Cycle 16 – Item 22

27 (Mon) January 2025

-Post 5,501-

Hosomaki

3.0

by Aunt H + Uncle S

at the Cabin

-Changchon, Seowon, Hoengseong, Gangwon, Republic of Korea-

with the Family, Mom + Dad, maternal kin

2025 Lunar New Year at the Cabin (Day 2 of 4)

• • Day 1, Sun, Jan 26 (16.021 Chadolbagi)
  • Day 2, Mon, Jan 27 (16.022 Hosomaki)
  • Day 3, Tue, Jan 28 (16.023 Lunar New Year Spread)
  • Day 4, Wed, Jan 29 (16.024 Ddeok Mandu Guk)

Spending the first half of the week-long Lunar New Year holiday at the cabin.

We arrived yesterday afternoon.

Although the plan had been to ski/snowboard all day, we had to wait until after midday, when the roads had been cleared of snow (between the cabin and the main road lies a steep hill that can be tricky under suboptimal conditions; the Land Rover has sufficient power, but it’s not fitted with snow tires or chains, thus vulnerable to slippage).

Arriving at the resort (Oak Valley Ski Resort) less than 2 hrs before closing, with long lines and only 2 lifts in operation, we barely managed to make 3 runs, IZ and I skiing together, DJ snowboarding on his own.

The first 2 runs on the bunny slope, no problem.

For the final run, we ventured the intermediate slope.

It started out fine, carefully criss-crossing the mountain on nearly a horizontal trajectory to maintain a manageable speed.  But suddenly, IZ lost control and began going straight downhill, quickly picking up velocity, unable to slow down.  Too far away to do anything, I could only watch, as if on a monitor in slow motion, knowing it wouldn’t end pretty.  Soon enough, his skies caught in a snowdrift and launched him forward, airborne for what seemed like seconds (probably a millisecond), crashing headfirst into the powder and erupting in the biggest explosion of snow that I’ve ever seen (reminded me of the cannonball scene in Shallow Hal).  I raced down the slope to find him lying prone, embedded deep in the snow, limbs scattered in random directions, unmoving.  When I turned him over, his face was completely covered in powder.  He spit out a mouthful of snow and laughed.  Seriously though, if the snow hadn’t been so soft, he could’ve broken his face.

But the ordeal wasn’t over yet.  Rather shaken by the fall, IZ struggled to stand up and took several minutes to get back into his skis.  Then, upon resuming his run, he approached the side of the slope, where he should’ve turned and headed back in the opposite direction, but he failed to turn, and couldn’t stop, and crashed into the fence and got tangled up in the netting.  Meanwhile, everyone else had already passed us, so we were the last ones on the slope; a ski patrol guy who had been monitoring our progress came over, decided that IZ was done, and called for an emergency snowmobile evacuation.  I skied down and met them at the bottom.

For dinner, Aunt H and Uncle S, who ran several sushi restaurants in the States (see for example 9.351 Dragon Roll + Nemo Roll), made an assortment of rolls.

Hosomaki is a Japanese dish.  A simple sushi roll typically comprising one central component: e.g., tuna (see for example 13.201 Tekka Maki), fatty tuna + scallion (see for example 1.198 Negitoro Maki), (imitation) crab (see for example 1.213 Kani Maki), shiso leaf (see for example 8.103 Shiso Maki), burdock root (see for example 14.362 Kinpira Gobo Maki).  The term means “thin (hoso) roll (maki)” – the conceptual opposite of futomaki (fat roll), which involves stuffing the roll with many components (see for example 6.327 Futomaki).

My favorite kind of sushi, especially negitoro maki, one of my all-time favorite dishes in the world.

For reasons unfathomable, hosomaki is not really a thing in Korea.

I was grateful for the opportunity.

(See all GLOBAL FOOD GLOSSARY)