Photo-a-day 2016.12.27

Greetings from Austin

Greetings from my hometown

Photo-a-day 2016.07.17

Japan souvenirs

A photo of all the souvenirs and random items I acquired (for myself) overseas in Japan. Hooray for Japan!

Photo-a-day 2016.07.16

Yasukuni Shrine during Mitama festival

Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, Japan, during their Mitama festival

Photo-a-day 2016.07.15

Narisawa

Narisawa in Tokyo, Japan

I enjoyed a fancy 13 course meal with tea pairings while visiting Japan with some friends. Pictured here was one of the first dishes out, called Satoyama Scenery and Essence of the Forest. It was candied burdock roots atop charcoal bamboo and some matcha mixture, some greens, and yogurt. The wooden cylinder in the back contained oak infused water. The entire meal was delightfully delicious, colorful, and perfectly portioned so that you wouldn't feel overly full and could still enjoy each new piece of art, I mean dish, presented to you.

Photo-a-day 2016.07.14

Honey toast

Strawberry mochi milk honey toast from Honey Toast Cafe in Tokyo

After much debate as a group, we ended up getting two honey toasts, this colorful one and the plain one. Both were fantastic

Photo-a-day 2016.07.13

Dining with garden view

Garden view of the dining area of Kadensho in Kyoto

Photo-a-day 2016.07.12

Green tea parfait

Green tea parfait at Saryo Tsujiri Gion Honten (Yelp and official sites)

Had a little bit of everything, green tea whipped cream, jelly, chestnut, ice cream, agar agar, other jellies, omg I want another...

Photo-a-day 2016.07.11

Owl Cafe

Owl cafe Watawata in Nara

Omg. I miss playing with birds. These were all so cute and tame and adorable

Photo-a-day 2016.07.10

Moss temple

Moss temple in Kyoto, also known as Kokedera, also known as Saihoji. Beautiful scenery, lots and lots of overgrown moss everywhere. A wonderland for photographers...

Photo-a-day 2016.07.09

Atomic dome at Hiroshima

Photo-a-day 2016.07.08

Osaka Castle

Photo-a-day 2016.07.07

Kobe beef

Kobe beef from Wakkoqu. It was super tender and juicy, one of the best meats I've ever had. Yum.

Photo-a-day 2016.07.06

Okunoin at Koyasan

Okunoin, a wonderfully peaceful walk through centuries old tombstones lining a paved road

Photo-a-day 2016.07.05

Shukubo

Shukubo, aka temple stay, at Koya-san in the Wakayama region of Japan. 

Basically, you stay overnight at a temple and get pretty nighttime views of the temple and a peaceful evening to unwind.

Photo-a-day 2016.07.04

Yukata

I was feeling artsy whilst wearing a non-generic looking yukata (cotton Japanese-style robe) around the hotel/ryokan

Photo-a-day 2016.07.03

Kishu chomon no yu

Translates to "listening to the Kishu surf"

Outdoor onsen with view of the Pacific ocean, inside of Hotel Nakanoshima in Katsuura, Japan (Wakayama prefecture). Even though it was rather hot outside, this was refreshing and relaxing

Photo-a-day 2016.07.02

Good morning Japan

View of the Tokyo Sky Tree from my hotel room for the first night.

Time change makes photo-a-day weird, so teeeeechnically this is not taken on the 2nd, but whatever.

Photo-a-day 2016.07.01

R2D2 jet

From Vancouver (YVR) to Haneda (HND) via ANA

The little differences that made it fun:

- They had a light show and played the main theme before takeoff

- headrests had R2D2 covers

- stewardesses wore R2D2 aprons

- cups, napkins, and trays were Star Wars themed

- Darth Vader's head bucket had candy inside

- stuffed Yoda was hanging out in the snack area

- and of course, the outside was painted as seen here

It was a fun little surprise =)

Photo-a-day 2016.02.15

Inukshuk

Inukshuk (stone statue) spotted at the top of 7th Heaven Express chair lift on Blackcomb Mountain

Photo-a-day 2015.12.29

Cajun seafood platter

From Mulate's in New Orleans, LA

Clockwise from the 12 o'clock - Cheddar mashed potato, stuffed crab, coleslaw, calamari, fried oysters, grilled catfish atop grilled crawfish, grilled shrimp.

The catfish, shrimp, and potatoes were superb. Stuffed crab was pretty good too. The calamari was terrible. The unpictured fried catfish appetizers were pretty tasty though.