daily slice-of-life photo blog of a Gen-X dad
Today, I got a haircut and noticed a line forming outside a new hotpot restaurant. Coincidentally, Mariko prepared a delicious hotpot dinner at home tonight! The chicken meatballs, tofu, and veggies made for a hearty and healthy meal. Soon, though, Mariko and I will try out the new restaurant and see how it is.
Bay, who has been living in Paris for the past semester, requested Aji-furai as one of the meals when he returned home. So tonight Mariko made the fried fish, plus karaage too! It was quite a feast.
Leftover osechi can get a bit repetitive, so why not turn it into osechi curry? It’s delicious!
It seems like my first blog post every year is always about Mariko’s delicious osechi. This year’s was no exception! She switched things up by using pork instead of the usual beef, and I have to say — I loved it even more!
Bonus pic of Anko surfacing like a seal in the ocean:
Another tradition: good-luck soba. This year, Mariko switched it up with kitsune soba instead of our usual tempura soba — and it was absolutely delicious!
We enjoyed ramen today at Hironori in Tustin. Having heard about this small ramen chain before, I was excited to try it. The tonkotsu ramen was excellent – highly recommended!
Today was a long travel day, starting in Sedona, Arizona, and ending in Torrance, California. We kicked things off with a yummy breakfast at the Old Town Red Rooster Café in Cottonwood before hitting the road. Bay took the wheel for the first leg, and I drove the California stretch.
After a full day of driving, dinner at CoCo Ichibanya hit the spot. I usually go for level 10 spiciness, but this location now offers levels 15 and 20! Naturally, I had to try level 15. It was spicy, though I feel like their old level 10 from years back packed more heat. Either way, I’m definitely trying level 20 next time!
