Goodbye, Braun Coffee Mill

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Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.6, 1/125 sec, ISO3200
 “Coffee Mill” Cedar Park, 2019

こんばんは。How’s it going?

Sadly, our Braun Coffee Mill finally died. It served us well for maybe 18 years or so, and just a couple of weeks ago I was thinking about how amazing it was that it was still going strong after all this time. Well, that may have jinxed it because the motor started having a little trouble a couple of days ago, and then today it stopped altogether. 😢 But wow, I can’t complain! It did its job well.

But hey, I needed to make coffee so I got out our antique coffee grinder, and got to work. This little thing is actually pretty good! It’s a Burr-type, but it takes a while to grind by hand and I don’t want to do it every morning.

Therefore, I went online and ordered a new coffee grinder. I’ll post about it after I’ve tried it, but I’m excited about using it. Like the hand grinder, the new one is also a Burr grinder, whereas the Braun was a blade-type, which cuts the beans. Burr grinders crush the beans and it’s supposed to yield tastier coffee… I guess we’ll soon find out!

またね〜

Hamburg Steak

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Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/125 sec, ISO2500
 “Hamburg Steak” Cedar Park, 2019

Dinner tonight was Hamburg Steak. It’s a popular dish in Japan, and Mariko made a sweet teriyaki-style sauce for it which made it even more delicious. A small salad, miso soup (made with homemade miso), and fluffy rice make it a perfect meal. 😌

I hope you had a nice day!

またね～

Loving the Clouds These Days

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Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/3500 sec, ISO200
 “Big Cloud” Cedar Park, 2019

I have to follow up yesterday’s sunburst post with another sky photo. The clouds the past couple of days have been great. When my Mom visited last week, we joked about how nice the clouds were, but she said that in Los Angeles, they don’t have many clouds. Come to think of it, I don’t have any particular memories of the clouds in Southern California (I was born and raised there), but I do remember when I traveled to Hawaii, the clouds there were simply amazing! And while Texas clouds aren’t quite as stunning as Hawaii’s, they can be beautiful, and the scale just seems bigger. I guess this is where I insert the comment about everything being bigger in Texas. 😆

I hope you had a great day!

またね～

Sunburst Photo Settings

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Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/16, 1/300 sec, ISO200
 “Sunburst” Cedar Park, 2019

I love taking cloud/sun/sky photos, and my Fujifilm X100T makes it a breeze! In fact, any camera with an electronic viewfinder (EVF) can help because you won’t be looking directly at the sun, which not only is safe for your eyes, but the live-view allows you to can make exposure adjustments and see what the photo will look like even before you press the shutter button. Compared to my old DSLR and film cameras, using live-view feels like a bit of time-travel.

For today’s photo, these are the pertinent settings:

  • Circular Polarizer – Main effect here is the lens flare and used as an ND filter. I don’t think the polarizing effect was strong because of the angle.
  • F/16 – Stopped-down aperture gives a pronounced sunburst effect.
  • -1 Exposure Compensation – To keep the highlights from getting blown out.
  • Lightroom Preset – Basic color adjustments, bringing down the highlights, and adding a little grain.

I hope you had a good day!

またね～