Pointed Chopsticks

"Nasubi Donburi" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4.5, 1/25 sec, ISO3200
“Nasubi Donburi” Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは!How are you today?

Tonight, Mariko prepared another out-of-this-world dinner: spicy miso-flavored eggplant 🍆 and pork 🐷 stir-fried and served over rice 🍚. As you might expect, it was so yummy. 😀

Can you see the chopsticks in the photo? These are Japanese-style chopsticks, or “hashi”. They differ from Chinese-style or Korean-style in the shape and material. Japanese-style usually come to a point, while Chinese-style are longer, and stay thicker and have a blunt end. Korean-style, I am not familiar with, but I’ve used stainless-steel chopsticks, which are kind of flat, but come to a pointed end.

The disposable, wooden chopsticks are ironically kind of the opposite. Japanese-style are generally squarish, and the Chinese-style come to more of a point, though still blunt. Oh, and natives usually don’t rub wooden chopsticks to remove splinters. I think it’s because people who have good chopstick skills, are more precise at handling the food, particularly releasing the food in their mouths.. You don’t really slide chopsticks against your lips, or poke the food deeply or stab straight on, so splinters never really have a chance to come into play.

In our house, we only have Japanese-style (since Mariko is Japanese!) but when I was growing up, we had both Japanese and Chinese-style chopsticks in the kitchen drawer. It makes sense since we have both bloods running through our veins! 🇯🇵 🇨🇳

I never really gave it too much thought before, but the other day, Koa and I were eating at a new ramen 🍜 restaurant, and since ramen is Japanese (actually a Japanese soup dish that uses Chinese-style noodles) I am used to eating it with Japanese-style chopsticks. When we were given Chinese-style chopsticks to eat with, I immediately noticed that they didn’t feel right for ramen. I already knew the restaurant was not Japanese, but the chopsticks were a dead give-away. (The ramen wasn’t bad, but didn’t taste authentic, with the char siu being a sweeter Chinese-style taste, and baby bok choy greens added)

Anyways, there’s a little chopsticks trivia for ya!

おやすみなさい!

– B Barron Fujimoto

Fajita Dinner

"Fajita Dinner" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5, 1/75 sec, ISO3200
“Fajita Dinner” Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは!How’s it going?

Today I ended my fast with some snacks at work and then a wonderful dinner at home.

When I got home, my wife asked me to make a margarita for her, so I made two! One for her and one for me. 😊 It’s a simple recipe, one part fresh lime juice, one part Cointreau, and two parts Tequila. Shaken with ice in a shaker, then served on the rocks. Delicious! 🍸

While we enjoyed our drinks, it was time to prepare the meal, which was beef fajita tacos. 🌮 My wife bought 1¼ lbs. of marinated beef at our local carcineria, which I grilled on the backyard barbecue. Meanwhile, green and red bell peppers and onions were sauteed, beans were heated up, and a pot of rice was cooked.

We had both flour and corn tortillas, Salvadoran sour cream, cilantro, tomato, avocado, and hot sauce. It was yummy! But of course I probably ate a bit too much. It’s easy to do with such delicious food. 🍴 And coming off a fast, even a short one, makes the food extra tasty!

Below are a couple more photos of the meal: a close-up of one of the tacos, my wife setting up the food photo, 📸 and the yummy sour cream.

I hope you had a nice Tuesday!

おやすみなさい!

– B Barron Fujimoto

🍞 Will Wait

"Fresh Bread" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2, 1/100 sec, ISO1000
“Fresh Bread” Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは!Good evening!

Today Mariko made some amazing food… as you can see from the photo above she did some baking. The rolls looks amazing, don’t they? And she also baked a loaf of bread for kids’ sandwiches. The bread tastes so good, and Mariko uses fresh ingredients and of course there are no preservatives.. the best bread ever!

And for dinner, she prepared the kids’ favorite… Pasta Carbonara. Plus figs wrapped in prosciutto, and a wonderful salad of grilled romaine lettuce and baby tomatoes. I helped by grilling the greens. 😆 As I have mentioned in previous posts, Mariko treats us so well with all the delicious food.

