Category: Slice of Life

Mother’s Day Meals

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Photo info: FUJIFILM X-T10, 35mm, f/2, 1/75 sec, ISO1250
 “Breakfast Burrito” Cedar Park, 2019

こんばんは。Mariko had a simple request for Mother’s Day: please feed me and let me watch my tv shows. 😆

With that in mind, Bay was tasked with preparing breakfast, and Koa would help with the grill at dinner, and also make sure Mariko had mimosas on-demand. 🥂

First up was breakfast, and for this, Bay made deluxe breakfast burritos with eggs, cheese, chorizo, jalapeño sausage, bacon, and hashbrowns. Since we couldn’t find super-gigantic tortillas, Bay divided them into smaller burritos, but they were still awesome. 🌯

Photo info: FUJIFILM X-T10, 35mm, f/2, 1/75 sec, ISO400
 “Breakfast Crew” Cedar Park, 2019

For dinner, Bay prepared garlic mashed potatoes in the Instant Pot, while Koa grilled the sirloin steaks on the deck barbecue. This was Koa’s first time grilling, so I helped him with the meat-thermometer and seasoning the 4 Top Sirloins from Omaha Steaks. They turned out nicely, with perfect medium-rare doneness. I threw in some broccoli for good measure, plus some rolls that Mariko had baked earlier, and it was a yummy dinner! 🥩

Photo info: FUJIFILM X-T10, 35mm, f/2, 1/125 sec, ISO400
 “Grill Crew” Cedar Park, 2019
Photo info: FUJIFILM X-T10, 35mm, f/2, 1/75 sec, ISO640
 “Steak Dinner” Cedar Park, 2019

And as a little bonus, we also gave her a bouquet of fresh flowers. 💐

Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/100 sec, ISO1600
 “Mother’s Day Bouquet” Cedar Park, 2019

I hope you had a nice day!

またね～

p.s. We ordered a bunch of food items from Omaha Steaks, and if you’d like to try the Top Sirloin steaks like we had, please click on the delicious-looking steak photo (affiliate link) below.

Final Piano Recital

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Photo info: FUJIFILM X-T10, 18.8mm, f/2.8, 1/15 sec, ISO640
 “Teacher and Student” Austin, 2019

こんばんは。How’s it going?

Today is bittersweet because Bay’s last piano recital was this afternoon. He’s been taking lessons since he was about 9 years old, which means he’s performed in about 16 recitals (which seems crazy to me!). But since Bay will be going to college in August, this was his final recital.

Surprisingly, he had chosen to work on Franz Liszt’s Campanella for the recital, which is a notoriously difficult piece to play. We were worried because he’s pretty busy with school, and also he’s not the most eager to practice, but happily, his performance at the recital was great. He only slightly stumbled a couple of times, and they weren’t any pauses. During the intermission, his instructor said, “Bay almost gave me a heart attack, but he did it!” I had the same feeling. 😄

After the performance, his instructor said a few nice words about Bay, and Bay told the audience about his future plans of studying Architecture. It was a really special moment. 😂 We’re sad that he only has a couple more months of formal lessons, but I am hoping he continues piano on his own in the future!

Anyways, here’s a couple of photos and a video from when Bay first started his piano career:

Photo info: OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. E-PL1, 19mm, f/4, 1/60 sec, ISO800
 “Piano Lesson” Austin, 2011
“First Recital” Austin, 2011

I hope you had a good day!

またね～

My Movie Reviews

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Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/75 sec, ISO3200
 “Imitation Game” Cedar Park, 2019

こんばんは。How’s it going?

On this blog, I sometimes will post a movie review including a rating from 1 to 10, and then add to my list of movies (and books watched for the year. But sometimes I go back to my list and revise my rating. Oftentimes it’s to lower a score a bit because since some time has passed I can now adjust it for memorability. Usually, the movies that have more of an emotional impact will keep their rating, but those that don’t have that impact will have their ratings dropped.

It’s related to the thought that “you remember how a person makes you feel, rather than what a person tells you”.

I’ve also been thinking about my movie and dorama reviews, and how simplistic they are. Of course, I’m not a professional reviewer, so I can only write from a certain level. But I enjoy writing about movies that I particularly enjoy, in the only way I know how to write, and since the movie reviews tend to be my more popular posts, I think people might relate to how I write. That said, it would be nice to learn a bit more about how to write more elegantly and compellingly. Perhaps someday I can take a class or two, but in the meantime, I’ll keep blogging as usual.

Anyway, today I watched The Imitation Game, which is today’s photo. I thought it was pretty good, and shed light on a dark time in history, both because of the war and the way homosexuals were treated in the mid 20th century.

またね～

Detective Pikachu Movie

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Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/50 sec, ISO3200
 “Detective Pikachu” Cedar Park, 2019

こんばんは。How’s it going?

This evening I joined a couple of friends at the movie theater to watch Detective Pikachu. We all loved it! Granted, we are all fans of Pokémon, but even if you aren’t, I think you’ll enjoy this movie. The jokes were funny and the story was decent. My favorite part was definitely the scene with Mr. Mime. It was hilarious! I was a bit skeptical about the CG Pokémon, but after a couple of minutes, I really enjoyed seeing them in “real-life”.

As a cool bonus, we each received a promotional pack of Pokémon cards. Actually, calling it a pack is being generous since they only contained two cards. But they are definitely cool! They are keepers for sure.

Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/100 sec, ISO2500
 “Detective Pikachu Cards” Cedar Park, 2019

I hope you had a good day!

またね～

A New Sketch in Procreate

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Hey there! Here’s the latest sketch I completed. I had fun choosing the muted color palette in this one.

By the way, I am selling some of my sketches as t-shirt designs on Amazon in case you are interested. I still haven’t made a sale, but I’m hoping for a miracle! 😆🙏

There’s a link and photo in the right sidebar of my blog, but if you are viewing this in an RSS reader, you can check them out on Amazon here.

Have a nice day!