by Armand Gutierrez, President

It’s June and the start of the 2023-2024 NSC season. Our recent elections resulted in several changes to the board – three board members “retired” from the board and we have one former president joining as a board member and two new board members. Thanks to all of you that took the time to vote, and you can read the full election results in Jeanne Katsuro’s article.

NSC Annual Membership Meeting and Luau Picnic

The NSC Annual Membership Meeting and Luau Picnic is scheduled for July 22^nd/ Saturday so mark your calendars. As usual the club will be providing beverages and a lunch entree and you can bring a favorite side dish. Details will be on the Picnic Flyer.

Mt. View Obon Festival

The festival will be held 15-16 July so mark your calendars for this annual event. In the past organizers of the festival have asked NSC for volunteers to work the various booths (especially the Beer Booth). Well, this year they have reached out to Karen Soo to see if NSC would be able to provide volunteer support for this year. Details are still forthcoming but keep the dates open if you would like to volunteer.

FWSA 90^th Annual Convention

The FWSA 90^th Annual Convention is being held from 15-18 June, in Boise, ID. I’ll be attending (16-18 June) in two capacities: 1) to assist Debbie Stewart (VP International Travel) with the Silent Auction and her Snow Sports Leadership Academy presentation, and 2) to provide NSC representation.

2024 NSC Jackson Hole

The 2024 NSC Ski Week will be at Jackson Hole from 27 January – 3 February. Currently I’m waiting for the lodging rates to become available and for Sports America to send me a proposal. I’m anticipating 70+ signups since Jackson Hole is a very popular ski resort.

Upcoming Events –

Judy H and Jan G – Learn to play Mah Jong Saturday, June10th

Hoyt Nelson – NSC Bocceball Event Saturday, June 24th

QotM:  You can’t help getting older, but you don’t have to get old.

NSC Picnic – Saturday July 22

by Jeanne Katsuro, Vice President

Congratulations to our Newly Elected Board Members for 2023-2024

President – Armand Guitierrez

Vice President – Jeanne Katsuro

Trip Director – Karen Soo

Treasurer – Frank Chang

Newsletter Editor – Karen Soo

Membership Chairperson – Tina Woo

Board Members:

          Curtis Otaguro

          Joel Hayashida

          Roland Lee

          Jeff Honda

We want to thank our Past Board Members who have served on the Nisei Ski Club as Officers and Board Members for many years. We appreciate all your hard work and devotion to Nisei Ski Club.

Hoyt Nelson – at least 30 years joined in the mid 1970’s

Rick Dumlao – 5 years joined 2012

          David Schultz – 4 years joined in 2018

We also welcome new board members.

          Joel Hayashida, Past Nisei Ski Club President for coming back as a Board member

          Roland Lee, a Nisei Ski Club Member accepting the role of New Board member

          Jeff Honda, a brand-New Nisei Ski Club Member accepting the role of a New Board member

We are excited about having new energy on our Board to help us grow our club with new and exciting ideas for Ski and Social Events.

Congratulations again!

by Karen Soo, Newsletter Editor

Come on out and volunteer your time to help the local community.

Mountain View Buddhist Temple is having their annual Obon Festival.

Dates – Saturday, July 15^th and Sunday, July 16^th.

Save those dates. We would like our members to participate and lend a hand with the bazaar.

In the past years, Nisei Ski Club members had volunteered at the Obon Festival beer booth. You know how that goes. A little pour, a little sip on the side. BURP..

This year, the Mountain View Buddhist Temple (MVBT) Obon Festival bazaar committee members are developing an online volunteer sign-up page for the various activities and booths leading up to the bazaar and during the two-day bazaar on Saturday, July 15^th and Sunday, July 16^th. 

At this time, the sign-up site is still in “the work in progress” stage and will not be ready for the June newsletter.

We will keep you up to date as we get more information.

Thank you for stepping up to the plate to VOLUNTEER!

by Hoyt Nelson, Board Member

JOIN US FOR A BOCCEBALL PARTY @ SAN JOSE’s LAKE ALMADEN PARK SAT, JUNE 24 2023

The place has bathrooms, water fountains, picnic tables and 4 very nice courts.  Also there is an enjoyable half mile path around the lake.  Haven’t played before?  Basically, you roll your bocce ball as close as possible to a small target ball (called a pallino) for points.  Teams can be 1, 2 or 4 per end. 

DIRECTIONS: From hwy 85 going SE, take Almaden Expwy.  S (Left) for about a mile. Turn L onto Coleman Rd. and turn R onto Winfield Blvd. (1^st stop light) toward the Lake.  Parking is free on both sides of the road.  Park near the entrance shack near the end of the road near a Stop sign or pay $5 at the shack to park inside if necessary.  The courts are toward the lake about 100 ft. from the road near the entrance shack.  There is a sign nearby with basic rules. 

