Tonight’s photo is of my current pair of Converse. I previously posted about how I’ve had at least one pair of Chuck Taylors in my closet throughout my life, but I want to also share a silly tradition that I’ve had with my shoes for as long as I can remember.
When I get new shoes, I always re-lace one of the shoes so that they mismatch at that first pair of eyelets. Look in the photo to see what I mean. I don’t know why I started doing it that way, nor do I have a preference as to which shoe will have the front laces on the outside, but it’s something that I am compelled to do. It doesn’t make sense, and there’s no good reason I can think of why I do this. My best guess there is some personality flaw that is manifesting itself in my shoelaces. Who knows? 😜
This morning I arrived at work while there was a nice sunrise happening. I wanted to see if I could get a decent photo of it so I decided to take the elevator up to the top level of the parking garage to get a better view. I think it turned out pretty good!
Honestly, there have been many days where the sunrise was really cool but I just didn’t have the motivation to put in the extra effort to find a good spot to view it from. It’s silly、 really, since the effort level is minimal – I just had to press a button to take the elevator up 4 levels, then walk 15 seconds to the edge of the garage. Just talking about it now, I feel so stupid.
In the future, I’ll try to make that extra effort. The results just might be worth it!
FYI, the photo is a panorama from two photos that I stitched using Lightroom and Photoshop. There were some telephone poles and power lines near the treeline that I removed. I usually add a little grain to my photos using Lightroom, but I forgot to do that for this one. Oh well. I still am pleased with it! 😆
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.6, 1/125 sec, ISO2000 “Making Naan” Cedar Park, 2017
こんばんは。How’s it going?
This evening my wife went to work before she could finish making naan for us, so I had to take over. Mariko prepared the dough for me in the bread maker, and when it was ready it was my chance to succeed or fail. 😝
When I took the dough out of the breadmaker, it was really sticky and got stuck on my hand. I was thinking that this cannot be right! Did I take it out too early? Was it supposed to rest for 15 minutes? Did I miss something on the bread machine since it is all in Japanese? The doubts were going through my head. 😱
But then I floured up my hands and sprinkled flour on the Silpat baking sheet, and things got easier. I divided the dough into six portions, then went to work forming the dough into flat shapes. While I was doing that, our cast-iron skillet was heating up on the stove and starting to smoke a bit – just about ready to cook!
The first naan I put on was a bit too thick and a little dough-ey, but it was still delicious. The other five naan got better (and thinner) the more practice I got so I was happy. When each one came off the pan, I spread a little butter on it and sprinkled some salt.
The real test came at dinner when the kids tasted it with their curry. And they thought the naan was good! Koa ate two of them and even designated a section of his plate exclusively for curry sauce for dipping the naan in. No rice or chicken allowed in that section. 😄
I think the naan experiment was a success.
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Below is a photo of my hiragana practice sheet. As I mentioned earlier, I am studying Japanese again and part of that is to get used to writing hiragana and katakana.
I’m surprised (and happy) that my writing is getting better and better. I was an art major in college, so you’d think I would have some skills at this, but I have always been very poor at drawing. However, I am really pleased with how it is going so far. I actually had to ask my kids if they did that third line of “あ” because I thought there’s no way I did it!
I still have a long way to go, but I’m trying to make sure I keep a positive attitude and not get discouraged if I go too fast. I want to enjoy the experience! That means a not-so-aggressive timeline. ☺️
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/16, 1/10 sec, ISO6400 “ひらがな” Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/100 sec, ISO800 “あんこ” Cedar Park, 2017
こんばんは。How’s it going? Have a nice Tuesday?
Tonight I will just share three photos that I took today: One of our cat, Anko, looking like a maneki-neko, the second one is the morning sky with tiny moon, and the last one is of our delicious Indian dinner that Mariko made.
And now it is time to practice ひらがな, read, and fall asleep. See you tomorrow!
おやすみ
バロン
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/7.1, 1/100 sec, ISO2500 “Sunrise Clouds” Cedar Park, 2017Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5, 1/40 sec, ISO3200 “Dinner” Cedar Park, 2017
It’s funny but this afternoon I was enthusiastic about what I was going to write about tonight, but that enthusiasm has left me… my brain has gotten distracted by a couple things, most notably the news that an uncle of mine is in the hospital. I’ve been following the family conversation for updates on his condition in our Whatsapp group, so that is on my mind.
So, tonight I’ll just take a little break from the blogging, and just practice writing hiragana for a bit. I definitely need practice!
Oh, today’s photo is just something I saw this morning while I was waiting at a stop light. 🐦
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/40 sec, ISO3200 “Utensils” Cedar Park, 2017
こんばんは！How’s it going?
Today in Austin, the wind was crazy! I was expecting for some of our older wooden fences to come down, but I think they survived. We really should get them replaced but I think we’ll hold out as long as we can.
The photo for today is of our shelf where we keep a bunch of our eating utensils – mainly our はし (chopsticks) and wooden spoons. We have a regular kitchen drawer where we keep our regular forks, spoons, and knives, but I prefer to use はし whenever I can, and instead of metal spoons, I like to use wooden spoons.
To me, wooden utensils make the food taste better because there’s no metallic tang that comes with regular silverware. Plus wooden utensils feel better on the lips, mouth, and tongue. Really!
One drawback is that the wooden utensils can’t go into the dishwasher since the extreme heat can damage them, but that’s a small price to pay for a more natural eating experience, IMHO.
If you only have metal eating utensils, why not get a set of wooden utensils and give them a try? You might just become a convert like me.
I hope you had a nice Sunday and a fantastic weekend!
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/300 sec, ISO400 “Shall We Play a Game?” Cedar Park, 2017
こんばんは How’s it going?
When I got my new phone a few weeks ago, not only did I have space to install any app I wanted, but I also had a phone with the processing power to play Pokemon GO! again. 😆
I don’t play games on my phone or computer with any regularity but I do enjoy it every once in a while. My type of game is the stress-free non-competitve type, like Animal Crossing or SimCity, and Pokemon GO! is pretty fun for me since you can simply collect Pokemon and not battle others.
Today’s photo is of my phone in the car. I have two pokestops that I visit in the neighborhood when I pick up Koa from school. Gotta stock up on pokeballs!
I hope you had a nice Saturday!
おやすみ！
バロン
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