Mochi - wearing my clothes

In an effort to purge - I'm getting rid of some old college t-shirts. Nick HATES this one and has been after me to get rid of it for a while. So before I got rid of it, I made Mochi wear it. He actually wore it around the house the rest of the day.

Mochi - asleep on the couch

This could be comfortable. Proof that Nick lets him sleep on the couch while I'm at work.

Mochi - asleep on the floor

He looks a little scary in this one....but it's a typical pose. Depending on how tired he is, his tongue may actually be on the ground.

Mochi - asleep on the stairs

I need a buffer for a few days, so the next few posts will be random pictures of mochi.

Here he is, asleep on the stairs.

Neighbors

Unless you live on a farm in the midwest, you probably have neighbors (and even the people on farms in the midwest have neighbors....they just never see them).

Living in a condo, our neighbors are very close. We share a wall with 2 other condos. Most of the "neighbors" we've met have been great. But our immediate neighbors are quite the opposite. Let's start with Mom and son - that's as much as we know. And really, she might not be the mom - because there is clearly no discipline going on here.

Son is 18-22 in my best guess. He LOVES bmx bikes. So much so, that he built a quarter pipe in his garage....which is great, because their garage shares a wall with our kitchen.

He also likes to go off roading with his SUV - keep in mind that "mom" drives a beater, and why this kid has a VW golf and a SUV is beyond me. Takes the car off roading and then rinses it off in front of their garage....in early December. We'd all been driving over it, waiting for him to clean it up. Alas, Nick got a broom in early January and swept it up in front of their garage.

We figured he'd move it. We were wrong. It's still there. It's been 2 months.

BTW, the license plate holder on his car says "I love MONEY" - he's a winner.

Our other neighbors are relatively anti-social. But they let their dogs pee on the deck....which shares a drainage pipe with our deck. So we didn't use our deck this summer because it smells like pee. They are moving soon. Thanks goodness.

Like I said, we love almost all of our other neighbors, we just got stuck between 2 odd balls.

More skiing

Post skiing, by the car. It's funny, the best part about skiing (aside from the actual skiing) is taking off your boots at the end of the day. Glorious.

Epic Skiing....

...for Nick.

All the rain that's been pounding California meant 7 feet of new snow in the past 5 days. 7 feet as of Friday. We were already scheduled to head to the mountains and Nick was chomping at the bit to get out and ski in some "freshies" - as they are known to the skiing elite.

I'm not a bad skier. I'm a solid intermediate/advanced. I can get down almost anything but it might take me a little while and I might be slightly annoyed by the time I get to the bottom, but I can keep up.

So we get to the top of the lift this morning, taking it easy down a groomer when I see Nick b-line for 2 feet of fresh powder. We hadn't discussed where we would meet if separated and the website said "Deep snow conditions exist - ski and ride with a buddy and keep your buddy in view." I figured he was my buddy and I needed to keep him in sight....I'm such a fool.

He made it to the bottom in about 30 seconds flat. I started going down, promptly buried both of my skis and flew head first into the powder - leaving the skis behind me 6 feet. I then proceeded to dig out my skis and spend another 5-10 minutes trying to get it back on in the powder. Getting skis on in powder is like trying to run a half marathon - it can be done, but you're really tired after and probably a little bit sweaty. I get it on and proceed to fall at least half a dozen more times. Nick is no where in sight, but Lisa was doing her best to coax me down. I kept burying my skis and somehow managed to fall with my foot and ski flying out from behind me....not once....not twice....but three times. I think it was really entertaining. At this point I had expended all of my energy for the day. I had snow up my back and my goggles were starting to fog. I was a mess.

I ended up making it to the end of the day relatively unscathed. Nick was in powder heaven and thankfully neither of us had to drive home. My quads will be hurting tomorrow, in fact.....they're already starting to stiffen up. But it was an awesome day and we had a great time....I just need to figure out how to ski in the powder.

stace

I love my little sis. She was (and still is) the cutest kid. She was an absolute space cadet as a child. This picture sums her up.

Some of my favorite Stacey-isms

1. R-D-Choke, that's how you spell it (artichoke).

2. PUC - She couldn't pronounce CUP for about 1 year. She'd take in a HUGE breath, holding us all in anticipation that she'd get it right....and then it came out PUC.

3. JonJon - her imaginary friend. He was once sitting in the van next to her, so I had to sit in the back.

4. One Christmas morning she RAN to the window. We asked her what she was looking for and she said, "Santa." Priceless.

I think she was talking to our grandpa on the phone. She really was the cutest.