 We will meet at the courts at 10AM.  The courts are free (first come, first served).   I and several other members have bocce ball sets.  You can bring lunch or meet others for lunch locally after the games. 

To sign up, contact Hoyt Nelson at bocce@niseiskiclub.org Hope to see you there.

by Judy Hom, Janet Gee, NSC Members

Do you want to learn how to play MahJong but don’t know anyone who can teach you? Then, sign up for the NSC Mah Jong class and potluck! Judy Hom and Janet Gee will teach you the basics so you won’t be intimidated to play with others. We will focus on the Cantonese style where we play with 13 tiles and flowers. If Mah Jong is on your bucket list, then sign-up! When you sign up, you will receive a cheat sheet and a list of MahJong resources. We know that all NSC members like to eat so this is also a potluck event. 

Date:            Saturday, June 10th

Time:           11am – 3:pm

Where:         Judy and Winston’s backyard, 18995 Carlton Avenue, Castro Valley

Cost: $5 for members and $10 for non-members. Bring a potluck dish to feed 4 or more.

Please bring your own water bottle, beverages will be provided. 

Space is limited to 16 sign-ups. Pls RSVP by June 5th.

Please fill out a form for each person that is attending. For more information, please email Judy at mahjong@niseiskiclub.org.

SIGN UP HERE: MahJong

by Karen Soo, Trip Director

Please join us on Saturday, July 22 at Las Palmas Park in Sunnyvale for our annual Nisei Ski Club Luau Picnic.

Time – 12:00pm – 5:00pm

You will receive your Evite invitation in June.

How is Karen going to coordinate the picnic from New York?

Just watch and see.

Please RSVP no later than July 19th, so we can order the right amount of food for the picnic.

NISEI SKI CLUB LUAU PICNIC INFO

Join us and meet your fellow members.

by Karen Soo, Newsletter Editor

Hey Fellow Chefs,

When I’m eating at a Shanghainese restaurant, I like to order the scallion pancakes from the menu. Who can resist? Its fried, its crispy and delicious.

My instincts tell me I can make this at home. After checking out some scallion pancake recipes, it requires a longer process.

You start the dough with flour, water, salt and oil.  Mix well and let it sit for 2 hours. Who has time for that?  

I found this shortcut scallion pancake recipe from the Woks of Life website.

These shortcut scallion pancakes involve just layering 4 ingredients:

• Dumpling wrappers
• Oil
• Salt
• Scallions

The whole process from start to finish takes about 20 minutes. And the result? Crispy, layered scallion pancakes that you won’t be able to stop eating.

Try it out and let me know what you think?

Bon Appetite – Julia Child and Karen Soo share the same birthday.

Ingredients

• 6-8 scallions/ chopped
• salt (to taste)
• vegetable, canola, or light olive oil (for brushing and cooking your scallion pancakes)
• 1 pack store-bought round, white dumpling wrappers (14 oz. or 400g)

Instructions

1. Take the dumpling wrappers out of the refrigerator and let them warm up a bit (they don’t necessarily have to be at room temperature, but they shouldn’t be cold). Wash the scallions and pat them thoroughly dry with a clean kitchen towel. Slice the scallions in half lengthwise and finely chop them.
2. Prepare a small dish of salt and a dish of oil, along with a pastry brush.
3. On a clean work surface, take a dumpling wrapper, brush it with a thin layer of oil, and lightly sprinkle with salt. Then cover with a layer of scallions. Top it with another dumpling wrapper, and lightly press it down. Repeat the process until you have 4-7 layers of dumpling wrappers.

4. Use a rolling pin to roll the layered dumpling skins into a pancake––however thick or thin you like. Rotate the scallion pancake as you roll to get a perfect round shape.

5. Heat a flat-bottomed non-stick or cast iron pan over medium heat. Spread 1 tablespoon oil around in the pan, and add the scallion pancake. Cook each side until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes per side. (Avoid using high heat, as it will burn the pancake without cooking it through).

6. If the pan looks dry after flipping the pancake, you can add another tablespoon of oil.

7. Enjoy these plain or with a dipping sauce!

Notes

To pre-make and freeze any uncooked scallion pancakes:

1. After rolling out each pancake, place on a sheet of parchment or wax paper, and place another sheet of paper on top.
2. Layer the scallion pancakes between the wax paper or parchment paper.
3. Transfer to a large freezer bag, and place on a flat shelf in the freezer so they freeze flat.
4. To cook, add them directly to a pan with hot oil––no need to thaw beforehand.

Check out this quick video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkZhYDAlrqs

by David Schultz, Board Member

Five people enjoyed a day of golf practice at the driving range plus a round of 9-holes at the Pruneridge Golf Course.  The day started off cool and cloudy, but that didn’t deter us from driving about three buckets of balls.  And by the time everyone got to the Pruneridge Golf Course, the sun came out and it was a beautiful afternoon.

