Category: Slice of Life

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

Girls Night

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"Acai Bowl Boy" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/100 sec, ISO400
 “Acai Bowl Boy” Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは！Hi, how’s it going?

Tonight was Girls Night at our house in which my wife and her girlfriends got together for a potluck and late-night chatting. In fact, it’s about 11:30pm now, and they are still going strong downstairs!

It’s nice for me and the boys because we get to eat the delicious food and tonight was no different, with karaage (Japanese fried chicken), noodle salad, prosciutto and cheeses, etc. It was all so good! And then coffee and dessert was great as well… a nice light cheesecake. Mmmmm!

While the ladies hung out in the dining room eating, drinking, and chatting, Koa, a friend’s daughter Kaya, and I watched several episodes of Parks and Recreation, which is a super-funny show. We enjoyed it a lot!

Tonight’s photo is of Koa enjoying an acai bowl… He really loves it. In fact, this was his dessert. 😄

So, a great Friday evening, and a wonderful start to the weekend!

おやすみなさい！

– B Barron Fujimoto

Dinner and Dorama

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"Chicken & Rice" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5, 1/80 sec, ISO3200
 “Chicken & Rice” Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは！

Tonight’s photo is of a delicious dinner that Mariko made for us. It’s an Asian (maybe Thai) style rice, with chicken and three different sauces. One was fish-sauce-based, the other was oyster-sauce-based, and the last one was ginger-based. I couldn’t decide which one I liked best because they were all yummy. ☺️ 🍴

After dinner, I watched the first two episodes of a Japanese dorama called “Omukae Death” (お迎えデス). It stars one of my favorite actresses, Tao Tsuchiya (土屋太鳳). She and the other main character are able to see ghosts, and their part time job is to help these spirits resolve their issues which are preventing them from moving to the afterlife.

So far, I’d say it’s just average, but I’ll keep watching in hopes that it gets better. Plus I don’t mind any show that has Tao Tsuchiya starring in it! ❤️

It’s a good time to start watching this season’s doramas because they are all wrapping up in Japan, which means I can start binge watching them now, and by the time I get towards the end of the series, the finale episodes should all be finished. 😆

Well, we made it to Friday!

おやすみなさい！ – バロン Barron Fujimoto

Cage Work

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"At the Cages" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/15 sec, ISO800
 “At the Cages” Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは！

Well, the weather is heating up around here. ☀️ I received an email from the electric company asking us to try not to use lots of energy between the hours of 2pm and 6pm. They recommend setting the thermostat to 80° F and not to use appliances. I guess setting the thermostat to use less energy is a good thing at all times, right?

Today’s photo is of my son Koa at the batting cages. This session, he did great, and was hitting the balls much better than last time. It was funny because the batting cage facility was crowded with high school girls practicing their softball batting. I think Koa was trying to concentrate more because of the female presence! He usually goofs around more, but tonight he was more serious and the results were that he was able to connect a lot more consistently. One of the softball coaches actually told Koa that he had a good swing!

For the photo I used a slower shutter speed of 1/15 second so I could show some of the motion instead of just freezing the action. The shutter clicked right after he hit the ball, and you can see the white streak of the ball shooting up towards center field.

I hope you had a nice Wednesday!

おやすみなさい！ – B Barron Fujimoto

トトロトトロ。。。🎶🌱🌪️

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"トトロトトロ。。。🎶🌱🌪️" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/6.4, 1/45 sec, ISO3200
 “トトロトトロ。。。🎶🌱🌪️” Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは！Hello, how’s it going?

Today’s photo is of… Totoro! Do I even need to say what these little creatures are? I feel like everyone knows them… well, if not, they should. 😃

I first saw My Neighbor Totoro (となりのトトロ) in maybe 1989 with my girlfriend. She was from Hong Kong, so we watched the Cantonese version, with English subtitles. I remember distinctly that the when the blue totoro was being chase by Mei, it made the sound “tsee-tsee-tsah, tsee-tsee-tsah!”. I thought it was strange when I saw the Japanese version that it didn’t make that sound. 😕

But anyways, it’s such a great movie… I still enjoy watching it because the summer feeling is so nice… the sounds of the insects, and keeping the house open to the outside. I miss summers in Japan so much! 🎐

Speaking of summer, just one more week until it officially begins. Woohoo! My favorite season.

Well, I hope you have a good rest of the evening! (or nice day, wherever you happen to be)

おやすみなさい！ – B Barron Fujimoto