Beer, Gumbo, and Dorama

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"Refreshing" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/125 sec, ISO5000
 “Refreshing” Cedar Park, 2017

こんばんは。How’s it going?

This evening was filled with tasty treats. Actually, just two but they were excellent. First, Mariko surprised me with the Yebisu beer which she had brought back in her suitcase all the way from Japan. So cold and refreshing! ❤️🍺

Next up, we made a big pot of gumbo for dinner. Mariko did most of the work, while I just literally stirred the pot. And of course, I am on dish duty, which I am happy to do! It’s a small price to pay for getting to eat like a king. 😊

"Gumbo" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/125 sec, ISO4000
 “Gumbo” Cedar Park, 2017

After dinner, I watched a couple of Japanese tv shows. The first was “Kaettekita Ie Uru Onna / 帰ってきた家売るオンナ”, which is a 1.5 hour special follow-up to the 2016 series, “Iie Uru Onna / 家売るオンナ”. I really enjoyed the original series (Kitagawa Keiko is a favorite of mine) so was happy to see the continuation of the story. There wasn’t anything groundbreaking… was just like a long episode. But it was fun nonetheless.

And I just started watching “Tsubaki Stationery Store / ツバキ文具店”. It’s about a young woman who takes over the family store after her grandmother’s death. The main business of the shop is ghostwriting letters for people. I’m only one episode in, but so far it’s very interesting. Can’t wait to watch the rest of the series.

I hope you had a nice Thursday!

おやすみ

Dreary Weather, but Excellent Food

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"Indian Dinner" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.6, 1/80 sec, ISO6400
 “Indian Dinner” Cedar Park, 2017

こんばんは。How’s it going?

Today I worked from home and watched a moving company load up our neighbors’ stuff into trucks all day. Unfortunately for them, it rained a bunch this morning. Or maybe that was a good thing because it meant the intense heat was kept away.

At any rate, rain is welcome even though the grey day depresses me. I love the sunshine!

Tonight’s photo is of the super おいしい meal we enjoyed tonight. Bay helped Mariko to make the chicken tikka masala and naan, and he also helped me grill the chicken. It was a super dinner and tasted even better because it was a group effort. 😀

In other news, I was reading some of my favorite blogs and came across Annie Bananie’s Travel Checklist. And I thought it was such a great idea that I made a checklist of my own. Check it out if you have time.

Lastly, I’ll leave you with a photo of my cluttered workspace. I actually try to keep it pretty uncluttered, but I’ve been practicing drawing and enjoying trying out my fountain pen ink samples that it gets a little crowded. 😮

"Clutter" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: SONY SLT-A77V, 11mm, f/4, 1/45 sec, ISO640
 “Clutter” Cedar Park, 2017

I hope you had a nice Wednesday!

おやすみ

Eye Practice

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"Eye Practice" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/125 sec, ISO5000
 “Eye Practice” Cedar Park, 2017

こんばんは。

Tonight’s photo is of some sketches of eyes. I’ve been trying to draw faces better, and it’s a challenge. There are many tutorials on Youtube and they are all just a bit different in their systems for drawing faces, and I am trying a few from the artists whose drawing style I like. It’s fun, and so encouraging when I see my drawings improve. But, it really takes a lot of practice (for me at least) to get better.

Drawing a single eye isn’t too difficult but drawing a matching eye is tough. Really tough!

In other news, I bought a few different ink samples from Goulet Pens last week, and I’ve decided to use a new color for each month’s worth of journal entries. Since the new month began today, I replaced the Iroshizuku Ama-iro blue with Iroshizuku Tsutsuji azalea in my LAMY Safari. Tsutsuji is a really bright ink. I love it and am looking forward to using it this month! FYI, my daily journal entries are simple lists with stuff like the meals I ate, and other daily happenings.

To see all the sketches I’ve been working on, you can check out the Flickr album “My Sketching Journey”, or my Instagram account barron.sketches which I created just for posting sketches, watercolors, and stationery items.

I hope you had a nice Tuesday!

またね～

Monday Already?

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"A Dog and His Boy" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/35 sec, ISO3200
 “A Dog and His Boy” Cedar Park, 2017

こんばんは。How’s it going?

I love it when the week goes by quickly, but it sucks when the weekend is gone so fast as well. ☹️

Tonight’s photo is of our dog, Lani, and his boy Bay. Lani’s really a sweet dog but she can get a little jumpy around strangers. She’s really funny though, especially her guilty behavior when she knows she did something wrong. 😆

I hope you had a good Monday!

またね～

Classic Combination – チャーハン + 餃子

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"Classic Combo" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/100 sec, ISO2000
 “Classic Combo” Cedar Park, 2017

こんばんは。How was your weekend?

Tonight Mariko cooked a classic combination dinner of chahan (Japanese fried rice) and gyoza. It was delicious! I mentioned in another post that I have gotten better at cooking the gyoza, but the ones Mariko made tasted better. I guess it’s true what my Mom says: “Things taste better when other people cook.” 😁

Our dog, being a dog, always hangs around the dinner table while we eat, hoping for a handout (or dropped food) but our cats also like to lounge at the table as well:

"Do I Have to Move?" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/100 sec, ISO1250
 “Do I Have to Move?” Cedar Park, 2017

One of our previous cats, Amo, loved to eat human food so we had to protect our table, but our current cats, Yuzu and Anko are just curious enough to give it a sniff if it’s convenient. I guess they are a little lazy too. 🐱

I hope you had a nice weekend!

またね～