Category: Food

Birthday Dinner

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Photo info: FUJIFILM X-E4, 27mm, f/2.8, 1/80 sec, ISO1600
 “Ribs” Cedar Park, 2022

Tonight I made some Chinese-style seasoned ribs and Oyster-sauce greens for Mariko’s birthday. She didn’t have a specific request, but I offered to try a new dry rub recipe on a tried-and-true baby-back ribs cooking method, and she said that sounded good. The ribs turned out great!

At the same website where I found the ribs recipe, I found a recipe for the greens and they also turned out nicely:

Photo info: FUJIFILM X-E4, 27mm, f/2.8, 1/100 sec, ISO1000
 “Chinese Greens” Cedar Park, 2022

I hope Mariko enjoyed her birthday dinner!

Here are the recipes:

Ehōmaki for Setsubun

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Photo info: FUJIFILM X-E4, 27mm, f/2.8, 1/100 sec, ISO1250
 “Ehoumaki” Cedar Park, 2022

Tonight we celebrated Setsubun by eating ehōmaki while facing this year’s lucky direction, North-Northwest. The sushi was delicious and filling. It’s one (Kansai) Japanese tradition that I truly love!

Photo info: FUJIFILM X-E4, 27mm, f/2.8, 1/100 sec, ISO800
 “Sliced Ehoumaki” Cedar Park, 2022

Cioppino Dinner

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Photo info: FUJIFILM X-E4, 27mm, f/2.8, 1/100 sec, ISO1600
 “Cioppino” Cedar Park, 2022

A big pot of Cioppino filled the house with an amazing aroma this afternoon. Mariko had a few friends over for dinner, and the cioppino was the main dish, with salads and focaccia accompanying it. In addition, she made a beautiful cheese board. So cool! I’m always so grateful to be able to enjoy food like this at home. ☺️

Photo info: FUJIFILM X-E4, 27mm, f/2.8, 1/100 sec, ISO1600
 “Cheese Board” Cedar Park, 2022

Lighting Kit in Action

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Photo info: FUJIFILM X-E4, 27mm, f/5, 1/40 sec, ISO1600
 “Lighting Kit” Cedar Park, 2022

My wife used our Neewer 660 lighting kit for the first time last night during a pizza lesson. It worked out nicely! The shoot-through umbrella is a little obtrusive, but the diffused light and soft shadows that it creates is worth it.

Old Liquor

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Photo info: FUJIFILM X-E4, 27mm, f/2.8, 1/100 sec, ISO800
 “Old Whisky” Cedar Park, 2022

Last year I brought home several bottles of old very liquor. My parents’ neighbor/friend passed away and he had a lot of bottles in his collection, which my parents saved. These are two of the unopened whisky bottles. I don’t know how long they stay good, but we opened the one on the right and it seems fine!

We did try a couple of other bottles which were a bit foul so we dumped them, but I’m happy that we can enjoy at least one of them. Cheers! 🥃

Homemade Hot Sauce

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Photo info: FUJIFILM X-E4, 55mm, f/4, 1/80 sec, ISO1600
 “Scotch Bonnet Hot Sauce” Torrance, 2022

My cousin sent over his hot sauce recipe and my mom used her Scotch Bonnet harvest to make a few bottles of fire. Super tasty and a good amount of heat.

I was bummed that we couldn’t take a bottle home with us (we only had carry-ons for our plane trip) but I’m looking forward to using the recipe to make my own batch! 🌶

Tiger Bread

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Photo info: FUJIFILM X-E4, 37.4mm, f/4, 1/25 sec, ISO1600
 “Tiger Bread” Cedar Park, 2022

2022 is year of the tiger, so Mariko baked some tiger bread. The outside looks like the common orange color, but the inside is like a white tiger. It’s very cool, isn’t it? 🐯

Photo info: FUJIFILM X-E4, 39mm, f/4, 1/17 sec, ISO1600
 “Tiger Bread” Cedar Park, 2022