Breaking the Fast

"Waiting" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/500 sec, ISO400
“Waiting” Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは!Hi, how’s it going?

Today’s photo is of a man waiting outside the martial arts studio. I assume he is waiting for his child to finish his class. I was in the area after finishing dinner, and was strolling around to get to the Pokestops that were nearby. Are you all playing Pokemon GO as well? I am playing it once in a while, but it is hard because the game runs so poorly on my phone. It’s frustrating and I give up many times because it just lags and then freezes. 😩

For the past few days, I’ve been fasting… meaning I have only had water, tea, and black coffee. It’s called a water fast and there are a lot of benefits to doing it. I wanted to go a bit longer than 3 days, but I think it’s good to just do a short fast before taking on longer ones. I’ve done 24-hour, and 36-hour fasts before, but the 72-hour was my longest to date! I felt fantastic after the first day and the fasts always reset my outlook on life (and food) for the better. It also gives the body a chance to heal itself, and the results for me are nicer skin, and my sore neck feels a lot better. I recommend you all do some research into water fasting… it’s a life-changer!

My first meal back from the fast was a nice bowl of Vietnamese Pho. The broth was so delicious and the veggies and noodles were excellent as well. After fasting, your sense of taste and smell are heightened so the meal was amazing. In all honesty, it probably wasn’t the best pho in the area, but today it sure tasted like it!

I hope you had a nice Wednesday.

おやすみなさい!

– B Barron Fujimoto

Delicious

"Brisket Time" Austin, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4.5, 1/125 sec, ISO3200
“Brisket Time” Austin, 2016

こんばんは!Hello, how’s it going?

Today at my office, we celebrated a late 4th of July with catered BBQ from Black’s BBQ. 🍴 It was excellent! I love their brisket of course, with pickles and onions on white bread, but their turkey was really delicious as well! I don’t usually like barbecued turkey, but this was so tender and juicy… it blew away Thanksgiving turkey for sure. While lunch was terrific, I also got a couple slices of brisket and sausages to take home, which I enjoyed for dinner. 😄

In other news, Pokémon GO was released. I played a little bit and have captured 3 pokémon so far. Looks like it’s a fun game, but my phone is slow so I have to turn off the augmented reality feature. And a word of warning, when you create your character, be sure he/she is customized just the way you want, including sex and name. Right now, there’s no changing it after you save! I learned the hard way… my character is female, named “SachiTheGreat”… 😭 Oh well. Her outfit is pretty cool at least.

Well, I hope you had a nice Thursday!

おやすみなさい

– B Barron Fujimoto

Peppers

"Jalapeños" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/125 sec, ISO1600
“Jalapeños” Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは!Hi, how’s it going?

Today’s photo is of some jalapeño peppers  that are growing in the backyard. This particular variety if pepper is yellow/orange, so these are almost ready to be harvested. It’s always an adventure going out back to gather peppers because there are so many mosquitoes this year! I will make sure to wear long pants and long sleeves if I go out back, even for just a minute. I hate those little buggers!

The peppers, however, are yummy and have a good amount of spiciness to them. 🔥 For dinner, I added some sliced raw peppers to my burger and they were perfect! And they are bright red, which is cool!

"Burger Face" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/125 sec, ISO2500
“Burger Face” Cedar Park, 2016

The “burger face” in the photo happened accidentally. I used a fork to put the burger onto the bun, and the two eyes were where my fingers pushed down to get the pattie off the fork. I thought it was funny. Anyways, it was a simple burger, just mayo, mustard, ketchup, red onion, jalapeño, and Muenster cheese on a toasted bun. Delicious! 🍔

I hope you had a nice Wednesday!

おやすみなさい!

– B Barron Fujimoto

Birthday Sushi

"Birthday Sushi" Austin, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/90 sec, ISO6400
“Birthday Sushi” Austin, 2016

こんばんは!Hello, how’s it going?

As you can see from today’s photo, we had sushi! It’s my son’s 15th birthday today, so we went to his favorite restaurant to dine on delicious Japanese food. Our friend prepared this amazing selection of sushi, which included some beef! It was all so yummy, I could have eaten all night.

I’m so happy that our kids are relatively open-minded about food. My wife and I love to try so many different kinds of cuisines, so Bay and Koa are used to giving new foods a try. Of course they have certain foods that they really don’t like, for instance Bay cannot stand mushrooms, and Koa doesn’t like sushi rice (although he likes the fish). I am pretty sure that in time, they will grow to enjoy these foods as well! 😄

The photo below is from the box of uni (sea urchin) that we enjoyed. It was from Japan and was super delicious! I wish I could eat it every day. 🍣

"Japanese Uni" Austin, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/110 sec, ISO6400
“Japanese Uni” Austin, 2016

Tonight’s photos were taken at a relatively high ISO of 6400, but the Fujifilm X-Trans II sensor handles it amazingly well. I don’t mind shooting at 6400 at all with my X100T, in fact, I have the Auto ISO range from 200-6400 which is something I would use only in extreme situations on my dslr. I think it is fantastic that cameras keep getting better at high-ISO. It’s the area where I think we can benefit the most.

I used the Fujifilm standard Provia film simulation for both of these photos, and in Lightroom I adjusted the white balance a tiny bit, deepened the blacks, brought back some shadows, and bumped up the vibrance a little. I then added a slight vignette and a some of grain, which is pretty much my standard look these days.

I hope you had a great Thursday. We’ve almost made it to the weekend!

おやすみなさい!

– B Barron Fujimoto

Usagi Shamoji

"Usagi Shamoji" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/100 sec, ISO1600
“Usagi Shamoji” Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは!

Today’s photo is of our Usagi Shamoji (usagi=rabbit; shamoji=rice spoon). We’ve had several different shamoji over the years, but I really like the fun(ny) ones, such as the rabbit spoon. Not only does it look nice, but it’s practical too since it stands up! The “standing fish” spoon is also a good design. We had one of them for a couple years until it cracked, and now we have the rabbit spoon. I recommend either one. 😄🐰🐟

FYI, the world’s largest shamoji is at Miyajima, Japan. 🇯🇵 It’s worth checking out if you visit the island!

I hope you had a great Monday!

おやすみなさい! – バロン Barron Fujimoto