Armand Gutierrez, President

May is here and that means it’s time to bring an end to the NSC 2017-2018 season. Like last year NSC had a pretty good season highlighted by a variety of accomplishments:

• Annual Luau and Membership Picnic
• Volunteer participation at the annual Obon Festival in Mountain View
• San Francisco Bay Trail to Bay Bridge bicycle ride
• A very well-attended 60th Anniversary ski week to Vail
• Six NSC’ers went to Trois Vallees with FWSA

June marks the start of the NSC 2018-2019 season, and beginning this month you can take advantage of the $5 membership discount if you sign up and submit your membership form before May 31st. Please submit your application to Greg Wong (Membership Chairman).

Since it’s the end of the ski season it’s time to start having our spring NSC events. Coming up we have our annual Post-Season Annual Membership meeting and picnic on Saturday, June 10th. Take a look at the flyer in this month’s newsletter for details. And on Saturday, September 8th there will be the 60th NSC Anniversary dinner. Karen Soo is coordinating the effort for this grand anniversary dinner so please be sure to RSVP when you receive an Evite regarding the dinner.

Nominations & Elections

The nominations process has been completed and the next step is elections. The elections chairman tells me there were several nominations therefore the slate consists of the new nominees and incumbents, and we’re fortunate that everyone on the board has agreed to serve again. However, voting is important and although there were few nominations you can still vote for a write-in candidate. Whether you’re voting for the incumbents, nominees, or a write-in candidate, it’s important that you do vote. Your vote tells the board that you do appreciate the volunteer work performed by members of the board, so please take the very short time needed to cast your vote. You will be receiving an email informing you to vote online using SurveyMonkey.

Big Sky Ski Week 2019

The Big Sky ski week is in progress and details will be announced soon. Several members have already taken advantage of purchasing the Ikon Pass, and is good for five days skiing at Big Sky plus unlimited skiing (with blackout days) at Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows. The Big Sky date is 19-26 January.

Here are details about the Ikon and Epic Passes for the Big Sky trip:

• Purchase the Ikon Pass (Big Sky, Squaw/Alpine) from Sports America and receive a discount on the Big Sky trip. Go to this link to purchase: https://www.sportsamerica.com/ikon-nisei
• Purchase the Epic Pass (Northstar, Heavenly, Kirkwood) and receive a discount on the Big Sky trip. The Epic Pass cannot be used at Big Sky, but if you go on the Big Sky trip you will receive a trip discount. Go to this link to purchase: https://www.sportsamerica.com/epic-nisei

Greg Wong, Membership Chairperson

The ski season is almost over. It is time to put away the equipment and move on to other things. But for the seasoned skier, it is time to renew the season pass. As a skier, we know that there are more benefits and discounts if you renew early and such is the case with Nisei Ski Club. It is time to renew your membership for next year. If you renew before June 1, there is a five dollar discount on your membership fee.

This year is the 60th anniversary of the club. Not many organizations have that honor. Many ski clubs and other organizations have disappeared. I have seen it over the years. I belong to another organization that also had their 60th anniversary last year. It was one that my parents belonged to. Most of the activities have stopped. The members have grown old and past away. It went out this year with a whimper. I have been a member of Nisei Ski Club for most of 25 years. I can believe that so much time has gone by. I have volunteered, served on the board and ran events during that span. Nisei Ski Club is not just a ski club. It is also a social club. It is a place to meet people and have fun. It is a place to learn and try new things. It was a place to meet your significant other. If it weren’t for the ski club, I never would have gone river rafting, kayaking, deep sea fishing, hiking, horse racing, ballroom dancing, learned how to play bocce ball or bunko or left right center, learned how to make chicken salad and fry tempura, as well as skiing. So, send in your membership forms. Join the club. Come to the 60th anniversary party. Volunteer and plan activities. Have fun. I want to see this club thrive and would hate to see this club go out with a whimper.

Carolyn Chan and Lenora Fong

After hearing about these weeklong ski trips in the past 20 years, I finally had some time to take advantage to see what the excitement was about.

With an early semester break, I decided to use this as a motivation trip for my son, a high school senior to go on a ski trip and breathe the outdoor cool air. The other option was to stay home during his break and play video games all day. No way that was going to happen.

Coincidentally, my girlfriend Lenora was in town from Hong Kong with her own month-long sabbatical minus her kids. Without any ski plans in mind, I was on a mission to convince Lenora to come on the trip. Karen had packed some extra Marmot ski gear, helmet, socks and goggles to distribute. We were ready. The space in 2-bedroom condo space at Vail International was limited but the sofa and floor space were a nice welcome. This was the perfect opportunity to ski Vail’s epic long runs. How perfect was this storm? We didn’t get any new snow but the weather was perfect.

