daily slice-of-life photo blog of a Gen-X dad
We had our new year’s soba a bit late this year. Normally we eat it on New Year’s Eve, but since we feasted on temaki instead, we postponed the noodles a bit. But they were still yummy. 😄
BTW, the shrimp were pre-packaged from Costco. Very good! 🍤
Hello! I started off the new year with a nice 4-mile run around the neighborhood, then got ready to feast on the osechi-ryori, or traditional Japanese new year’s food. I love sitting at the kotatsu, drinking saké, eating osechi, and watching Japanese new years programs. It’s exactly what I want to do, and definitely the right way to kick off 2020.
In the afternoon, I hung up our bird feeder so hopefully we’ll get some feathery visitors coming by soon. I’m ready to add to my life-list of bird sightings! I was so happy to add a few birds while in California. 😊
I hope you had a nice day!
またね～
As the year comes to a close, a foodie’s last dinner should have some significance. Well, for us there isn’t any special meaning behind it, but we do want it to be something yummy! So, in her infinite wisdom, Mariko ordered a Temaki set from Uroko and it was awesome! We totally destroyed it. All the fish was delicious, and the sushi rice was perfect. Making sushi at home is a great experience and one I wish we could have more often. What a wonderful way to close out the year!
ごちそうさまでした ２０１９！
One of our holiday traditions that we all look forward to is my mom’s huge Jamaican food feast. We usually have it as a Christmas Eve or Christmas Day dinner, but this year we delayed it a bit since my brother’s family joined us after. But of course the food was awesome! Here’s a list of some of the items on the menu:
Yes, we were stuffed! I’m certainly “bulking up” on the calories this vacation. 😆
I hope you had a nice day!
またね～
Today we had a bit of an excursion up to Los Angeles, for some eating, with a little shopping thrown in. First up was République Café and Bakery where we had This Morning’s Bread, Smoked Salmon Benedict, and a number of different coffees. The food was delicious, and the restaurant was really cool. I had never heard of République before, but it’s apparently very popular – I saw many selfies being taken there.
After République, we did some shopping at The Last Bookstore in downtown, then drove back over to Korea Town for some Korean barbecue at Song Hak. The meat was so yummy and tender. The side dishes were also delicious and the soju hit the spot. I definitely recommend Song Hak!
To close out our day in Los Angeles, we stopped by world famous Randy’s Donuts to pick up some dessert. Even though I grew up in SoCal, I had never been to Randy’s, so this was a special treat. Unfortunately, I thought the donuts weren’t very good. Our matcha donuts didn’t taste like matcha at all, and my churro-topped donut was a bit stale. I’m guessing since it was evening, the donuts weren’t as good, but still, it was pretty busy so I would have thought they’d be a bit fresher. I’m happy to finally try Randy’s, though!
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 19mm, f/4, 1/75 sec, ISO3200
Spending the afternoon and evening with family eating out was fun and we had a lot of laughs. Exactly what a family outing should be like. 😄
Christmas morning means opening gifts, but in our family, it also means eating bagels, rye bread, cream cheese, salmon, pastrami, corned beef, roast beef, pesto, and cheese. And this year we also has some roast lamb, which was awesome!
The Xmas bagel tradition started when my aunt and uncle from the Bay Area brought down bagels and fixings from their friend’s deli back in the 80s, and we’ve done it every year since. This year, my aunt joined us for the celebration which made 2019 extra-special! ❤️
I hope you had a nice holiday!
Mariko and I tried Kagura, a katsu restaurant, for lunch today, and it was delicious! The pork cutlet, chicken, and croquette had a crunchy panko breading and were cooked to perfection… the meat was tender and juicy. Kagura has a couple of locations in Southern California, but we went to the small food-court location inside Tokyo Central market in Gardena. A good lunch option, and should be quicker than the other locations. Give it a try!
