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Wordless Wednesday
Regional Guide to Ramen in Japan
I was searching for some information about Sapporo-style ramen, and came across this wonderful post “A Guide to the Regional Ramen of Japan” at Lucky Peach. 🍜 My mouth is watering! The Kumamoto Ramen sounds amazing.
(photo is from Lucky Peach)
Pizza Nite
“Secret Sauce” Cedar Park, 2016
こんばんは！How’s it going?
As usual, I didn’t have breakfast or lunch (I pretty much fast during the day) but in my mind were visions of pizza because I knew that we’d have some for dinner. 🍕
Tonight’s photo is of the dipping mixture that we have been enjoying lately – ranch dressing + sriracha. It’s really good! There’s a nice combination of cool and hot that goes well with tomato sauce. I sometimes will just go with sriracha for some tangy spiciness, but Bay likes it with ranch so tonight that was the preferred sauce.
And of course our dog Lani is always anticipating getting a taste of human food. I can only imagine that it must be torture for dogs since their sense of smell is so heightened! 🐶
“Hopeful” Cedar Park, 2016
I hope you had a nice day!
おやすみなさい！
– B 
Back to work
“Ride Buddy” Cedar Park, 2016
こんばんは！Hi, how’s it going?
Here in the States, nearly everyone returned to work or school after a long weekend. For my family, we had nine days of vacation so I wasn’t looking forward to coming back to work. But it wasn’t so bad! I got my tasks organized in a few hours and have a reasonable workload set for the rest of the week. 😂
But what always happens to me after a vacation ends is that I wish I could go back in time to when my vacation just started. For instance, tonight a the dinner table I said to my family, “Exactly one week ago, at this time, we were eating dinner at the Reata restaurant.” I can’t believe a week can go by so quickly… it seems like we were just starting our vacation!
Anyways, here’s a photo of my lunch today. I rarely eat lunch (or breakfast) but Mariko offered to make a sandwich for me today, so I couldn’t refuse. Especially because the bread is freshly baked at home using good quality ingredients 🍞. It’s so yummy that it doesn’t matter so much what is inside the two slices of bread. 😍
“Simple Lunch” Austin, 2016
Today’s photo is of a stuffed animal that found its way to my motorbike. I’m not 100% sure where it came from or who put it there, but I suspect Mariko. Speaking of motorbikes 🏍, I saw a few “Adventure Bikes” at Big Bend, and I know they had a good time riding there. The scenery, weather, twisty roads, and gravel trails are heaven for dual-sport riders. I wish I could have ridden my F650 GS there, but wow, that is a long haul to get to Big Bend from our house! Perhaps someday, if I have a week to myself I will consider the trip… 😜
I hope you enjoyed your Monday!
おやすみなさい！
– B
Photo editing using Snapseed for Android
Hi all! It’s a couple days after we returned from a 6-day vacation, and during that trip I blogged every night, including photos that I took during the day. Since I didn’t have Lightroom with me, I did all my photo editing on my Android phone using the Snapseed app. I’m pleased with how the photos turned out, considering I used just the mobile app. And so I thought I would share how I edited my photos with you all! (If you use an iPhone, you can find the same/similar apps for that platform)
First, I take all my photos using my Fujifilm X100T in JPG mode, usually the Standard (Provia) color setting. Then, using the Fujifilm Camera Remote app, I transfer the photos via WiFi to my Motorola Moto G phone. I browse them using the QuickPic app, then when I find one I’d like to edit, I select Share, then choose Snapseed from the list:
The image opens up in the Snapseed app and then I get down to business! I’ve found I like to start by using the Rotate tool to straighten things out (it will do its best to auto-straighten, which works surprisingly well!), then Crop. Next I will use the Tune Image tool, adjusting the Shadows, Saturation, and Exposure. Lastly, I might add a slight Vignette. For many photos, this is all I do.
On other photos, I’ll go to the presets and play around more. I like to use the Tonal Contrast to give the photo a little more definition, the Drama presets to add a little punch, and the Grainy Film presets for a VSCO type feel. If I only want to add some grain, I will use a Grainy Film preset, but set the Style Strength to 0, and only use the grain adjustment. FYI, most people like to reduce grain for a super clean image, but I like the feel of grain, so that’s why I use the preset.
After I am satisfied with my edits, I’ll click on Done and move on to the next image. When I have all my photos edited and ready for posting, I’ll select them all in QuickPic, and Share them with my WordPress app, which will add them to the WordPress Media library. And that’s it! They are ready to be added to my post when I type it out on my Chromebook.
Of course, there isn’t the same kind of control as you get with Lightroom, but I think it’s a great mobile solution, and it doesn’t take long at all. I hope this helps! Please take a look at the photos I edited using this technique below:
