#1 Meal

"Favorite Meal" Cedar Park, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/20 sec, ISO3200
“Favorite Meal” Cedar Park, 2018

こなばんは。 How’s it going?

Tonight Mariko went out to a movie with a friend, but before she left, she prepared my favorite meal for us: oyakodon (親子丼). I’ve mentioned it before, but the word “oyakodon” means “parent and child donburi”, and it refers to it being chicken and egg. Kind of macabre, but oh so yummy!

Anyways, Mariko prepared the chicken, onion, and broth and left the covered pan on the stove for us to finish cooking. I basically just had to add the lightly beaten eggs and cook until the desired doneness. Sometime we’ll top it with nori (seaweed) and/or scallion, but tonight, we just had it plain with a bit of hot pepper. To me, it’s a perfect meal!

When I lived in Japan I used to go to a bento place called Hokka Hokka Tei. It was fast, convenient, and inexpensive. Although I wasn’t a huge fan of oyakodon back then, my favorite dish was a similar one called “katsu-ju”, which was breaded pork cutlet with egg on rice. Mmmmm! If I remember correctly, it was one of the more expensive items on the menu, at around 500 yen. But if I was short on cash that day, the noriben was also yummy, and only something like 220 yen. I miss those days!

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In other news, I caught up with Segodon (episode 10 currently) and am still enjoying it. The character Princess Atsu (played by Kitagawa Keiko) is the subject of another Taiga drama from several years ago, Atsuhime (hime=princess). I’m going to start watching that one too, but at 50 episodes, it’s going to be a long haul. 😀

I hope you had a nice Monday!

またね~

Eating Out

"Vietdog" Austin, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/100 sec, ISO320
“Vietdog” Austin, 2018

こんばんは。How’s it going?

Yesterday’s post featured a couple photos of homemade food, and today’s post has some restaurant food photos.

The first is from Mission Dogs, which is a food truck that comes by our office every week or so. They sell bacon-wrapped hot dogs, with several topping variations. Today I tried the “Vietdog”, which had cucumber, carrots, cilantro, garlic-chili sauce, and sriracha mayo. It was so good! My co-worker and I call the hot dogs “Disney dogs” because you pay more than you think you should for just a hot dog. But actually, the Mission Dogs are totally worth the price because they are so delicious and special, so the “Disney dogs” comment is mostly out of jest. 😄🌭🌶️❤️

"Fruity" Austin, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/100 sec, ISO1250
“Fruity” Austin, 2018

The second photo is of a fancy drink from Olive Garden. We went out for dinner, which is not uncommon, but we rarely go to Olive Garden – this was perhaps only the third time we’ve ever eaten there. The food is certainly tasty, but it’s not the healthiest choice. Honestly, Mariko’s carbonara is hard to beat. But I suppose going out every once in a while is good, and a nice break from preparing a meal at home.

I hope you had a nice Thursday!

またね~

Sweet Paris Crêperie

"Lemony" Houston, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5, 1/100 sec, ISO400
“Lemony” Houston, 2018

こんばんは。Today Mariko drove down to Houston to pick up her new passport from the Japanese consulate. The drive there was long (almost 3 hours) but it only took 15 minutes at the consulate to receive the passport, so we had a couple hours of free time in the big city. Woohoo!

One of the places we visited was Sweet Paris Crêperie and Café, which served… Crepes! And coffee! I was actually kind of full from lunch, so I had one of their lighter items, a lemon and butter crepe. It was yummy but maybe a little too sour towards the end. Mariko got a crepe with dulce de leche, banana, and berries. It was pretty sweet, and since I’m not a huge fan of crepes in the first place, I wasn’t too impressed. But it was nice to sit down and relax for a little while before hitting the road again for the long drive back to Austin.

"Sweet Stuffing" Houston, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/110 sec, ISO200
“Sweet Stuffing” Houston, 2018

またね~