a husband who is into Mochi

My husband is into mochi now. Mochi is not a hot girl.
Mochi is a traditional Japanese food (see the picture). It is a sticky rice cake and very yummy :)
In the past I made mochi dish enough number of times. I wonder why he gets into mochi so much this year....

His mochi boom started after one of my friends gave us freshly made mochi at the end of last year. The friend owns a mochi maker. We enjoyed mochi during the new year holidays like most of Japanese people do in Japan. Mochi is usually eaten in wintertime especially during new year's holidays. There is one dish called zoni which is a mochi soup and also a traditional new year food for the Japanese. There are many other ways to eat mochi. Fresh mochi is really soft and soon becomes hard. You can eat fresh mochi as is and you toast hard mochi. If you toast mochi it becomes soft inside and crispy outside. You eat it with anko (sweet red bean paste), kinako (yellow soy flower with sugar) or sugary soy sauce. My husband loves to eat with anko and kinako very much. After finishing all of the mochi from my friend, he said "Let's buy a mochi maker!". Wait a second. Our kitchen counter is already full of other kitchen stuff and barely has enough space for cooking. Our shelves are full too. Also, new year's holiday is over. I said "You like it now. But you might get tired of it soon and stop using it."

I went to Mitsuwa (Japanese grocery store) and bought a 1kg mochi pack. He ate it all within few days. Then I went to Nijiya (another Japanese grocery store) and bought a mochi pack. He finished it quickly. I went to Mitsuwa again and noticed that the mochi selling section was reduced. Hummmm... I guess Japanese new year stuff is over. I bought another 1kg pack there and asked the casher about mochi stock in the future. They said after all mochi is sold, they don't sell it until around the end of this year. I told my husband about it. Then he said "Then, we have to buy a mochi maker." hummm... He is still saying, isn't he? He keeps checking amazon.com and bringing up a mochi maker picture and dreaming.

I have wanted to have a toaster oven for quite awhile and the idea had been always rejected by him. BTW, toaster oven is a must item for the Japanese. We do have a toaster but it is different. If you think I don't need a toaster oven, that simply means you are not Japanese :) Anyway, I said "I don't want to buy a mochi maker unless we buy a toaster oven." The idea was suddenly approved after many years. Now the crowded kitchen counter is even more crowded because of the new toaster oven. That night I said "There is no space for a mochi maker anymore, honey." He goes "No problem". No problem about what?
Next morning I woke up and went to the kitchen. His (only he uses) espresso machine and grinder were gone from the counter. He was always saying they should not be put away because he uses them every single day. Where did they go then? They were moved to the garage! Since then, every morning he grinds coffee beans in the garage and makes espresso or coffee stuff there. Whenever he disappears in the house, that means he is in the garage. The last mochi pack I got was finished again. I went to Mitsuwa again and bought another 1kg pack few days ago. Only few packs were left there. It will be sold out soon.

Now we have a little more space on the kitchen counter. But I still have a little bit of resistance to purchase a mochi maker now because it is already the end of January. I also wonder if a mochi maker would go the way of our bread maker which was put away long time ago not being used.