Tag: postaday

End of the week

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"Watch, Suu, and NES Mint Box on Sketchbook" USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2016.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5.6, 1/13 sec, ISO6400
 “Watch, Suu, and NES Mint Box on Sketchbook” USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2016.

こんばんは！Hi, how’s it going? Has the weekend started for you?

This week was so busy, and next week will also be a hectic one for me. But before that, we have the weekend which I am looking forward to. Especially for the food! Tomorrow night we will spend the evening at my cousin’s house to celebrate the Chinese New Year. That means lots of delicious Chinese food! We go down to their house almost every year now so it has become a nice tradition for us. Besides the eating, the kids all receive their red envelopes with money inside. Bay and Koa really look forward to this particular tradition!

Then on Sunday, it’s my wife’s birthday so we are planning on going out to brunch in the morning, then having a nice meal and watch the Super Bowl later that day. It should be fun! Also, I am hoping to test drive some new cars… I am thinking that I will buy one this month since I am afraid my Odyssey will break down catastrophically very soon.

Today’s photo is of some of the items on my desk. My son has a sketchbook there (I think it is one of my old ones from Japan) and on top of that is my Casio watch (which is lasting a good long time!), my Pinky:St Suu character, and a NES controller mint tin. The mints are long gone, but I liked the tin a lot so I am keeping it. I am not sure what should go in it but I am sure I’ll find something!

It’s a chilly night here in Texas. Please stay warm and stay healthy!

おやすみなさい！

-バロン Barron Fujimoto

My favorite food

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"Okonomiyaki" USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2016.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5.6, 1/60 sec, ISO2500
 “Okonomiyaki” USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2016.

こんばんは！Hello, how’s it going? Did you have a good day?

Mine was extremely busy, and started early. I arrived at the office at 7am and worked thru lunch all the way about 3:30, then came home and worked until about 4:30. But, I got a ton finished and am feeling pretty good! But enough about work… let’s talk about today’s photo.

Do you know what kind of food this is? It is called “Okonomiyaki” and is my favorite food ever! I first had it in Osaka, when I visited my wife-to-be. She took me to an okonomiyaki restaurant called “Yukari” and I absolutely loved it! Okonomiyaki (Osaka-style) is primarily made of shredded cabbage, mixed with a batter and grilled on a fry-pan like a thick pancake. Other ingredients are added, such as cheese, sliced meat, seafood, noodles, etc. according to your preference. After it is cooked (and flipped a couple times), it is topped with a sweet sauce, Japanese mayo, dried bonito flakes, and a dried green herb (I forget what it is) and eaten, sometimes with small spatulas.

It’s a lot of fun to make at the restaurant, especially drinking a large draft beer! That icy drink hits the spot because the grill pan at the table can make for a very warm dining experience. But that is a lot of the charm of an okonomiyaki restaurant.

Besides Osaka-style, there are other regional varieties, such as Hiroshima-style which has yakisoba noodles and egg. It’s also so delicious! I recommend you give it a try!

By the way, today I noticed that the bone above my right eye is a bit swollen and bruised from the baseball incident last night. I guess I took a bit more damage than previously thought. It doesn’t hurt too much at least.

Well, tomorrow is Friday and I am looking forward to the weekend! Got any big plans?

Take care and have a nice evening!

おやすみなさい！

-B Barron Fujimoto

Ehoumaki

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"Ehoumaki" USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2016.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/125 sec, ISO5000
 “Ehoumaki” USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2016.

こんばんは！Hello everyone, how are you doing?

Tonight I am in a little bit of pain (nothing serious). I was pitching to Koa at the batting facility this evening, and a ball that he hit bounced off the ceiling net, over my L-shaped pitching barrier, and hit me square on my glasses and above my eye. I got a small cut, even! The cut hurts a little bit, but luckily I don’t think I will have a bruise. I’m guessing the seam of the baseball made the cut, but who knows? At any rate, I think I got lucky. Next time I shouldn’t look up to see where the ball is, but rather should just cover up a bit.

Today’s photo is of the sushi roll called “Ehoumaki” which is eaten on Setsubun. In order to bring good luck, you need to eat the entire sushi roll (by hand like a burrito) while facing the current year’s lucky direction. 2016’s direction is south by southeast. In addition, you cannot talk until you finish your sushi! I look forward to ehoumaki each year since Mariko makes a super delicious sushi roll!

