Category: Food

Father’s Day Happenings

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"At the Flea Market" Kyle, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/8, 1/1700 sec, ISO200
 “At the Flea Market” Kyle, 2016

こんばんは！Happy Father’s Day to all the dad’s out there!

Today was a super busy one for us because both Koa and Bay are starting week-long summer camps. First off, Koa is attending a percussion camp down at Texas State University in San Marcos which is about a 45-minute drive south from us and today was his check-in and audition. He’s pretty excited because he gets to stay over in the dorms! Plus there are a lot of fun activities planned and many different classes where he’ll learn a lot of different kinds of percussion. I think he’ll have a ton of fun! 🎼

After dropping him off, we decided to stop by the Kyle Flea Market that we passed by on the way to the camp. It was pretty fun, but super hot! Although today is only in the low 90s, the flea market warehouse was not air-conditioned so it was sweltering! 😅 We didn’t find anything worth buying but it was still interesting to see how much junk was for sale.

"Homemade SIgnage" Kyle, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/8000 sec, ISO200
 “Homemade Signage” Kyle, 2016

Next up was lunch, which I got to decide since it is Father’s Day. I was presented with two choices: Shake Shack or Burgerfi. I think I was pretty much guided to choose Burgerfi which was fine with me. The burgers were yummy and it really hit the spot! I chose the “Conflicted Burger” which was one meat patty and one veggie-patty. It was pretty good, but I think I should have just gotten a double-cheeseburger with jalapeños, which is exactly what Bay ordered. Mariko had a cheeseburger with fried egg, and I had a bite… definitely a good combination!

"Three Burgers" Austin, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5.6, 1/100 sec, ISO2000
 “Three Burgers” Austin, 2016

Next up on our Sunday list was to visit the UT campus to check out where Bay’s 3D Printing & Product Design camp will be held. Mariko will be dropping him off and picking him up each day so she wanted to make sure she knew the location. Once we checked it out, we walked to a cream-puff bakery called Cream Whiskers for some ice coffee and matcha cream-puffs. It was yummy!

When we left the bakery, it was close after 6pm so we headed home and then watched game 7 of the NBA finals, and that brings us up to the present!

Oh, one more thing… my Father’s Day loot!

"Father's Day Loot" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/8, 1/17 sec, ISO6400
 “Father’s Day Loot” Cedar Park, 2016

I received a bunch of cool stuff:

  • Sweet treats and trail mix from my parents
  • Yo-kai Watch game for the Nintendo 3DS (or my 2DS)
  • Food-grinder attachment for our mixer so I can make fresh burgers 🍔
  • 5-year Diary. Each day has five entries, so you can easily see what you did on the same day the previous year

Now it’s almost midnight and I didn’t get to play Yo-kai Watch yet… maybe I’ll get to play tomorrow. 🎮

I hope you had a great weekend. ☺️

おやすみなさい！ – B Barron Fujimoto

Early Father’s Day Dinner

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"Korean BBQ" Austin, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/100 sec, ISO2500
 “Korean BBQ” Austin, 2016

こんばんは！How’s it going?

Tomorrow is Father’s Day, but we celebrated an early Father’s Day dinner this year because tomorrow we’ll be very busy and our family won’t be together at dinner time. We’re taking Koa to a Percussion camp, where he will stay for the week. But we often celebrate special occasions early because we like to avoid the dinner crowds, especially on Mother’s and Father’s days.

For this year, I decided that I wanted to go out for Korean BBQ since we haven’t had it in a while. Plus I know the kids like it and Mariko won’t have to cook. 😀 We have two go-to Korean BBQ restaurants we like here in Austin, but there is a new one that recently opened and we decided to give it a try. Charm Korean BBQ is about 25 minutes away from our house and since Mariko and the boys were out watching “Finding Dory” down in South Austin, we figured I’d just meet them at the restaurant after the movie was finished.

"Waiting" Austin, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/1900 sec, ISO400
 “Waiting” Austin, 2016

I arrived a bit before Mariko and the kids, so I had time to take the photo above from the lobby. By the way, temperatures went over 100°F here in Austin. That seems a bit early in the year, doesn’t it? 😓

"Charm Korean BBQ" Austin, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/7.1, 1/25 sec, ISO3200
 “Charm Korean BBQ” Austin, 2016

We ordered three meat dishes – marinated beef, spicy pork belly, and beef tongue. They were all tasty, but my favorite was the spicy pork. Of course I love the spicy foods, and I even added some raw jalapeño slices to give it even more heat. 🔥 Koa’s favorite was the beef tongue, which was really flavorful. I’m surprised that he likes it because I thought he would object to eating “weird” meat. 🐮

I’d say that Charm Korean BBQ is pretty good, but I think I prefer our old stand-byes: Korea House and Chosun. The side dishes at those two restaurants is superior to those at Charm, and I’d also say the meat is tastier at the older restaurants. Still, it’s nice to have options, and if you want all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ, Charm offers it while the other two don’t. So there’s that. ☺️

I hope you had a nice Saturday!