Ironically, today I started a water-fast so I couldn’t taste any of the goodies. I think normally it would be really difficult to resist, but fasting gives you a sense of empowerment over food. Still, with today’s dinner I did feel a bit of temptation, but I will look forward to eating when my fast ends, although I am not sure how long I will go for this time.

In other news, today was the first day of school for the kids and it was pretty much back to the routine as if summer break never happened. Life is just moving very quickly it seems.

I hope you had a nice Monday!

おやすみなさい!

– B Barron Fujimoto

Salad Days

"Salad for Lunch" Austin, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.6, 1/640 sec, ISO400
“Salad for Lunch” Austin, 2016

こんばんは!Howzit?

Today’s photo is of the delicious salads my friend Mikey and I enjoyed for lunch at Salata. When we get together, Salata is one of the top choices! I think it’s still a little odd that a salad can be so delicious.

Like many people, I grew up eating a lot of meat, and salad was just something that you ate before the main course. But now I believe that we are conditioned by Big Food into eating that way… I guess for my entire life we’ve had ads and food industry-influenced government telling us what foods are “good” for us, how much of it we need to eat, and when we need to eat.

It’s difficult to see things any other way if that’s all you’ve been exposed to. Other lifestyles can seem weird, unhealthy, or just plain wrong. That’s why I think you need to shake things up… for instance traveling to different countries or living abroad can really open your mind. Learning about other cultures and actually being immersed in them makes you question a lot of things.

I tend to look at people who have traveled extensively, or lived abroad, differently than those who have lived in the same place their whole lives. I really feel like they have a broader way of looking at the world. Of course this is not always the case, but there’s something to be said of first-hand experience and forming opinions based on direct experience, rather than forming a worldview based on mainstream news.

So, back to the salad… I am grateful that my friend Mikey suggested this lunch. It was a new experience for me, something I would never have considered, but one that I found I enjoy quite a bit! What else should I try?

I mentioned in a previous post that I had fasted (drinking only water, black coffee, and tea) for multiple days, 72-hours being the longest stretch without calories. That experience opened my eyes up to how we’ve been taught to depend on our 3 meals a day, and how it is not necessary to follow this lifestyle. It’s actually quite easy to skip a meal or two, and there are health benefits to extended water-fasts. But we’ve been taught that we need to eat. Constantly. That hunger is bad… we’ve also been taught that hunger=starvation. But hunger is not starvation at all.

Most of us have plenty of fat to keep us out of starvation for weeks. It sounds crazy, doesn’t it? But when you have done an extended fast, you realize that we don’t actually need to eat as much as we are told we need to. During a long fast, you actually lose the craving for junk/unhealthy foods and you can look at that craving from a detached point of view. Big Food has designed our diets to keep us craving high-fat, high-salt, and sugary foods. A water-fast will give you greater clarity about this. And you will recognize that there is a lifestyle where in which you are not dependent on Big Food’s guidelines.

Talk about a different point of view!!! I know most people will think it is crazy to go without food for 3 days, but have they tried it? I think if you do, you will have a broader view of eating, and how strong we can be mentally.

Wow, that was a bit of a ramble, wasn’t it? Anyways, I encourage anyone to look into water-fasting, and try to broaden your minds too! It’s seriously one of the best things I have ever done for myself in my life.

If you’ve read this far… thank you thank you thank you! 😄

Take care, and have a great weekend!

おやすみなさい!

– B Barron Fujimoto

Fuchiko Appearance

"Fuchiko Stuck in Blueberry Quicksand" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.6, 1/100 sec, ISO800
“Fuchiko Stuck in Blueberry Quicksand” Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは!

Today’s photo is of Fuchiko, the tiny OL (office lady) who appears in people’s photos, usually perched on the edge of a a cup or glass. Mariko went shopping and came home with a bunch of blueberries and I wanted to take a photo of them for Instagram, but then I thought it would be a little more interesting with Fuchiko in the photo.

So… a little bit of drama in this one! I guess I was inspired a bit by the awesome Instagram feed of Takuya Tanaka. He’s so creative!

I hope you had a nice Wednesday!

おやすみなさい!

– B Barron Fujimoto