I don’t have a compass app on my phone anymore, but I do have this little combo thermometer/compass that keep in my backpack. I think this may be the first time it has been useful!

USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2016.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/105 sec, ISO6400
 USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2016.

By the way, the weather tonight has gotten cold once again! And we recently had a day in the 80s… Stay warm tonight wherever you are. Have a nice Thursday!

おやすみなさい！

-バロン Barron Fujimoto

What the World Needs Now

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This Is Your Song – Take a line from a song that you love or connect with. Turn that line into the title of your post.

My favorite song “What the World Needs Now” written by Burt Bacharach, with lyrics by Hal David.

What the world needs now is love, sweet love
It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of
What the world needs now is love, sweet love,
No not just for some but for everyone.

What the world needs now is love, sweet love
It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of
What the world needs now is love, sweet love,
No, not just for some but for everyone.

Lord, we don’t need another mountain,
There are mountains and hillsides enough to climb
There are oceans and rivers enough to cross,
Enough to last till the end of time.

What the world needs now is love, sweet love
No, not just for some but for everyone.

What the world needs now is love, sweet love
It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of
What the world needs now is love, sweet love,
No, not just for some, oh, but just for
Every, every, everyone.

I often think these days that we have an overabundance of everything… so much clutter and everything tries to demand our attention. It would be nice if we could all focus on the simple things that matter and shut out the rest.

Give a listen to this version with Burt Bacharach and The Posies from the movie Austin Powers. It’s wonderful:

This post was prompted by The Daily Post from WordPress.

End of the month

Slice of Life2 Comments on End of the month
USA. Texas. Austin. 2016.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5, 1/125 sec, ISO3200
 USA. Texas. Austin. 2016.

こんばんは！How are you doing tonight? Can you believe that we have reached the end of January already? Time really flies.

As expected, it was very warm today… I think the high temperature got up to 81° F! It was so nice outside that I went for a 2-mile run. That felt great, and I broke a sweat early on it was so warm.

Before the run, I went to the market to buy things for dinner, but I made sure to go the the extra-large supermarket nearby to get some Pickapeppa. Do you know this sauce? It’s from Jamaica, and it is delicious.

My mom was born and raised in Jamaica, so when I was growing up, we had a bottle of Pickapeppa in our pantry at all times. We usually used the original (brown) sauce, but there was also the hot pepper version in a smaller bottle. I didn’t really like that when I was young, but now, that is the one I prefer. This morning my kids had some Jamaican patties for breakfast (my Mom made them) but we ran out of the red Pickapeppa. That’s why I made it a point to go to the market that I knew carried the red version.

"Jamaican Pattie" USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2016.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5, 1/125 sec, ISO5000
 “Jamaican Pattie” USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2016.

Well, it’s only 8:15pm now but I am exhausted. I think the combination of the afternoon run and the fact that I woke up at 5am means that I need to go to bed early tonight. Tomorrow the kids have the day off from school which means I don’t have to prepare breakfast for them… that means I can sleep in a little bit later too!

Let’s have a productive Monday!

おやすみなさい！

-B Barron Fujimoto

Kitty kitty

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"Maneki Neko" USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2016.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/40 sec, ISO6400
 “Maneki Neko” USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2016.

こんばんは！How are you today?

My current condition: sleepy and ready for bed. Last night, I only got about 4 hours of sleep, and while I felt great all day, a wave of fatigue just hit me a little while ago. Barely hanging on!

This morning was very productive. I went to the bank to deposit some money, then stopped by the UPS store to drop off a return package to Zappos, and after that, to the post office to mail of our property taxes. I did this all before 10am! But that seems like ages ago… It was a great day, however! 😀

Today’s photo is of some cute cat figurines in our home office.  I’m not sure when Mariko got them but I really like them! They usually hang out on the cabinet shelf above Mariko’s side of the desk, but I moved them onto the desk for this photo. I really like the bokeh that the Fujifilm X100T produces. Lots of character!

Okay, I think that is all my brain will allow me to write tonight. So, until tomorrow!

おやすみなさい！😴

-バロン Barron Fujimoto