Happy Thanksgiving!

"Pie Time" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/100 sec, ISO3200
“Pie Time” Cedar Park, 2017

Happy Thanksgiving! We enjoyed a traditional get-together with friends coming over to our house this year. It was a large group of 20 hungry people, ranging in age from 13 to 49 (I think I was the oldest). There was so much good food, with plenty of delicious side dishes which really could be considered entrees at any other meal. However, at Thanksgiving, the turkey is always the entree. 😀

Instead of roasting one large turkey, I prepared two smaller (11 lbs each) birds, and I think they turned out okay. I tried dry brining this time and while everyone said the turkeys turned out great, I honestly would rate them at a 7 out of 10. That being said, almost all of the turkey was gone, with the turkey legs being left. I think because half of the guests were native Japanese, they aren’t used to eating the drumsticks. Speaking of cultural differences, a traditional Thanksgiving dinner is a rare occasion for Japanese. Consequently, when I was carving the turkeys, many photos of me were taken. 😱

"Food and Selfie" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/100 sec, ISO1250
“Food and Selfie” Cedar Park, 2017

Anyways, besides the turkey, I also made our family tradition oyster stuffing. It’s my favorite, and I am glad that Koa really loves it too! There was also cranberry sauce, roast beef, sticky rice, shrimp cocktail, Maui-style poké, mashed potatoes, bacon-wrapped asparagus, deviled eggs, sweet potato casserole, sausage stuffing,, and fresh muffins. And for dessert, there was pumpkin pie (homemade by Mariko), matcha cheesecake, custard pie, and mango cheesecake. As you can imagine, we were all stuffed!

It was fun to have everyone over this year, and while hosting a lot of people can be stressful, I have to say that having foodie friends who bring over a ton of amazing side-dishes makes it a lot easier.

I hope you had a nice day!

またね~

Game Time

"Game Time" Cedar Park, 2017
“Game Time” Cedar Park, 2017

こんばんは。How’s it going?

Today I was back at work (from home) before another two days off for Thanksgiving break. but the big news was that Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp was released on smartphones! My whole family is into it and we were up late playing. I’ve loved the Animal Crossing (どうぶつの森) series and have played each version, starting with the GameCube version. It’s so fun!

If you are playing and want to be friends, here’s my code:

Happy camping!

またね~

Burger Time

"Burger Time" Cedar Park, 2017
“Burger Time” Cedar Park, 2017

こんばんは。

Today we decided to barbeque some burgers for dinner, so I fired up the charcoal grill (for maximum flavor) and made some good-sized patties using both ground chuck and ground pork. They were tasty and still pretty juicy, which surprised me a bit since the pork tends to be on the dry side. Toppings were pickles, jalapeños, cheese, Romaine lettuce, onion, tomato, and the usual condiments (plus habañero sauce). Was a yummy and filling dinner!

The photo below shows the grocery haul in the back of the Subaru. You can see the roasting pan for the turkey. Thanksgiving is just around the corner here in the States!

"Grocery Haul" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: Motorola Moto G (4), 3.64mm, f/2, 1/230 sec, ISO50
“Grocery Haul” Cedar Park, 2017

I hope you had a nice day.

おやすみ

Movie Day

"Pre-Show" Austin, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.5, 1/100 sec, ISO1600
“Pre-Show” Austin, 2017

こんばんは。How’s it?

First day of my staycation, and we went to see “Murder on the Orient Express” at the Alamo Drafthouse. It’s always fun to see a movie there because they show the funniest stuff on the screen before the movie starts. For this movie, there were some choice clips of old Agatha Christie-related shows and movies. In the photo above is a Japanese anime. It looked pretty cool, actually!

The actual movie was just okay. It started off great, but kind of bogged-down and I didn’t like the overall tone. The first part (in Israel) was clever, funny, and had a quick pace, and I was looking forward to the whole movie being like that. But the main story was overly dramatic and humorless. It was a shame because the cast was stellar, the cinematography was beautiful, and it is a classic story. Oh well…

I hope you had a nice day!

おやすみ