Have you bought some mochi but don't know what to do with it? Here are a few easy ideas.

Cut the mochi into 1 inch or 1 1/2 inch pieces. Bake it at 450 degrees F until it becomes golden and crisp on the outside, perhaps ten minutes. Let it cool slightly and slit open one side of each piece. Stuff with natto or miso or even peanut butter.

You could also brush pieces of mochi with shoyu (soy sauce), bake them, and then wrap them in toasted nori sheets.

Here is another. Boil the pieces of mochi. After they have all sunk to the bottom of the pot and then have been bobbing on the surface of the boiling water, remove them and roll them in gomasio (sesame salt). Serve them with a dip made from shoyu, wasabi, mirin and minced scallions or chives. Or you could drop them into a bowl of miso shiru or wakame shiru.

You could deep fry mochi, salt them heavily and crunch on them along with some saké and umeboshi.