Daikon Forge

It’s been a pretty darned good day so far.  I’ve been baking and cooking a lot with my daughter lately – she’s been showing more interest in cooking again – and last night (at 11:00PM, I have no idea why) we had decided to make an apple-cinnamon coffee cake (click the image at right for the recipe), so I got to start out the day eating something that I made with my daughter.  That’s a good way to begin a day, in my book

Afterwards, the children and I began some kenjutsu practice, which is a really fantastic way to get into the rhythm of the day.  Though it’s been almost a decade since I last practiced regularly, I still find that I am absolutely in love with it.  I’m probably teaching the kids some bad habits, since I was never much more than a beginner (I only studied regularly for about two years), but I cherish the ability to share that with my children, and I no longer live near any of my former instructors, so I can justify it to myself. 

Speaking of instructors, that guy there on the left-hand side is Kurita-sensei, a former uchi-deshi to O-sensei, who went on later to become the founder of the particular school of Aikido / Kenjutsu / Jodo that I used to study.   I dearly miss when he would come to America to teach in seminars during the summer.  It was always highly educational, and the man has serious mad skillz and a real talent for teaching.  Anyways, I really enjoyed that time with the children this morning, and I really think it’s a great way to bond and share some special time.

Continuing the wonderful trend, even dinner was pretty fantastic today.  I made one of my favorite meals: barbequed pork ribs on the grill, baked potatoes, and corn on the cob.  Yeah, yeah, my favorite meal is basically comfort food, sue me For once, everything turned out pretty much exactly the way I wanted it to, and it’s hard to imagine enjoying any meal more.  It really was that good.

As soon as I can find the room, I’m going to sit down with a cup of fresh-brewed coffee and a big old slice of chocolate cake that my daughter made for me today at some point when I wasn’t looking, the little sneaker.  I’ve already tried some of it, and I have to say, that girl makes a mean freaking cake.  She may only be in her teens, but her cakes are easily as good as any other I’ve ever tried.  I sure wish I knew what the hell she was doing differently, since her cakes are better than mine, haha.  In any case, I expect that I’ll thoroughly enjoy dessert as well.

I hope that all of the fathers who come across this post, as well as those that don’t, are having their own fantastic father’s day!