Thursday Dinner and a Movie

"Kimchee Nabé" Cedar Park, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.6, 1/100 sec, ISO2000
“Kimchee Nabé” Cedar Park, 2018

こんばんは。 How’s it going?

Tonight’s dinner was a kimchee nabé, which is a hotpot dish with tofu, pork, napa cabbage, and mushrooms. The broth’s main flavor comes from kimchee, and is enriched with a little cream. It was awesome! Not only delicious, but it really warms up your belly. 🔥🍲

It was the first time using a new nabé pot that Mariko got for her birthday, and she bought the ingredients from a new market that just opened today! Mariko said that the grand opening of H-Mart was crazy! I’ll wait until the crowds die down a bit before I go, but it’s really nice to have this popular Asian market just 10 minutes away. We used to make a stop at the H-Mart in Carrollton (Dallas) when we visited up north, but now we don’t need to make that long trip anymore. Yay! Actually, it just means that when we visit Dallas, we can skip H-Mart and just do Daiso.

After dinner I decided to use my Moviepass to see “Early Man”. I love all the movies from Nick Park, and this one didn’t disappoint. I was laughing from the very start! And I was excited even before the movie started because one of the previews was for another Nick Park movie, “Shaun the Sheep in Farmageddon”. Can’t wait! 😄

Here’s a short video that I took during the pre-show at the theater. I’ve been making a short video every day this year for my “1 Second Everyday” project. It’s pretty fun so far.

Hope you had a nice Thursday!

またね~

Valentines Day

"Valentines Fondue" Cedar Park, 2018
Photo info: Motorola Moto G (4), 3.64mm, f/2, 1/17 sec, ISO400
“Valentines Fondue” Cedar Park, 2018

こんばんは。How’s it going?

Tonight we celebrated Valentines Day as we normally do: by enjoying a yummy fondue dinner! I don’t know when we started this tradition exactly, but it’s been at least several years.

For the main course, we have two cheese fondues, one for the kids with no alcohol, and then the adult’s version which includes white wine. We use Emmentaler, Gruyere, and Cheddar, but I don’t remember which goes into which, but both are delicious! This year we had bratwurst, baguette cubes, apples, cauliflower, carrots, and potatoes for dipping. It doesn’t look like a lot of food when you put it on the table, but it is really filling!

For the dessert portion, we had a chocolate fondue with marshmallows, strawberries, bananas, and brownies.

I only had a little of the dessert (I was so full) but the chocolate/banana combo was super. 😍

I hope you had a nice Wednesday!

またね~

"Valentines Cat" Cedar Park, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/100 sec, ISO640
“Valentines Cat” Cedar Park, 2018

Birthday Dinner

"Steak Dinner" Cedar Park, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.6, 1/100 sec, ISO2500
“Steak Dinner” Cedar Park, 2018

こんばんは。How’s it going?

Today is my wife’s birthday, and her dinner request was steak! She actually did all of the shopping: rib-eye steaks, potatoes, and salad.

On her recommendation, I “dry brined” the steaks for about 8 hours which means that I salted and peppered them, then left them uncovered in the fridge. I can honestly say that these were some of the most flavorful steaks I have ever had! I don’t know if it was the dry brining or not, but they were super delicious.

Bay helped to make the mashed potatoes in the Instant Pot, and Koa helped with consuming the food. 😄 We all ate so much, but it was a fun dinner. Birthday meals are the best.

またね~

Ehōmaki

"Ehōmaki" Cedar Park, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/80 sec, ISO3200
“Ehōmaki” Cedar Park, 2018

こんばんは。How’s it going?

Tonight we celebrated Setsubun by eating our traditional Ehōmaki, or “lucky direction sushi”. You are supposed to eat the whole uncut maki sushi in silence, while facing the lucky direction, which happens to be south-southeast this year.

Of course, we have extra sushi, so that gets sliced into pieces which we can enjoy after we finish our rolls. Yum!

"Sushi" Cedar Park, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/100 sec, ISO2500
“Sushi” Cedar Park, 2018

I was looking forward to eating Ehōmaki all day long, and it didn’t disappoint. 😀

I hope you had a nice Saturday!

おやすみ