Time Capsule

We brought some old dishes home with us during winter break. When we unwrapped them, we noticed that they were wrapped in the front page of the Seattle Times from Sunday March 11th, 1984.

I felt like I had opened a time capsule.

The Curious Case of Forrest Gump

This was on Funny or Die. Still cracks me up....makes it kind of difficult to watch Benjamin Button. The video has a subtitle: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was great. I also liked it 15 years ago when they called it Forrest Gump.

The Curious Case of Forrest Gump - watch more funny videos

Avatar = Pocahonta

Saw this hilarious (and very true) comparison of Pocahontas and Avatar (originally posted on the Huffington Post). I loved Pocahontas...so I guess it's no wonder I also loved Avatar. Nick called it "Dances with Wolves, meets Pocahontas, meet Fern Gully, meets Last Samurai." Nevertheless, it was a good movie and sometimes I wish I could be an Avatar.

UP

Nick and I are avid fans of Disney Pixar. And any movie that make you cry within the first 4 minutes - without the characters even talking - is incredible. We saw this movie when it first came out in the theaters and again last night. Here is our conversation during the scene where you first see the balloons and the house begins to float away.

N: I don't get it

B: What?

N: How does the house not fly away

B: What do you mean?

N: If the balloons are tied to the house, the house should still float away.

B: They're tied to the backyard, probably by a tarp or something.

N: That's my little engineer.

So could the house in UP actually fly? I was going to try and do the math myself....but someone else already did it. So I'll just recap. Their explanation is here.

1. House weighs ~100,000lbs

2. Air weighs 0.078 lbs/cuft and helium weighs 0.011 lbs/cuft. This means that a cubic foot of helium fwill have an upward force of 0.078lbs but a downward force of 0.011lbs - net 0.068 in the UP direction. (This is the same way things float or sink in water.....both air and water are fluids).

3. So we have a net 0.068lbs/cuft in the UP direction. If the house weighs 100,000lbs, that means you'll need 100,000lbs/0.068lbs/cuft = 1,470,588cuft of helium for the house to hover. You'll need more if you want the house to float.

4. Let's say all the balloons are 1.5ft, spherical balloons - ~1.8 cuft. (4/3*pi*r^3...and yes, I had that one memorized for some odd reason)

5. So you'd need 832,182 balloons. Let's call it an even million to make it float.

6. The website thinks it it technically possible, I just don't think Mr. Fredrickson (the guy from the movie) could inflate a million balloons in 1 night.

7. NOW - let's say the he was more efficient and used balloons that were 3ft in diameter. This would be 14.1cuft or 104,022 balloons. And we'll say 120,000 for good measure. That could be done....I guess. 10,000/hr for 12 hrs. Still seems impossible, but he was pretty determined.

Say you wanted to make yourself fly - because duh, we've all thought about it at one time or another. 150lb person would require 85 1.5ft diameter spherical balloons - say 100 to float away. That seems very possible....and didn't some guy tie a bunch to his chair, float away, die and then land a Darwin Awards? SO yeah, definitely feasible.

GLEE

I haven't wanted to be on a lot of shoes: Full House, Mickey Mouse Club.....and probably Saved by the Bell. But I have added Glee to that list. I love it. It could be the band geek in me, or that I secretly wish I could sing like Lea Michele. Kelly shared this awesome youtube channel with me where you can hear all the Glee songs!

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=209A1CDA6B3306CB

The only thing better than Glee is a Flash Mob to Glee songs.

This is literally my dream. Flash mob + Glee. I don't need much people.

Double Pepper

I cut open a yellow pepper to find a little green pepper inside. How crazy is that?

Sushi and Chawan Mushi

We had some leftovers from New Years....keep in mind the picture was taken on January 3rd....hand rolled sushi and Chawan Mushi.

The hand rolled sushi is sort of like the lazy-man's sushi. You cut a triangle of seaweed (nori) and then fill it with rice, veggies and fish.

Chawan mushi is a savory custard with shrimp and noodles.

Tagine

A tagine or tajine (pronounced /tɑːˈʒiːn/; Arabic: طاجين, pronounced [tˁaːdʒiːn]) is a type of dish found in the North African cuisines of Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia, which is named after the special pot in which it is cooked. Thanks wikipedia.

Dad got us one for Christmas, so I made something in it. I'm still not sure if it's any more special than a regular pot, but it's fun and looks fancy. And the meal was delicious.

Great Quote

Goes to show why context is important.

In an email to my sister, Stace:

"Good to hear from you.... glad you found a farm so quickly --- have fun !!!

mom"

The back story - Stace is in New Zealand and using a program where she basically works on a farm 5 days a week for 4-6 hours per day and gets room/board.

