Tag: traveling

Taiwanese Breakfast, Escape Room, and Mexican Feast

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"Taiwanese Breakfast" Monterey Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.6, 1/125 sec, ISO1600
 “Taiwanese Breakfast” Monterey Park, 2017

こんばんは。

Today Bay, Mariko, and I drove up to Monterey Park so Mariko could meet up with her friend. Bay and I decided to join them for a light Taiwanese breakfast. It was pretty good, although it was more fried food than I was expecting.

After that, Bay and I visited a record store where I bought a few albums for myself and a couple gifts for friends, and then we met up with my family for a trip up to an escape room in North Hollywood. It was lot of fun, and we successfully escaped!

"Mural" Los Angeles, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.5, 1/250 sec, ISO200
 “Mural” Los Angeles, 2017

After the escape room, we asked the guy working there if he knew a good Mexican restaurant, and he immediately recommended Salsa & Beer. His suggestion was right on, as it was an excellent meal! I’d have to rate it towards the top of my Mexican restaurants. Delicious, inexpensive, and huge portions. Definitely worth a visit!

"Mexican Meal" North Hollywood, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5.6, 1/4 sec, ISO6400
 “Mexican Meal” North Hollywood, 2017

Now, I must sleep… take care!

またね～

Christmas Day

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"Stockings" Torrance, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.2, 1/60 sec, ISO3200
 “Stockings” Torrance, 2017

Merry Christmas everyone! 🎅🎄☃️🎁

Tonight we ate our traditional Hawaiian feast: lau lau, kalua pig, dried fish, lomi salmon, mac salad, char siu, poké, and musubi. This meal is one of the highlights of my year! I hope you also enjoyed a nice Christmas dinner with your loved ones. ❤️💚

"Hawaiian Meal" Torrance, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.2, 1/125 sec, ISO5000
 “Hawaiian Meal” Torrance, 2017

Xmas Eve

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"Dumplings" Torrance, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.2, 1/100 sec, ISO2500
 “Dumplings” Torrance, 2017

Hello! Happy Christmas eve! This evening we went out for dinner at Din Tai Fung, which is a popular Taiwanese restaurant. The dumplings were so good!

This location we went to was at the Del Amo Fashion Center, which is the mall that we always used to go to when I was growing up since it was only a few minutes away. But nowadays, so much has changed that I hardly recognize it! But, I’m glad that this restaurant is there. 😄

Earlier in the day, I went with my mom to King’s Hawaiian Bakery to pick up a cake for Christmas day. It was super-crowded, but they had plenty of cakes to go around. Can’t wait to dig into the Haupia cake tomorrow!

"Haupia Cakes" Torrance, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.2, 1/300 sec, ISO200
 “Haupia Cakes” Torrance, 2017

I hope you had a nice day!

おやすみ

Big Sur and Back Home

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"Coastline" Big Sur, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/8, 1/200 sec, ISO200
 “Coastline” Big Sur, 2017

こんばんは。

Today we headed down the coast to Big Sur for breakfast at Big Sur Bakery. The scenery along PCH was breathtaking, and because of the road closure farther down the coast, the traffic was very light. When we arrived at the bakery, there were only a couple of others there so it was a relaxed and carefree meal.

After fueling up our bodies with coffee and pastries, we drove back up the coast to Monterey, then across to the highway and on to our next stop, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. We wanted to check out the campus, but since it was holiday break, the school was empty and the buildings were locked. So we walked around a bit before continuing our journey back to Southern California. But it was neat to finally see the campus where I almost went to school back in the ’90s.

My brother and his fiancee were having an ugly sweater party, so we went straight there, ate dinner, and partied for a bit before returning to my parents’ house in Torrance.

It was a long day, but filled with cool sights, tasty treats, and fun times. The best kind of travel!

おやすみ！

"Coastline" Big Sur, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/8, 1/340 sec, ISO200
 “Coastline” Big Sur, 2017
"Hallway" San Luis Obispo, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5, 1/125 sec, ISO800
 “Hallway” San Luis Obispo, 2017
"Party Fujimotos" Redondo Beach, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.2, 1/60 sec, ISO3200
 “Party Fujimotos” Redondo Beach, 2017



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Monterey Day

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"Mambou" Monterey, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/70 sec, ISO6400
 “Mambou” Monterey, 2017

こんばんは。How’s it going?

Today we grabbed a quick breakfast at the hotel then headed down to Cannery Row and the main attraction: the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

We had been once before when the kids were small and enjoyed it a lot, so we wanted to visit again and experience the aquarium now that the kids are older. The aquarium is still the same, which is a good thing. The exhibits are all excellent, with the otter feeding and kelp forest feeding being very popular and fun. But I had never seen the feeding at the Open Ocean exhibit, which has tuna, sunfish, a sea turtle, sardines, etc. It was amazing to see how fast the sunfish could actually swim. When the food was thrown into the tank, that sunfish zipped across at lightning speed! It was incredible!

The feeding of the 20,000 sardines was fantastic as well. The giant mass of silvery fish rose like a hurricane to the food and with the sunlight coming down from above, the sight was truly dazzling. I think that was the highlight of the visit for me. Really awesome.

In the evening we visited the Dali museum for a bit and checked out the extensive collection of lithographs. Some were beautiful, and some were bizarre. Very Dali!

I hope you had a nice day.

またね～

"Cannery Row" Monterey, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5.6, 1/680 sec, ISO200
 “Cannery Row” Monterey, 2017
"Looking North" Monterey, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5.6, 1/850 sec, ISO200
 “Looking North” Monterey, 2017
"Jellies" Monterey, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.5, 1/125 sec, ISO640
 “Jellies” Monterey, 2017
"Beach" Monterey, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/125 sec, ISO250
 “Beach” Monterey, 2017
"Dali" Monterey, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/125 sec, ISO2000
 “Dali” Monterey, 2017



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