Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.6, 1/125 sec, ISO4000 “Pepperoni Please” Cedar Park, 2017
こんばんは。How’s it going?
I don’t know how long this has been a tradition, but today is National Pizza Day! Perhaps it is the brainchild of Pizza Hut or Dominos, but whatever the origin, it’s time to celebrate! 🍕🎉
Tonight we had two pizzas, both pepperoni, but one was thin crust, and the other was a rising crust (both from frozen). Koa and I preferred the thin, while Mariko and Bay went with the traditional crust. But I’m pretty much a fan of all types of pizza. 😝
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In other news, I was listening to ZARD today, which is one of my favorite bands/singers. It has been almost 10 years since Sakai Izumi passed away, so it’s a sad occasion, but I still enjoy her music a lot.
One of my favorite tunes is “今日はゆっくり話そう”. Please give it a listen, preferably loud 🎸🔉🎵, and check out my favorite songs page! 🎶
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5.6, 1/45 sec, ISO3200 “Egg on Rice” Cedar Park, 2017
こんばんは。How’s it going?
This evening, Mariko had to work. but she prepped some food for me to cook up for myself and the kids. Thankfully the dish just involved cooking some eggs in the pan, and pouring over rice to make a simple but delicious donburi.
The egg mixture had some sugar, shoyu, surimi, and peas in it. We also put a little Sriracha on the final dish to taste. おいしかった！
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By the way, in my regular blog posts, I don’t write about politics too often, but today I wanted to say that I actually called my Representative’s office and voiced my displeasure about Trump using his office to comment on his daughter’s business. These things get me so riled up! I don’t want my tax money to go towards his bank account, but that’s what is happening. Just like I don’t want my tax money to pay for religious schools (ugh DeVos!), I don’t want my money used to fill Trump’s family coffers.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.5, 1/100 sec, ISO1600 “Ehoumaki Waiting” Cedar Park, 2017
こんばんは。
Today is Setsubun 🎌, which means that it is time to eat our lucky-direction sushi, or ehoumaki. As you can see in the photo, there were three large sushi rolls wrapped up (and extra sushi cut and ready for eating). Mariko had to work this evening, so she made the sushi earlier for us so we could enjoy it for dinner, while following the traditional way of eating it.
The tradition is to eat the entire sushi roll, while facing a certain direction depending on the year. This year’s direction was pretty much north, but just a tiny bit to the west. You might be able to see, but Mariko wrote the direction on my sushi roll so I wouldn’t forget. 😊
In addition to facing the certain direction, you are not allowed to speak until you finish your entire sushi roll! By following these two rules, you ensure the upcoming year is a prosperous one. 😄
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/100 sec, ISO2000 “Sukiyaki Dinner” Cedar Park, 2017
こんばんは。How’s it going tonight?
This evening when I picked up my kids from school, they both said they were really hungry and asked me what was for dinner. I replied that I didn’t know, but that I saw that Mariko had set the rice cooker so I figured we’d be having Japanese food tonight. And when we got home, the house smelled so good!
In the kitchen, there was a nice pan of sukiyaki (すき焼き) on the stove bubbling and ready to eat. Usually, sukiyaki is made with beef, but tonight’s was a chicken sukiyaki, with tofu, greens, konyaku noodles, and udon noodles. And we had farm-fresh egg to dip it in. It was delicious! The combination of chicken and egg reminded me of my favorite food, oyakodon (親子丼).
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.6, 1/125 sec, ISO2000 “Making Naan” Cedar Park, 2017
こんばんは。How’s it going?
This evening my wife went to work before she could finish making naan for us, so I had to take over. Mariko prepared the dough for me in the bread maker, and when it was ready it was my chance to succeed or fail. 😝
When I took the dough out of the breadmaker, it was really sticky and got stuck on my hand. I was thinking that this cannot be right! Did I take it out too early? Was it supposed to rest for 15 minutes? Did I miss something on the bread machine since it is all in Japanese? The doubts were going through my head. 😱
But then I floured up my hands and sprinkled flour on the Silpat baking sheet, and things got easier. I divided the dough into six portions, then went to work forming the dough into flat shapes. While I was doing that, our cast-iron skillet was heating up on the stove and starting to smoke a bit – just about ready to cook!
The first naan I put on was a bit too thick and a little dough-ey, but it was still delicious. The other five naan got better (and thinner) the more practice I got so I was happy. When each one came off the pan, I spread a little butter on it and sprinkled some salt.
The real test came at dinner when the kids tasted it with their curry. And they thought the naan was good! Koa ate two of them and even designated a section of his plate exclusively for curry sauce for dipping the naan in. No rice or chicken allowed in that section. 😄
I think the naan experiment was a success.
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Below is a photo of my hiragana practice sheet. As I mentioned earlier, I am studying Japanese again and part of that is to get used to writing hiragana and katakana.
I’m surprised (and happy) that my writing is getting better and better. I was an art major in college, so you’d think I would have some skills at this, but I have always been very poor at drawing. However, I am really pleased with how it is going so far. I actually had to ask my kids if they did that third line of “あ” because I thought there’s no way I did it!
I still have a long way to go, but I’m trying to make sure I keep a positive attitude and not get discouraged if I go too fast. I want to enjoy the experience! That means a not-so-aggressive timeline. ☺️
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/16, 1/10 sec, ISO6400 “ひらがな” Cedar Park, 2017
I hope you had a nice Wednesday.
またね！
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