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~

New Perspective

"Different Sizes" Austin, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5.6, 1/150 sec, ISO200
“Different Sizes” Austin, 2018

こんばんは。How’s it going?

Today’s photo is of some cars parked outside my office. It’s interesting that looking at them from a new perspective, you can really notice the huge differences in the sizes of the vehicles. There are three SUVs parked adjacent to each other, but one of them is gigantic, isn’t it? 😲

I hope you had a nice Monday!

またね~

Sailor Moon Nite

"Sailor Moon Line-up" Cedar Park, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.2, 1/100 sec, ISO640
“Sailor Moon Line-up” Cedar Park, 2018

こんばんは。

This evening we had a few friends over for “Sailor Moon Nite”, which is a variation of our “Kaiju Nite” get-togethers. But instead of watching Japanese monster movies, we watched several episodes of the Sailor Moon anime and live-action tv show.

"Dinner" Cedar Park, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.2, 1/100 sec, ISO800
“Dinner” Cedar Park, 2018

As usual, the evening started off with a potluck-style dinner and checking out the toys. Mikey always has a great selection of toys and tonight he even brought some Sailor Moon manga. And glow sticks! 😝

"Sailor Moon, Sailor, Mars, and Sailor Mercury" Cedar Park, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.2, 1/100 sec, ISO1250
“Sailor Moon, Sailor, Mars, and Sailor Mercury” Cedar Park, 2018

After pigging out on Char-siu-style chicken, salmon poké, three kinds of salad, and shrimp cocktail, it was time to move to the TV room and go over the notes for the evening. Mikey always prepares some vital background info to the shows we will be watching, and also the lyrics to the theme songs so we can all sing along. It’s pretty fun!

"Notes" Cedar Park, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.2, 1/100 sec, ISO1250
“Notes” Cedar Park, 2018

The first show we watched was episode 1 of the anime. Most of us were Sailor Moon newbies so it was great to see the very beginning of the saga. After that, we switched over to the live-action version of the first episode, which was a lot of fun! And of course, the highlight for me was watching my favorite actress Kitagawa Keiko as Sailor Mars. She was so cute!

We watched a total of seven episodes this evening while drinking beer, saké, wine, and corn whiskey. And I almost forgot to mention, we made chocolate parfaits as well, in honor of the characters Naru and Nephrite, who were planning to eat parfaits together. Unfortunately, Nephrite dies in Naru’s arms, and they never got to eat their chocolate parfait. 🍨

It was such a fun viewing party, I can’t wait for a second Sailor Moon nite!

おやすみ!

"Sailor Moon Funko Pop!" Cedar Park, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.2, 1/100 sec, ISO800
“Sailor Moon Funko Pop!” Cedar Park, 2018