Awesome Gift

If you've ever had trouble finding a gift for someone, you should take a look at the vacu vin website. They are best known for their vacuum wine saver, but they have a ton of other really cool product. I got the suction cup glass markers for Christmas! We use stemless wine glasses at our house, so the little rings that people put around the glass stems wont work for us. I thought it was genius. They also have a melon slicer and pineapple slicer, and if they work as well as they are advertised, I'm sold.

Santa Pictures - and the rest

And starting from 2001, you really can't tell much difference between the rest of the photos. I am ALWAYS to Santa's left with almost identical smiles. Stace changes a bit - shorter 'do.....and Santa even stays the same for a few years. One of my favorite Santa quotes from our years taking these pictures was "Well, let's take a good one for mom." He knows all. I always wonder what the "elves" think when we come to take our photos. It's either "oh man, they seem a little old" or "well at least we know they wont cry." But then I realize, even if they are judging me, I'm not the one in the elf costume :-)

Mochi appeared in the last Santa photo, as did a family friend, posing as Santa. I think the tradition has ended, but it was a fun one.

Santa Pictures - 1995

I skipped a couple of years, because it wasn't anything exciting. I picked this photo because I think it was the year I put up the biggest stink about visiting Santa. I was too cool for school at this point.

Such a "circa mid 90's photo" - the plaid shirt over the mossimo t-shirt. So bad in so many ways.

Santa Pictures - 1989

It's kind of hard to see, but Stacey is eyeing santa. She'll sit on his lap, but doesn't trust the guy 100%.

Santa Pictures - 1988

Ahh, we get a full cry out of Stace. I finally sit on Santa's lap and mom's head makes a cameo. Look closely above my left shoulder. That dark spot is actually mom's head - good thing she has black hair.

Santa Pictures - 1987

This was a "twinsy" shot. We both wore the same burgundy, velvet dresses. Stace seems oblivious to the random man holding her and I can't remember if I was suppose to stand off to the side, or if I asked to stand off to the side. I seem a little standoff-ish.

Santa Pictures - 1986

Still the same Santa, only this year we add baby Stacey. I grudgingly sat on Santa's lap with Stace. My face would lead you to believe I'm a little constipated.

Santa Pictures - 1985

Ahh, 1985. I wasn't so scared that I needed mom, but there was no way I was going to sit on his lap.

Santa Pictures - 1984

1984, and the closest I ever got to one of those infamous "crying with Santa photos." The first time Mom appears in the photo, and the start of "the good Santa." Looking back on all the photos, we realized we had this same Santa half a dozen times. He's a very jolly looking man, and would be perfect, if not for the fake beard.

Christmas ornament from 1984. I was into Disney from the very beginning.

Santa Pictures - 1983

Taking santa pictures is a yearly tradition. Kids and parents head to their local department stores to get that coveted picture with the big man.

I was inducted into the Santa Picture Club in 1983, at the ripe age of 4 months. I guess I'm proud to say that I didn't cry. I was clearly not that excited about the situation, evidenced by my wandering eyes. But all in all, not a bad first shot.

What separates me from most other children, is that I continued to take photos with Santa until I was 24. And it was literally the forces of nature that stopped it from happening. There was so much snow last Christmas, Stace and I were physically unable to get to the mall. I think mom's ok with it, and to be honest, it really wasn't that bad. After about middle school, we really didn't care anymore. And each Christmas Mom would put ALL of them up. So it's actually really fun to see the progression. The next few posts will be the highlights of the past 24 years of Santa pictures.

And just for good measure, I'm throwing in my "Baby's first Christmas" ornament. I don't remember this Christmas at all, but I bet it was awesome.

The Beer Exchange

The Loper family has a pretty awesome Christmas gift giving tradition. The Beer Exchange. Each guy brings 12 random beers. Then NBA draft style, they each choose their winning "team" of 12 beers. The game has changed a bit over time. In early years, it started as a 12 beer, 3-way, gift giving extravaganza. Uncle Steve gives a dozen beers to Uncle John and other Uncle Steve. Then the Loper boys turned 21 and they realized it was going to be FAR too expensive to give 4 guys a dozen beers. Thus the new format.

Here is a picture from Beer Exchange 2007. Note the number of 12oz bottles.

In 2008, there were even fewer 12 oz bottles.

And in 2009, almost none. And trust me, they all went during the last round.

Uncle John and Uncle Steve are doing the ol' "rock, paper, scissor" to see who goes first. I actually think Uncle John has gone first for the past 3 years, but I can't say for sure. As you can see, he had luck (Mochi) on his side.

And then Mochi got drunk off the fumes.

