Tag: food

Birthday Sushi

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"Birthday Sushi" Austin, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/90 sec, ISO6400
 “Birthday Sushi” Austin, 2016

こんばんは！Hello, how’s it going?

As you can see from today’s photo, we had sushi! It’s my son’s 15th birthday today, so we went to his favorite restaurant to dine on delicious Japanese food. Our friend prepared this amazing selection of sushi, which included some beef! It was all so yummy, I could have eaten all night.

I’m so happy that our kids are relatively open-minded about food. My wife and I love to try so many different kinds of cuisines, so Bay and Koa are used to giving new foods a try. Of course they have certain foods that they really don’t like, for instance Bay cannot stand mushrooms, and Koa doesn’t like sushi rice (although he likes the fish). I am pretty sure that in time, they will grow to enjoy these foods as well! 😄

The photo below is from the box of uni (sea urchin) that we enjoyed. It was from Japan and was super delicious! I wish I could eat it every day. 🍣

"Japanese Uni" Austin, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/110 sec, ISO6400
 “Japanese Uni” Austin, 2016

Tonight’s photos were taken at a relatively high ISO of 6400, but the Fujifilm X-Trans II sensor handles it amazingly well. I don’t mind shooting at 6400 at all with my X100T, in fact, I have the Auto ISO range from 200-6400 which is something I would use only in extreme situations on my dslr. I think it is fantastic that cameras keep getting better at high-ISO. It’s the area where I think we can benefit the most.

I used the Fujifilm standard Provia film simulation for both of these photos, and in Lightroom I adjusted the white balance a tiny bit, deepened the blacks, brought back some shadows, and bumped up the vibrance a little. I then added a slight vignette and a some of grain, which is pretty much my standard look these days.

I hope you had a great Thursday. We’ve almost made it to the weekend!

おやすみなさい！

– B Barron Fujimoto

Usagi Shamoji

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"Usagi Shamoji" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/100 sec, ISO1600
 “Usagi Shamoji” Cedar Park, 2016

こんばんは！

Today’s photo is of our Usagi Shamoji (usagi=rabbit; shamoji=rice spoon). We’ve had several different shamoji over the years, but I really like the fun(ny) ones, such as the rabbit spoon. Not only does it look nice, but it’s practical too since it stands up! The “standing fish” spoon is also a good design. We had one of them for a couple years until it cracked, and now we have the rabbit spoon. I recommend either one. 😄🐰🐟

FYI, the world’s largest shamoji is at Miyajima, Japan. 🇯🇵 It’s worth checking out if you visit the island!

I hope you had a great Monday!

おやすみなさい！ – バロン Barron Fujimoto

🍛 Curry Night

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"Japanese Curry with Jalapeno" Cedar Park 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/125 sec, ISO3200
 “Japanese Curry with Jalapeno” Cedar Park 2016

こんばんは！

The first day of summer this year… and we had Japanese Curry! I always enjoy our “curry nites” and tonight’s curry had jalapeños in it, so there was a little extra kick to it. 🔥❤️ I think I’ve written about it before, but the second and third night’s curry is even better so I’m looking forward to it. And lately I’ve been fasting during the weekdays so when dinner comes around, it tastes extra-delicious.

By the way, did you see the full moon tonight? 🌝 Because it’s the summer solstice, tonight’s full moon is known as a Full Strawberry Moon and it will be the first time since 1948 that it has occurred. If you haven’t seen it, you might still have a couple hours to peek outside your window!

Oh, this evening I watched a fantastic movie called “Uzumasa Limelight”. I was so impressed! I’ll have to write a review later… but if you have the means to see it, please do so.

Have a great evening!

おやすみなさい！ – バロン Barron Fujimoto

Father’s Day Happenings

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"At the Flea Market" Kyle, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/8, 1/1700 sec, ISO200
 “At the Flea Market” Kyle, 2016

こんばんは！Happy Father’s Day to all the dad’s out there!

Today was a super busy one for us because both Koa and Bay are starting week-long summer camps. First off, Koa is attending a percussion camp down at Texas State University in San Marcos which is about a 45-minute drive south from us and today was his check-in and audition. He’s pretty excited because he gets to stay over in the dorms! Plus there are a lot of fun activities planned and many different classes where he’ll learn a lot of different kinds of percussion. I think he’ll have a ton of fun! 🎼

After dropping him off, we decided to stop by the Kyle Flea Market that we passed by on the way to the camp. It was pretty fun, but super hot! Although today is only in the low 90s, the flea market warehouse was not air-conditioned so it was sweltering! 😅 We didn’t find anything worth buying but it was still interesting to see how much junk was for sale.