The morning was advertised by Nisei Ski Club as instruction plus ball driving at the San Jose Municipal driving range.  However, the members who showed up were all experienced, and the instructors (Dave, Rick, and Alex) wound up learning some tricks from the trainees (Carolyn and Sandra).   We forgot that Sandra is playing at least a couple of times per week along with taking golf lessons near her home, and her experience shows.  What was also nice during the morning was that we all tried out each other’s drivers.  I found that I liked a few of them better than my own.  Time for a new club…!

Along with a driving range, San Jose Municipal has an area for practicing pitching and putting.  The five of us used these to warm up before heading over to Pruneridge.  The first order of business at Pruneridge was to have some lunch.  The food was great, but getting it took a while since the “kitchen” (a food truck) at the course is only staffed by one person.  By the time lunch was finished, it was tee time, so off we went.  At that point, however, Alex left to watch the Warriors game (where Steph Curry made his amazing 50 points).  This was fine, since that left Dave, Rick, Carolyn, and Sandra to be the foursome.  

The holes at Pruneridge are generally short, and we moved along pretty quickly.  It was nice that everyone else on the course was moving along just as quickly.  We rarely had waiting issues at the tees or on the course.  As mentioned, Sandra showed off her great strokes, with Carolyn a close second.  The ladies were very solid on the fairways, while the guys tended to criss-cross them like we were at a zip line course.  But it still was fun.  What’s crazy about the Pruneridge course is that the 9^th hole is right behind the driving range.  As such, there are tons of white practice balls all over the place, obscuring any regular white balls.   And of course, we forgot about this and several of us did a lot of searching to identify our balls.

The group had a fine time together. We finished the day promising to play again sometime at a different course, perhaps playing 18-holes the next time.  This could easily become a regular Nisei Ski Club event!

by Angie Fong, Former NSC President

Alameda, CA May 2, 2023

Here’s something fun to consider when you’re not on the slopes! I recently discovered the Pacific Pinball Museum in Alameda! With the price of admission, you get unlimited pinball play with “in and out” privileges for the day!

As a kid, I grew up playing Pac-Man, Space Invaders, Galaga, Turbo, Frogger, Centipede, etc. In addition to video games, I LOVED playing pinball and spent many hours playing in our San Francisco arcades and corner grocery stores, as well as South Lake Tahoe where my family spent a lot of “time” in casinos.

Prior to my Alameda visit, I read the reviews for the Pacific Pinball Museum on Yelp, as well as directly on their website. I discovered that the best time to visit was on a Tuesday since the museum is closed on Monday for pinball machine repairs and even better, Tuesdays are ½ off admission prices! Additionally, if you park 1 block away in the residential areas, you won’t have to worry about parking meters interfering with your play time! YAY!  =0)

There are several rooms of pinball machines from different decades and eras. If you plan to visit and are short on time, please do some advanced research so that you know which rooms and which machines to target first. Apparently, they have quite a few machines in storage and they rotate them now and again, current pinball list here. Even playing there for almost 8hrs, I didn’t have a chance to play all of the machines, there are so many options to choose from and that’s AWESOME! (Note: Yes! Both of my forearms were very sore for 2 – 3+ days after playing that day!)

My favorite machine that I read about and played there is called “Safe Cracker”. I highly recommend that you play this machine at least 4 – 8+ times, tons of FUN! It is located in the same room as many other “unique” machines. (Highly recommend that you also play “Spooksville” and “Orbitor 1” which will surprise you!). The unique attribute of “Safe Cracker” is that it will dispense a special “token” that rolls directly from the lower Backglass onto the pinball glass if you are able to break into the safe! It rolls pretty fast, so be prepared to catch it as it rolls off the center glass toward you! With this token, after you finish your game, you use it to play a special multi-ball game called “Assault on the Vault”. Unfortunately, I only discovered this after leaving the museum and researching on Wikipedia! I can’t wait to return to win tokens and invoke the special game! If I ever hit the lottery, I will buy this pinball machine! I think I played it for a couple hours (in between letting others play it too!). I also often played it in 2 or 4 player mode since you have unlimited play, why not?  =0) I was able to win 6 tokens that day, but returned them to the cashier upon exiting for the night not knowing about the special game mode!

I had a blast playing any machine I wanted without having to wait in line for any machine. I only saw 5 – 10 people max at any given time that Tuesday. (Side Note: You might want to visit soon because once the High Schools and Universities let out for the school year, you might have more people playing on the machines that you want to play!) Bonus: There are 3 awesome jukeboxes to choose different eras of music tracks for unlimited, free play. Choose the music tracks that you want to hear, then choose the machines that you want to play! You can’t beat that! Lastly, there are many restaurants in walking distance, but I chose to eat next door to try Cambodian food for the 1^st time at Phnom Penh House. The food was tasty and I was able to have an early dinner, then return to play for another hour or so before returning home!  =0)

I am already looking forward to another Tuesday visit! I hope that you will enjoy your visit as much as I did! Have Fun!  =0)