Nijiya

Let's revisit the New Year's feast. I failed to mention that you can't buy very many of the ingredients at your neighborhood Safeway. In Seattle, we have a couple local Japanese grocery stores that sell the required amenities - Uwajimaya (lovingly called "waji's" by locals) and Maruta. You can pretty much get anything you need from these 2 places.

Unfortunately, Livermore is not an overflowing pot of rainbow soup - not a lot of Asians. Therefore, it does not behoove the city or any smart business man, to bring a Japanese supermarket to town. As a result, we drive to San Francisco. Yes, there are probably closer stores, but someone else was driving, so I wasn't going to complain.

Nijiya is located in Japantown. It has all the food you need for a proper New Year's Day feast and the world's smallest aisles. Think of a time you felt decently crowded, then add a shopping cart and quadruple the number of people....that's what it was like. And a Japanese grandma on New Year's Eve is typically on a mission....and you don't want to get in her way.

Every Asian person in a 15 miles radius was shopping there on Thursday. And there was no sort of line control either - willy nilly. Drove me nuts, but we got out with everything we needed. So if you need something from a Japanese market, and you live in Livermore....tough luck for you.

Mochi's Namesake

New Years seems like a perfect time talk about Mochi. Mochi happens to be our dog's name and whenever I tell people his name they say, "Oh, like the ice cream." Since I don't really want to go into a long explanation of why they are technically wrong, I say, "Yeah, pretty much." I guess I'm contributing to the ignorance of mankind, but it really doesn't seem like a big deal. And I guess I'm also pleased that they even know what Mochi Ice Cream is in the first place.

Ok, so what is Mochi Ice Cream? Well, you can get it at Trader Joes and it's basically ice cream inside of mochi. It comes in different flavors like vanilla, green tea, strawberry and azuki bean (the azuki bean may be the subject of another post, so for now, just go with it).

But what is mochi? It's a Japanese rice cake. In it's simplest form, it doesn't really taste like much - plain white rice. In the olden days, you made it by pounding glutinous rice into a paste/dough and then molded it into little balls with a flat bottom. Thanks to the genius of modern technology, you can now load up your mochi machine with rice and it comes out in a lovely lump of goo. Sounds delicious, I know.

Then you dump it out on a Mochiko sprinkled surface. Mochiko is like flour. It's like when you make cookies and sprinkle flour on the surface to keep the dough from sticking.

Then someone breaks off mini pieces of mochi and everyone crowds around and shapes the mini pieces into little round lumps. You have to go very fast because it's super hot and gets a little crusty as it cools.

The fruits of our labor - batch #1.

It's so good warm and right out of the machine. It's literally just a big ball of carbs. We made mochi at my aunts house last Monday in preparation for New Years. Which leads me to part 2 of this blog post.

New Years is to the Japanese like Super Bowl is to America. You make a ton of food and sit around all day and eat it. The difference, is that the Japanese food recipes are way more involved - in my opinion - and a little less heavy - no twice baked potatoes or pigs in a blanket at New Years.

The quintessential new years dish - at least it was while I was growing up - was Ozoni (pronounced OZONE-Y). It's basically soup with a piece of baked mochi in it.

I've missed New Years - Japanese style - for the past couple of years because I've always been in California. But this year, my neighbors and I decided to make a "traditional" new years spread. Which meant that I was going to make ozoni.

The soup is chicken based so I asked my aunt "can I just use chicken broth" - to which she responded with a look that said something like "not if you want it to taste any good." Ok, so off I went to make chicken broth from scratch. Then you mix in all sorts of random Japanese sauces - sake, mirin, memmi, shoyu (Japanese for Soy Sauce) and dashi. Then you add kamaboko (bright pink rimmed stuff, Japanese fish cake), daikon (radish), carrots, chicken and mizuna (Japanese parsley/spinach) to the the mix, bake a piece of mochi in the oven and you're set.

And here it is, all finished. DId I mention you are suppose to cut the daikon and carrots into little flowers? Seriously part of the recipe.

Made some for Nick and I new years and he ate it and said it was good. Either way, it's good luck. So all you suckers that didn't have any ozoni, I sure hope you keep a rabbits foot or something else in your pocket :-)

We spent the rest of the day at our neighbors, gorging ourselves with sushi, Char Siu, fried chicken - asian style, tofu, soba noodles, chawan mushi....and the list goes on.

Here, Zoe is beating up uncle Nick. He seems to be taking it well.

So there you have it. A little background on mochi and ozoni. I bet you didn't realize how much random Japanese stuff I knew. But then again, I guess it makes sense. You know, me being Japanese and all :-)