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)
Tag: food
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 
Cold Front and Mexican Food
“Kotatsu” Cedar Park, 2016
こんばんは！How’s it going?
The weather has turned cold and so I brought down the kotatsu and set it up in front of the tv. The kotatsu is a Japanese table with blanket and small heating element. In many homes in Japan the rooms are pretty cold in the Winter, and people keep warm by using heavier clothes, small space heaters, and kotatsu.
Here in the States, we tend to keep the whole house warmer, but we still like to break out the kotatsu because it is so comfortable! It’s a little “dangerous” though, because once you get comfortable under the kotatsu, the chances of falling asleep go up considerably! In fact, this afternoon I took a nice 1-hour nap… it was too hard to resist.
For lunch today, Koa and I were going to go to Taco Bell to get a couple burritos, but I decided we’d go to another place, that served more authentic Mexican food. I wanted to eat our food there, but Koa wanted to take it home so I compromised and we got the meals to-go. (He really wanted Taco Bell!) Anyways, the food was delicious and I liked going to this restaurant because all the diners there were seemed to be Mexican workers on their lunch-breaks.
“Mexican Take-out” Cedar Park, 2016
Here in Texas, we have plenty of Mexican restaurants and also Tex-Mex style. I grew up in Southern California, so I am used to a different kind of style of Mexican food, and when I first tried Tex-Mex, I thought it was strange. It was yummy, but just strange. Tex-Mex tends to use more gooey American-style cheese, whereas California-style has more fresh ingredients, most notably avocado. I actually like both styles of Americanized Mexican food, but still cannot stand American cheese in Mexican food.
However, I love to eat where the “locals” eat, and going to a Mexican restaurant in which 95% of the diners are Latino means you are getting the real-deal.
Rare
“Rare” Austin, 2016
こんばんは！How’s it going?
Today’s photo is of one of the food trucks that comes by our office on Wednesday’s. We have a variety come by – noodles, Indian curry, BBQ, coffee, etc. As you can see, today’s was the Mighty Fine Burger truck and I made a “rare” exception to have lunch today.
I love Mighty Fine 🍔! But ever since In-N-Out Burger opened nearby, I haven’t been to Mighty Fine because In-N-Out has the killer combination of taste and value. I have to say, though, Mighty Fine is a better burger (plus they offer grilled jalapeños) and the fries are way better than In-N-Out’s. In my opinion, the In-N-Out french fries are below average, but at least they cost under only $1.60.
Anyways, I decided to forego my usual eating schedule, and give their food truck a try today and I am happy to report that the “mobile” version of their food is just as good as their traditional restaurants. 😃 And now that I have my Mighty Fine “fix”, I can go back to my regular In-N-Out and not feel quite as guilty.
Burger-crisis averted!
おやすみなさい！
– B
Leisurely Afternoon
“Watching Movies” Cedar Park, 2016
こんばんは！How’s it going?
Today was a schizophrenic Saturday, in that I worked a few hours this morning 😩, but then had a totally relaxing afternoon ☺️.
On the way home from work, I stopped at In-N-Out Burger and picked up some food 🍔 for Koa and I. Normally we get Double-doubles or just a cheeseburger, but today we both got 3×3’s, which are burgers with three patties and three slices of cheese. I thought we should try that once in our lives.
“3×3” Cedar Park, 2016
As you can see from the photo, they were pretty massive. Aside from having more meat and cheese, it pretty much was the same as their regular offerings, but now that we’ve tried the 3×3, it’s back to our normal-sized burgers.
After lunch, Koa went to the park to meet his friends and I had the rest of the afternoon to do as I pleased which meant putting Star Wars: The Force Awakens on with the surround-sound system cranked way up. It was great! I have to say, Episode 8 is my favorite of the Star Wars movies.
My favorite part started when Rey and Finn are running to the Quad Jumper and she says “that one is garbage!” referring to the Millenium Falcon. My heart soared when the Falcon came into view the first time, and then the ensuing dogfight was just amazing! I thought that dogfight was the best of all the movies so far, and it was just 3 ships! There was so much more action that even the epic battle at the beginning of Episode 3, which had hundreds of ships and seemed to go on forever. Bigger is not always better where spaceship battles are concerned.
That dogfight at the beginning of Episode 8 was just one of several moments when my heart was pounding hard, and there were a couple times when I even teared up a bit too… so I know Episode 8 is my favorite. It was an emotional thrill-ride for me.
I hope you had nice Saturday!
おやすみなさい！
– B
