HAWAIIAN STYLE
Popular 'Mochi Lady' offers something for everyone
Some say the "Mochi Lady" has put the "cottage" back into cottage industry.
There's something a mite suspicious about all the bustling in the kitchen of the unassuming little Mo'ili'ili cottage from midnight on most nights — followed by knocks on the front door come early morning. While everyone sleeps, "The Mochi Lady" does her thing.
No one calls June Tanaka by her real name — even the Web site for her "Hawaiian-style gourmet mochi" proudly proclaims www.mochi lady.com. There's no business sign on the house.
She refuses TV crew requests to check out the seemingly mysterious goings-on for fear of betraying production secrets.
And nowhere in her 1,000-square-foot, three-bedroom cottage is there any evidence of the stone usu and mallet of traditional mochi-making. (She refuses to comment on the kitchen's oversized microwave.)
Furthermore, she hesitates to leave the company's real name — Happy Hearts — in telephone messages to customers. "They'll think I'm running a dating service," she says jokingly. "Or worse, hostess bar or massage parlor!"
So to everyone, she's the Mochi Lady, purveyor of the wild and wonderful in a kicked-up version of that steamed short-grain, sweet rice delicacy known as mochi.
But this is mochi with attitude: nontraditional, modern Island creations in green, pink, purple and white — each hinting of luscious centers of everything from peanut butter and hazelnut to coffee, chocolate and haupia.
She does retain a bit of tradition with azuki bean, Okinawan sweet potato and kuri (sweet chestnut) mochi.
"Most of the younger generation (is unfamiliar) with the kuri, but the older generation just loves it!" she said.
Most nights, she toils in the tiny home kitchen from midnight to 7 a.m., for early-morning customer pickups. Three refrigerators — two in the dining room of the impeccable house — and a large work table outfitted with TV and foot massager, are the tools of her trade.
She fell into the business quite "purposely by accident." After years of turning out classroom treats for her kids — cookies on a stick, edible Christmas wreaths, mint sticks on St. Paddy's Day — she found her kids grown. "Whattcha gonna do now?!" they kidded.
"Making desserts," particularly the delicately sweet mochi, "satisfied the artistic part of me," she said. And, of course, being "mochi-proficient" is handy when you have to find something out of the ordinary to take to potluck dinners, she said.
But when keeping up with orders at craft fairs and Manoa Open Market — and custom orders from co-workers at Straub Clinic — got out of hand, Tanaka gave up her job and took on the hobby full time.
"The Mochi Lady was born," Tanaka said.
Business is especially busy during New Year's when the Japanese sweet delicacy is especially popular.
"Thousands and thousands," she said, rolling her eyes. That's the time The Mochi Lady gets only two hours of sleep.
Then there are "the Hallmark holidays," she said: Christmas, Valentine's Day, Easter, Secretaries Day, Thanksgiving and, of course, Girls' Day. Even Chinese New Year.
Weddings and yakudoshi fill in lulls between holidays. She's even had orders as condolences after a death.
A little ice in a soft cooler, and like "Coals to Newcastle," the mochi is on its way as omiyage during vacations to Japan and the Mainland.
Business is by advance order only — call 382-5714 — and, other than the Web site, advertising is by word of mouth. And everyone is talking about The Mochi Lady.
The Advertiser's Wade Kilohana Shirkey is kumu of Na Hoaloha O Ka Roselani No'eau halau. He writes on Island life.
