by Armand Gutierrez, President

Welcome to the Chinese Year of the Dragon! Yes, the Chinese New Year starts February 10th and celebrations culminate with the Lantern Festival on February 17th. People born in the year of the Dragon (1928, 1940, 1952, 1964, etc.) are often considered to be charismatic, ambitious, adventurous, and fearless.

It was with hopeful anticipation that pursuing my skiing pleasures would come to pass before the Christmas holidays, but alas, Mother Nature just wasn’t cooperating. The snow conditions at Tahoe were less than ideal and the three major resorts (Northstar, Palisades, and Heavenly) were only operating 2-3 lifts and only a handful of bunny runs, not quit enticing enough for me to make a 4-hour drive to Tahoe. So, another season is starting late for me. But, recent weather patterns look favorable for more snowfall and an early January trip looks very promising and I need to get on the sticks before Jackson Hole.

2024 NSC Jackson Hole – 27 January to 3 February

Our ski week to Jackson Hole, a skiers mountain, is coming up at the end of the month. Jackson Hole has been receiving some good snowfall and, as I always say, more is better. The Jackson Hole Orientation meeting is on Saturday, 13 January and the Evite has been sent out, so let me know if you did not receive the Evite (president@niseiskiclub.org). Come by if you can to pick up your souvenir jacket, luggage tags from Sports America, and to meet and greet your fellow skiers.

QotM: Every time someone comes up with a foolproof solution, along comes a more-talented fool.

by Karen Soo, Newsletter Editor

Happy New Year! Welcome to 2024

Eating and gathering were always centered around our club and club members.

This year I will be posting recipes from The Official Nisei Ski Club Recipe Book.

Recipes from this book were used at many NSC events. The weekend ski trips, annual picnics and pot luck parties.

The first NSC Recipe Book was written in 1975. This was immediately followed by another book in 1997. Annie Ogata was NSC president 1997-1998 and NSC was celebrating the 40th anniversary.

Just a reminder, we just celebrated NSC 65th Anniversary in October 2023

In 2005, Judy Hom and Winston Fong printed copies of our cookbook and sold copies at Nikkei Traditions. This was a way to raise money for our club.

Maybe we can bring this cookbook back? Who is interested in The Official Nisei Ski Club Recipe Book? Send me an email. newsletter@niseiskiclub.org.

The first recipe is our famous Chinese Chicken salad that we made and sold at the annual Nikkei Matsuri in Japan town in San Jose.

We sold Chicken Salad as a fund raiser. We sold over 2000 bowls of chicken salads.

The preparation took 2 days and 60 members to cook and shred the chicken, clean and cut the lettuce and finally mixing the salad dressing. We had to follow food temperature protocol and made sure the salad is chilled properly before selling to the public.

SO MUCH WORK!!

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

Ingredients

Reprinted from the Nisei Ski Club Recipe Cookbook

1976 – 1977 was a drought year and NSC made Chicken Salad for a fund raiser at the San Joe Japanese American Community Bicentennial Celebration. This has since become known as Nikkei Matsuri and NSC made $400.00 from sales of the salad with this recipe!

Preparation Time – 1 day ahead Serving: 4,000 bowls

Ingredients

• 250 pounds chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
• 400 pounds lettuce, shredded
• 1,200 stalks of green onions, chopped
• 40 bunches Chinese parsley, chopped
• 35 pounds rice sticks, deep fried according to package directions.
• 10 pounds sesame seeds, toasted

Dressing

• 20 pounds sugar
• 12 cups salt
• 4 cups Ajinomoto
• 1 ½ pounds extra fine ground pepper
• 3 gallons sesame oil
• 6 gallons vinegar
• 13 gallons salad oil

In a 30-gallon pot, mix dressing ingredients vigorously. Stabilizer may be used to make the dressing thicker, approximately 1 cup. Combine salad ingredients just before serving and mix with dressing.

Here’s the ingredients for smaller proportions:

• 1 head lettuce, shredded
• 3 stalks green onions, chopped,
• Few sprigs Chinese parsley
• 2 oz rice sticks, dep fried according to package directions
• 2 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted (slivered almonds, optional)

Dressing:

• 2-3 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp Ajinomoto
• ½ tsp extra fine ground pepper
• 1 Tbs sesame oil
• 3 Tbs vinegar
• 3-4 Tbs salad oil

Here are some pictures from the last time we participated at Nikkei Matsuri in 2011, 2010 and 2008

by Karen Soo, Trip Director

Klaus Obermeyer is 104 years old and still telling great ski stories.

While Klaus no longer turns down Buttermilk, he is still present in the office and is active every day stretching and practicing Aikido.

Read his incredible story here.

by Karen Soo, Trip Director

During the time I worked for Marmot, we would attend the annual sales meeting at Lake Tahoe. After the meetings, we would mingle and talk to the sales people. Dinner and drinks led to the our shot ski competition. Basically taking shots from a shot glass that was attached to the ski. The goal was to take shots without spilling any whiskey. 3 people standing shoulder to shoulder.

Breckenridge just broke the record for the longest Shot-Ski with 485 skis connected together, 2469 feet long and connecting 1377 people.

Check it out here