Eating and Drinking

"Yakiniku" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/125 sec, ISO3200
“Yakiniku” Cedar Park, 2017

こんばんは。How are you today?

This evening Mariko prepared a delicious yakiniku (Korean BBQ) meal using her new grill pan which she received as a birthday present. Besides the main grill area, it has “pockets” on the side where you can put different goodies and keep them separate from the main grill. For tonight’s meal, we put cheese in one pocket, corn in another, and kimchee the the other two pockets. It worked great!

This was the first time I had cheese with yakiniku, and frankly, it was a little strange. I love cheese, especially melty, grilled cheese, but it felt a bit out of place with the regular yakiniku. Everyone else seemed to enjoy it quite a bit, though!

Before dinner we celebrated Margarita Day. I never knew there was such a day (and maybe this is the first one) but we might as well celebrate, right? Our basic margarita consists of 1 part lime juice, 1 part Cointreau, and 2 parts tequila. If we want it sweeter, we’ll add a bit of agave syrup. It was yummy as usual!

"Margarita Fixings" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.6, 1/125 sec, ISO1600
“Margarita Fixings” Cedar Park, 2017

I hope you had a great day.

おやすみなさい!

– B Barron Fujimoto

Tex-Mex

"Big As Yo' Face" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5.6, 1/125 sec, ISO5000
“Big As Yo’ Face” Cedar Park, 2017

Hello! A new location of the local Austin Tex-Mex restaurant Chuy’s opened near our house, so we had an early dinner there today. I had the gigantic “Big As Yo’ Face” burrito in the photo above. It was so filling and delicious, but I am so stuffed that I will need to do some fasting this coming week! 😆

Chuy’s is a fun restaurant, with a lot of kitschy decor on the walls and ceilings. And there’s also a huge Elvis Presley theme going on! I’d say Chuy’s doesn’t have the fanciest food, but it’s consistently good and has a great atmosphere. If you ever have the chance to dine at one, I recommend it! Just be prepared to wait a bit for a table. 😝

'Bar Rules" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.6, 1/100 sec, ISO1600
‘Bar Rules” Cedar Park, 2017
"Signature Ceiling" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.6, 1/100 sec, ISO800
“Signature Ceiling” Cedar Park, 2017

Food Photos

"Tofu Bento" Austin, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X-T10, 35mm, f/2.5, 1/125 sec, ISO2500
“Tofu Bento” Austin, 2017

こんばんは。How was your Saturday?

Today I took some photos of bento that our friends’ restaurant will sell. 🍱 The photo above is a closeup of the tofu bento, but I think the photos that will be used are just the basic top-down angle. But, I took several closeups too just in case.

As a bonus for the work I did, I got to take the bento home, and we had it for lunch and dinner. おいしかった!😄

This afternoon I relaxed by watching a lot of TV… first I watched an episode of Yuki!!! On Ice, which is an anime that Emily Yoshida is discussing on her podcast, It’s Cool to Like Anime. I decided to give it a watch, but the first episode didn’t interest me too much. I’ll probably watch a couple more to see if it grows on me.

I also started watching a currently running Japanese dorama, Tokyo Tarareba Musume, which I will blog about in another post… more to come!

おやすみ

バロン

Late Valentine’s Dinner

"Late Valentine's Dinner" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/55 sec, ISO3200
“Late Valentine’s Dinner” Cedar Park, 2017

みんなさんこんばんは。How’s it going?

Tonight we celebrated Valentine’s Day (a day late because Mariko had to work last night) with our annual fondue dinner.

Mariko always prepares a yummy cheese fondue, with bread, sausage, cauliflower, and potato. This year, we also had asparagus, carrots, apple, and ravioli! In the photo, you can see there are two cheeses, one for the kids and one, with wine added, for the adults. 😄🍷

And after the cheese fondue is finished, we’ll have a chocolate fondue, with strawberries, banana, apple, and marshmallows. 😍 おいしかった!

I look forward to our Valentine’s fondue dinner every February, and this year’s version didn’t disappoint!

I hope you had a nice Wednesday.

またね~

バロン

Work, Bread, and Travel Planning

"Fresh Bread" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.6, 1/100 sec, ISO3200
“Fresh Bread” Cedar Park, 2017

こんばんは。How was your Monday?

Mine was really good! At work, I was able to make progress on some projects that fell by the wayside, and that gave me a good, positive feeling of accomplishment. I find it so interesting that each time I complete a task that has been sitting on my mental list, a small weight is lifted off of my mind and I feel a sense of relief and freedom. I have gotten to the stage where I kind of enjoy having things on my mental list because I look forward to the feeling I’ll have when I finish the task.

Anyways, today’s photo is of a fresh loaf of bread that Mariko made today. It’s beautiful, isn’t it? And I had to steal a slice just to savor the taste. おいしかった!🍞❤️

Tonight I put together a Google Map that contains a bunch of info for our summer trip to Morroco and Spain – hotels, restaurants, and sightseeing locations. Bay had gathered a list of items, so I started with that and now I’ll start doing some serious research into activities I think everyone would be interested in. If you have any suggestions or tips for traveling to Morocco and/or Spain, let me know via comments or my contact form!

Have a nice evening, friends!

おやすみ

-B