daily slice-of-life photo blog of a Gen-X dad
I looked up at the sky tonight and saw something unexpected. SpaceX launched a rocket from Vandenberg, and it left behind this glowing cloud formation drifting across the sky. Pretty cool! 🚀
I made a quick trip to Kinokuniya today on a bit of a long shot, hoping to track down the Zento Signature pen. I honestly wasn’t expecting to find it, so I asked one of the clerks behind the counter. Turns out they had a few in stock, just not out on the floor. ✨ I looked at the silver one and decided to just go for it. It’s a little spendy for a gel pen, but it feels like a genuine buy-it-for-life situation. No rubber parts to degrade over time, and refill cartridges are easy to find. I’m already thinking about swapping the stock .7 mm Zento ink for a .38 mm One cartridge, which is my go-to ink.
I also picked up a multi-pen Juice Up with red, blue, and black inks, which means I can finally retire two separate pens for one sleek little thing. It’s so pretty too! 🖊️ Really happy with today’s stationery haul.
We had dinner tonight at Matsui Japanese restaurant, and it did not disappoint. 🍣 The food was genuinely good and the prices were surprisingly reasonable. You could tell just by looking around the room. Most of the diners were older, Hawaiian-style Asian, lots of flip-flops and casual clothes, the kind of crowd that knows where the real value is.
I went with the Manager’s Special, which turned out to be a popular call. I spotted at least three other diners ordering the same thing. It came with delicious tempura, several pieces of nigiri, a nice salad, and I chose soba over udon for the noodles. It was a lot of food and all of it was solid. Definitely a place to return to. 😊
A few weeks ago I won a book giveaway on Goodreads, and this morning it finally showed up at the door. The timing couldn’t have been better because I was flying to California this afternoon. I ended up spending the whole flight reading The Typing Lady by Ruth Ozeki and got through about half of it before we landed. 📚 I love it so far. I can’t wait to finish it!
On my lunch run today, I passed an open field covered in golden wildflowers. It stopped me in my tracks (and I had to take this photo). I love watching how this spot changes through the seasons. From March to July it’s actually a protected Monarch Butterfly habitat, so hopefully the butterflies remember it’s here and make a pit stop on their migration. It’s a good little field. 🦋🌼
I picked up a tin of sardines while we were in Italy. No surprise there. I tend to seek them out wherever we go. This one came from a Coop supermarket in Venice, so nothing fancy at all.
But these sardines were so plump and flavorful! I had them over rice with some crispy jalapeño on top. Simple and so good. 🐟😋
Mariko made homemade pasta noodles the other day, and she put them to good use tonight with a shrimp dish that turned out absolutely delicious. There’s something about fresh pasta that store-bought just can’t match. 🍝 A little taste of Italy, right here at home.