Vail was everything everyone says it would be and more!

What made this trip great? The short walk from our condo to the lift chair. The snow, the skiing, the views, the condo, the food, but mostly the people from Nisei Ski Club. Nisei Ski Club is the most organized group of people I have ever met. From the board members to volunteers and first-time visitors. Everyone had with one thing in mind, SKI and HAVE FUN!! (And Eating well! – Well, at least our Condo 108 did).

Every meal was made with TCL as our hosts took care of every detail. I drove over from Denver where my sister lives and was given the task of picking all the welcoming party supplies from Costco. 3 bags of Chicken wings, 2 boxes of beef taquitos, veggie platters, chips and guacamole, wine and beer. Enough food to welcome all 63 Nisei ski Club members to the trip. No detail was spared from the welcome party to ice breaker games, the famous Rock, Paper, Scissors quarters game. Jim S and Aaron L was battling out with the Rock, Paper Scissor game and Jim came out to be the winner. I heard that his wife, Janice won last year with the LEFT RIGHT CENTER dice game….Mmm some NSC conspiracy theory going on here?

We had our pot luck night with entrees and desserts served in 5 designated condos. There were entrées like sake lemon chicken wings, steam fish flown in from the Bay Area, chicken gyro, kalua pig sliders, pot roast, chicken curry, chow mein, and tons of dessert from custard mochi to Jello shots minus the vodka. We ate and ate until we retreated back to our condo and collapsed.

Our condo was well prepared with meals planned for the week. We had BBQ Ribs, Greek Moussaka and Amy T’s Breakfast burritos. Karen brought some of her last vintage Silver Oak. We had people dropping by for dinner, dessert, snacks or just après happy hour. We were the party condo. The dream team, Karen, Curtis, Amy and David – thank you for letting us stay with you. The attention to detail was phenomenal and impeccable. Makes Julie McCoy’s job on Love Boat looks like a sinking ship.

Amy T prepared our lunches for the day and it was our job to carry it in our Marmot jackets with care, while skiers were cautious, and fall, they would not dare! It was fun skiing with NSC members Greg W, David Tom. Our days of skiing were also filled with fun and excitement as each member looked after each other and the runs were not crowded. On my third day, while everyone in my condo took a break, I had the privilege of skiing with the awesome foursome Nisei Golden Girls – Edna K, Kay K, Haruko N and Carol E. These four ladies were admirable and a force to be reckoned with. They were modest in their early inquiry about my ski level and afraid they would be too slow for me, when in fact it turned out to be the complete opposite! They had to wait for me on the runs. I only wish I could ski and keep up at their age!

All in all, it was an amazing trip to be had and can’t wait till next year! I’m hooked on this ski club!

The bar is set high with Karen Soo’s Crew, Try it, you’ll like it.. I bet you will too!

(Sorry, I was feeling a bit cheeky w Dr. Seuss!)

Judy Hom

Have you used the Instant Pot that you received for Christmas? Get over your Instant Pot anxiety and try out this recipe for Hainan chicken.

I have made this recipe twice with tasty results. On the first time, I made the chicken only and made white rice in the rice cooker. On the second time, I went for whole thing — chicken and rice! Wow, the rice was incredibly tasty. From here on out, I will always make the rice along with the chicken.

I followed Amy and Jacky’s recipe as written except that I used canola oil instead of olive oil because I always use a neutral oil for Asian dishes. The ingredient list is not long. With the exception of shallots, the recipe uses items that you typically use in your everyday Asian cooking: 2-4 chicken legs, chicken broth, green onions, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, Shaoxing cooking wine, and jasmine rice.

The secret to the success of this dish is the dipping sauce and to not skimp on the green onions and ginger. I didn’t have peanut oil so I used canola oil. I heated up the canola oil in my wok and drizzled it over the minced ingredients. This is the same method that I use when finishing steamed fish. My mom told me that hot oil removes the fishy taste.

I did plunge the chicken legs in the ice bath after cooking. You need to be patient with this step. I was too hasty with my first attempt and the legs were not firm. With my second attempt, the results were better.

What did I learn from this? I learned that it only takes 8 minutes to cook chicken and 3 minutes to cook rice. I also learned that the Instant Pot does a good job of cooking grains in a short amount of time.

Give it a try and let me know your results!

Link to Amy + Jacky’s Hainan Chicken Recipe: https://www.pressurecookrecipes.com/hainanese-chicken-rice-pressure-cooker/