly, strapping on sandals and leaping into pools. With snow-capped peaks still looming in the distance, the temperature crept up past 80 degrees yesterday, making for a true faux-summer day. I hopped on my bike and headed downtown in search of seasonally-inappropriate treats.
Mochi, with its soft powdered skin revealing a cold, creamy center, is my absolute favorite ice cream treat on the planet. But this mochi I found at Mikawaya was too good to be true! It was mochi made from gelato. It was mochi-lato. And it was mochi-mazing. The coconut had big, chewy flakes of coconut. The hazelnut was salty and nutty. And the plum wine, which I had originally chosen simply because of its springy pink hue, was the winner, with a tangy snap of plum jelly tucked inside the top.
Mikawaya are the makers of the truly excellent mochi you can buy at many grocery stores, and you can buy these little snowballs of joy at their sweet shop in the Little Tokyo Market Place (I’ve never seen the mochi-lato in stores, though). I tried to get a shot of the ladies behind the counter posing with the case because they were wearing precious pink/plum wine sweaters but they giggled and hid in the corner.
When you’re looking for colors to match your spring-has-sprung mentality, it turns out that Little Tokyo is a pastel food wonderland. Here are the non-gelato mochi treats at Fugetsu-Do, one of the city’s oldest continuously-operating businesses. They were predictably slammed today. I got the suama and ogura.
And these drop-dead gorgeous pickled radishes at the Little Tokyo Market Place (regular website is down, but here the Facebook page), where Japanese techno accompanied people as they shopped for Valentine’s Day feasts. I can’t wait to come back and shop here for Easter, which normally arrives on an August-like day in April.