"Homemade SIgnage" Kyle, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/8000 sec, ISO200
 “Homemade Signage” Kyle, 2016

Next up was lunch, which I got to decide since it is Father’s Day. I was presented with two choices: Shake Shack or Burgerfi. I think I was pretty much guided to choose Burgerfi which was fine with me. The burgers were yummy and it really hit the spot! I chose the “Conflicted Burger” which was one meat patty and one veggie-patty. It was pretty good, but I think I should have just gotten a double-cheeseburger with jalapeños, which is exactly what Bay ordered. Mariko had a cheeseburger with fried egg, and I had a bite… definitely a good combination!

"Three Burgers" Austin, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5.6, 1/100 sec, ISO2000
 “Three Burgers” Austin, 2016

Next up on our Sunday list was to visit the UT campus to check out where Bay’s 3D Printing & Product Design camp will be held. Mariko will be dropping him off and picking him up each day so she wanted to make sure she knew the location. Once we checked it out, we walked to a cream-puff bakery called Cream Whiskers for some ice coffee and matcha cream-puffs. It was yummy!

When we left the bakery, it was close after 6pm so we headed home and then watched game 7 of the NBA finals, and that brings us up to the present!

Oh, one more thing… my Father’s Day loot!

"Father's Day Loot" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/8, 1/17 sec, ISO6400
 “Father’s Day Loot” Cedar Park, 2016

I received a bunch of cool stuff:

  • Sweet treats and trail mix from my parents
  • Yo-kai Watch game for the Nintendo 3DS (or my 2DS)
  • Food-grinder attachment for our mixer so I can make fresh burgers 🍔
  • 5-year Diary. Each day has five entries, so you can easily see what you did on the same day the previous year

Now it’s almost midnight and I didn’t get to play Yo-kai Watch yet… maybe I’ll get to play tomorrow. 🎮

I hope you had a great weekend. ☺️

おやすみなさい！ – B Barron Fujimoto

Early Father’s Day Dinner

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"Korean BBQ" Austin, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/100 sec, ISO2500
 “Korean BBQ” Austin, 2016

こんばんは！How’s it going?

Tomorrow is Father’s Day, but we celebrated an early Father’s Day dinner this year because tomorrow we’ll be very busy and our family won’t be together at dinner time. We’re taking Koa to a Percussion camp, where he will stay for the week. But we often celebrate special occasions early because we like to avoid the dinner crowds, especially on Mother’s and Father’s days.

For this year, I decided that I wanted to go out for Korean BBQ since we haven’t had it in a while. Plus I know the kids like it and Mariko won’t have to cook. 😀 We have two go-to Korean BBQ restaurants we like here in Austin, but there is a new one that recently opened and we decided to give it a try. Charm Korean BBQ is about 25 minutes away from our house and since Mariko and the boys were out watching “Finding Dory” down in South Austin, we figured I’d just meet them at the restaurant after the movie was finished.

"Waiting" Austin, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/1900 sec, ISO400
 “Waiting” Austin, 2016

I arrived a bit before Mariko and the kids, so I had time to take the photo above from the lobby. By the way, temperatures went over 100°F here in Austin. That seems a bit early in the year, doesn’t it? 😓

"Charm Korean BBQ" Austin, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/7.1, 1/25 sec, ISO3200
 “Charm Korean BBQ” Austin, 2016

We ordered three meat dishes – marinated beef, spicy pork belly, and beef tongue. They were all tasty, but my favorite was the spicy pork. Of course I love the spicy foods, and I even added some raw jalapeño slices to give it even more heat. 🔥 Koa’s favorite was the beef tongue, which was really flavorful. I’m surprised that he likes it because I thought he would object to eating “weird” meat. 🐮

I’d say that Charm Korean BBQ is pretty good, but I think I prefer our old stand-byes: Korea House and Chosun. The side dishes at those two restaurants is superior to those at Charm, and I’d also say the meat is tastier at the older restaurants. Still, it’s nice to have options, and if you want all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ, Charm offers it while the other two don’t. So there’s that. ☺️

I hope you had a nice Saturday!

おやすみなさい！ – B Barron Fujimoto