おやすみなさい！ – B Barron Fujimoto

Simple Margaritas

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"Tequila Tuesday" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/100 sec, ISO2500
 “Tequila Tuesday” Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは！Hello, how’s it going?

Today’s photo is of the margaritas I made this evening for my wife and I. The past month or so, we’ve been enjoying a simple, but delicious, recipe for these drinks. They are so easy to make! Here’s the magic mixture:

  • 1 part fresh lime juice
  • 1 part triple sec
  • 2 parts tequila
  • ½ – 1 tsp Agave syrup to taste (optional)

Combine the ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice, give it a vigorous shaking, then pour over ice. Enjoy!

FYI, to make the amount in the photo, I measured 1.5 oz per part, and we didn’t add any syrup.

I hope you had a nice day today, and we’ll see you tomorrow,

おやすみなさい！ – B Barron Fujimoto

 

Holiday eating

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"Grilltime" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/10, 1/100 sec, ISO800
 “Grilltime” Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは！ Good evening!

How was your Monday? Here in the States, we had a holiday so many of us did not have to work and the kids have a holiday from school as well. We didn’t have any big plans, but we stayed home and cooked, relaxed, watched TV, and enjoyed each-other’s company.

The one thing we did plan was our dinner – t-bone steaks and sausage on the backyard grill. In addition, we had a couple of delicious salads and home-baked bread. It was all so good! We usually like to eat rib-eye steaks, but Koa said t-bones because he enjoys gnawing on the bones. 🍖 Of course we love the filet-mignon part of the steaks the best! So yummy. Bay, on the other hand, is not a big fan of steak, so I grilled some pork and garlic sausages for him. They were yummy as well. 😃

Today’s photo is one I took of our new grill, which is a gas grill. I like our charcoal grill, but Mariko wanted to get a more convenient grill for herself. This one is pretty good and easy to use. It heats up quickly and although it was my first time using it for steaks, they turned out pretty good! I did take them off a bit too early and then had to put them back on for a couple minutes, but since the heat adjustment is so responsive, it didn’t take long to get the grill back up to temperature.

These days, I am trying to eat better, with less processed foods and more natural and organic whole foods. For snacking, I like nuts and fruits, but occasionally I will have chips. And I rarely have sugary foods. I can’t remember the last time I had a soda… but I know I made the decision in January of 2013 to quit sodas… so I guess it has been over 3 years. And I have to say, I rarely get sick anymore. I think it has been one of the best decisions I’ve made. It’s funny, but at my work, we’ve had free sodas available for years now, but I don’t have any cravings at all for them. 😄 Besides the sugar, I don’t want my body to have to deal with all the chemicals that sodas have. Just water is good enough! Well, and my coffee, beer and wine. 🍷

Anyways, sorry to ramble on about my eating habits, but you are what you eat. 🍴

I hope you had a nice Monday, and we’ll see you tomorrow!

おやすみなさい！

– B Barron Fujimoto

Half-over

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"Afternoon Clouds" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5.6, 1/15000 sec, ISO200
 “Afternoon Clouds” Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは！Hi, how’s it going?

The week is half-over! Has it been going ok? My week has been good, especially at work. I feel energized in the new office and I have started a couple new projects, and continued a couple old ones that had fallen by the wayside. It’s kind of exhausting, though. It takes a lot of concentration and that can be fatiguing. Every night this week I feel so tired… but it’s a good kind of tired. Like how you feel good after exercising because you know the effort is important and healthy. 💪

I haven’t taken many cloud photos lately, but this afternoon when I arrived home, the sun was peeking through and it looked really cool. So I couldn’t resist! ☁️ 📷 I bumped up the clarity a bit using a graduated filter in Lightroom… I think it came out pretty good!

Below is a photo of tonight’s dinner – Hawaiian-style char-siu chicken. It was so yummy! We got to use our new grill for the first time, too. I’m happy to report that it works nicely and is so easy to use. A successful inaugural effort. 😊

"Char-siu Chicken" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.2, 1/100 sec, ISO2000
 “Char-siu Chicken” Cedar Park, 2016

Just two more days in the work week, and then it’s the weekend. Let’s have a good Thursday!

おやすみなさい！😴

– B Barron Fujimoto