Killer Food

Last Friday afternoon myself and Cian attended an event in the university organized by students (Mammy was allegedly "busy with work" but more likely too busy drinking coffee and kibbitzing in the staffroom). We were there to make mochi, the traditional food served in Japan to mark the new year. Mochi is essentially boiled rice placed in a wooden mortar and then repeatedly pounded with a pestle until it becomes a sticky, glutinous mass. It is then divided into smaller portions and eaten with different savories such as anko, whipped cream, kinako (roasted and ground soy flour), and eh, natto. Although I'm not much of a fan both Cian and Sanae quite like it.
Mochi also kills you.
Not in the long drawn-out way cholesterol eventually kills you, but in an immediate eat-it-and-you-die way. It sticks in the throat, blocking your airway and quickly asphyxiating you.
This past New Year alone saw 9 people choke to death after eating mochi while another 13 were in a 'serious' condition (medical speak for "Christ, but are they ever f***ed") in hospital.
And yet there we were, young and old, in the university, a national university no less, happily making a food that kills more people in Japan each year than guns do. Cian calls it a 'lethal weapon' and is planning on adding it to the armaments on the aircraft carrier he got for Christmas.

Skiing season has commenced

And so we took ourselves off to the snowy winter wonderland that is Rusutsu last weekend. It was my first time out on the big sticks this year, though probably not my last for dear reader I actually surprised myself (and Sanae and Cian) by actually enjoying myself. Admittedly, not as much as Cian enjoyed himself hurtling down the mountain barreling past all the cloven footed Australian beginners littering the course. Rusutsu and the neighbouring resort of Niseko have in recent years attracted a huge influx of foreigners, particularly from the Antipodes and Hong Kong. During the ski season you almost hear more English on the slopes than Japanese. Though most of it tends to be "Ahh strewth mate, my bloody ski's come off again!" We plan to be back up there again February as Cian continues his long-term preparations for the 2026 Winter Olympics. In the meantime you can 'thrill to the action' by watching this video here.

Family photos

It was a cold, grey wintery day here in Muroran and there wasn't much impetus for venturing outside.
What is depressing is that this is a sentence I could basically write for any day over the next three months.
Sigh.
Prolonged sigh.
To cheer ourselves up, we took some family snaps.

A Belated Happy New Year

To one and all. No real reason for not writing sooner. We disappeared for a week down to the wilds of central Hokkaido to spend New Year's at Sanae's mother's house. No internet in that part of the world and it was touch and go there for a couple of days with the telephone too. What we did have in abundance was cold, bitter cold. During the day it was fecking freezing, and at night it was unbelievably fecking freezing. Respectively, -4 and -20. I made the mistake of going for a jog one morning, not too early, around 9:00am. As I passed the JA center the big green digital thermometer told me it was still -13. I don't think I have ever run in conditions as cold. The winter air in Tokachi is so dry that I did manage to work up a sweat even in those conditions but as the sweat made its way through  my hat, gloves and scarf, it froze. By the time I got back to the house it looked I had a particularly rampant case of dandruff with all these small, white balls of frozen sweat littering my hat and shoulders.
Still, it had to be done. A new year, a new season of mid life crises / endurance races to be run in a futile attempt to grimly hang on to the younger man I once was but never will be again. And in a spirit of open armed inclusion to my fellow over 40s, I will provide a month-by-month 2015 preview to see if anyone can be enticed in joining me tilting at aging windmills.
And improving my metaphors.
January: Nothing. Too busy clearing snow. And skiing with Cian. I don't particularly like skiing and would prefer if the boy went on his own, but he claims he can't drive and so I have to take him to the ski field. So on top of my mid-life crisis, I also have the incessant demands of fatherhood in a cold climate.
February: There is a nordic ski marathon in Otake, about an hour's drive from Muroran, but as I can't nordic ski I won't be entering that. Though I would like to. Of all the winter sports you can do, (skiing, snowboarding, ice-skating, bobsleighing, luging, strip poker), this one would appeal to me the most as it actually involves self exercise as opposed to gravity doing all the work. Oh, and I would also like to try that one with the rifles because, c'mon, shooting things always feels good.
March: Still snow. But beginning to melt. Hopefully.
April: The Date Half Marathon - the gold standard of long distance running. Could be joined this year by 'Gebrselassie' Cian and 'Clydesdale' Mammy.
May: The Northern Horse Farm Marathon - the silver standard of long distance running. Hoping to see a couple of more Kerry jerseys out on the course.
June: Not sure. There is a two day endurance race across the 2000m+ Daisetsuzan mountain range in the centre of Hokkaido which I have always hankered to do but (a) my left knee can't hanker any more let alone take those stumbling descents; and (b) the water is finally warm and the waves are rolling in down at Itanki beach.
July: The Niseko Challenge. Given the age profile of the majority of the competitors this is an event that makes me feel young(ish). It also makes me feel highly embarrassed as I pathetically pedal in a good hour after they have all finished.
August: Well, if it's August, it's Ireland and it's the Cavan Kayakrun followed a week later by Gaelforce West. No pressure people, but no excuses either.
September: The Forest Kozan Green Race. Because 10th place is mine.
October: New for this year is the inagural Hiroo-cho half marathon. What is sure to be a 21km exercise in tearful nostalgia.
November/December: Not sure. Last year I gave up jogging for November and December to see if I could do anything to alleviate the pain brought on by a combination of achilles tendinitis, plantar fascitis, and a degenerating knee meniscus. The break helped, a little, but the lack of post-run endorphins also made me into a moody, irritable, hard-to-live-with grouchy bastard. So I'm not sure. Mind you a winter trip to Singapore would go a long way towards alleviating those symptoms.

Cavan Kayakrun - can you spot your humble blogger

Gaelforce West, before Croagh Patrick (or "that motherf***ing mountain" as us competitors refer to it). Hence the smile

Forest Kozan Green Race - pursuing bear just out of shot