figuring it was now or never, i woke up this morning and decided to go to bagelsaurus for a bagel sandwich. by the time i got there around 9:45am, the line outside was about 20 customers deep. most of them were young people, with time to burn. the wait outside wasn't terrible, i got inside the store after 15 minutes. however i failed to realize there was another 20 people inside waiting for their orders. night last i looked over their menu so i already knew what i wanted: the hot smoked ($13.50) - hot smokd salmon, cream cheese, pickled red cabbage, red onion, fresh dill. it's the most expensive sandwich on their menu. the cashier asked for my first name and last initial, and gave me a ticket.

having worked in the food industry for a little bit now, i can't help but to size up other businesses. like i noticed they had about 10 employees working there. they use the toast POS. strips of san jamar ticket holder. wire shelves of bagels, poppy seeds and other crumbs on the floor below. on the wall where i was standing, various bagelsaurus merchandise like t-shirts and sweatshirts. given the number of customers inside, i only waited 10 minutes before i got my order. a lot of people ahead of me were still waiting (but maybe they had bigger orders).

it was 10:10am and i needed to get to the cafe by 10:30am to open the store. i climbed the avon hill neighborhood. i know this place well from my census days, remembering the various houses i visited. i saw flowering snowbells, crocuses, and hellebores. emerging from the soil were daffodils and tulips.

i got to the cafe right on time. i cooked 6 cups of rice, figuring today might be a little busy. i saw my sister returning with esmei, i let them inside while i was vacuuming.

while waiting for the cafe to open, i had enough time to try the bagelsaurus sandwich. i didn't know what to expect. for one thing, my hot sandwich was already cold. the cross-section was pretty: white cream cheese, pink onions, flesh-colored salmon layer, magenta cabbage, and gren dill. i didn't realize you could eat dill as a spread. after a few bites, i wasn't too impressed. sure it was tasty, but not delicious enough to wait nearly half an hour to get my order. i couldn't really taste the smoke of the smoked salmon, could be canned salmon for all i know. most of the flavors came from the pickled cabbage and dill. honestly, i could make a better smoked fish bagel sandwich for far less. as for the bagel - the famous bagel! - i didn't really notice any difference compared to any other bagels i've had in the past.

i opened the cafe. we were good in terms of supplies, the only thing i had to make was new batches of jasmine green tea and black tea. my 2nd aunt brought in my 2nd uncle's new green card. this was a replacement card green because the one they got before had a typo. it only took 18 months for the replacement card to arrive!

the day started pretty good, we had two online orders in our first hour. but after that, for the next 2 hours, we barely had any business. i remember harvard's spring break begins this weekend, so we probably wouldn't be getting any college kids. my sister returned home, told us to call her when it got busy. she came back on her own in our final two hours. that was a good thing because we suddenly got busy. besides a few food orders, a bunch of kids came in and ordered more than half a dozen bubble tea drinks. so it wasn't a wasted day after all. we made slightly more profit compared to last saturday. just one more day left (tuesday) before my parents get back.

after we closed, i gave my 2nd aunt a ride home. because she needed to go to CVS, i drove her to the porter square store instead. but at the last minute she told me she needed to go to star market first. she got some mozzarella cheese and spicy pickle chips while i stocked up on some more corned beef. she ended up going to CVS afterwards while i drove home.

i finished the other half of my bagelsaurus sandwich.

while watching some youtube videos, i finished a whole bag of potato chips.

for dinner i ate the last of my leftover rice porridge. by the time i finished, i was so stuffed, i felt like exploding. honestly, just eating that whole bagel sandwich alone probably fulfilled my calorie count for the day. adding potatoes and a large bowl of rice porridge? so much for trying to lose some weight.

i watched the celtics-nets game. boston was without horford and white, but this game marked the return of porzingis. brown played in the first half before being made inactive due to back spasms. celtics dominated for much of the game, but give the nets credit, they kept coming back wave after wave. the game got interesting in the final minutes when brooklyn made it a one possession game. but in the end boston prevailed, 115-113. pritchard also set an NBA record for having the most 3-pointers in a season coming off the bench at 219.

we were busy today from 11am to 3pm. my sister tried to leave a few times in the afternoon, only for customers to show up and she had to stick around to help out. i was able to finally sit down in the late afternoon, my body aching from stand for hours on end. we had 15 bento box sales, matched only by 15 bubble tea sales. we used up the batch of tea eggs i'd just put out yesterday, had to start the backup batch while i made a new batch. charsiu pork was nearly depleted but i didn't thaw a box overnight so had to do thaw it during the day, only to roast it in the late afternoon. we made two batches of pickled cucumbers.

i didn't go home after work. instead i rode the bike to belmont to pick up an aliexpress delivery. i also had a chance to inspect the house and water the osmanthus seedlings in my parents' bedroom. i'm coming back sunday to water the grow room plants and maybe do some tree pruning. it started to get dark on my way home, so i was finally able to test out my headlight again.

for dinner i ate a salmon bagel my sister got me from iggy's today but i was too busy to eat it while i was at the cafe so i brought it home. eating it cold, the bagel was a tough chew. the cream cheese seemed to overwhelm the salmon. poppy seeds spilled everywhere. i'd like to try a bagelsaurus salmon sandwich one of these days, but the idea of waking up early saturday morning and waiting in line for a bagel feels wrong to me.

i opened the aliexpress delivery. the content: rechargeable reflective backpack LED light strip, 5pcs female DC power plug 5.5x2.1mm, solar-powered fortune kitty (in yellow), mechanical music box keychain, 10pcs 11mm spring clamps, 5m (20 sheets) tibetan prayer flag, reflective slap band (white), great mazinger 1974 t-shirt (medium). the t-shirt was a perfect fit and i love the material; i kind of regret not getting it in black instead (hides stains better). the music box plays a tune i can't identify, not even with google music listening id help.

i watched the celtics-heat game. boston was without porzingis and brown, but still won 103-91. the heat led the game in the 3rd quarter, but the celtics was in command the rest of the game. miami seems like a shell of its former self without jimmy butler, i never felt the celtics were going to lose this game.

my sister was taking esmei to the dog park early today, so i was the only one at the cafe this morning. these are all the things i did before i opened the cafe at 9:30am:

i moved out the second hyacinth to the front cash register. i noticed my hyacinths sort of have spindly flowers instead of a robust bouquet. is it the variety, or is it just because i'm forcing them indoors instead of growing them outside? a customer actually came in today and asked to buy one of the hyacinths, forcing vase and all. when i said they weren't for sale, he seemed genuinely disappointed. it's taken me have a year to get these bulbs to bloom! from ordering and selecting the bulbs back in november, to chilling them in the garage, to finally forcing them in vases for weeks until they finally sprouted.

looks more and more likely i need to visit baifu this weekend. we're down to only 5 bags of dumplings left, and running low on a few other supplies. all signs point to sunday, the same day as the st.patrick's day parade. they open at 9am sunday, so if i make an early visit, i can finish the supply run by morning and have the rest of the day to relax. sunday is the only viable day as it'll start raining by evening and all of monday is a wash.

i've noticed the rubber on my front bike tire is all cracked. i only just replaced it back in march 2022. the rear tire is in better shape and that one is older - replaced back in september 2021. both were kenda kwest W tire 26x1.5". but given how much i ride my bike, it's not entirely unreasonable that the tires need replacing after just a few years. i was going to replace the front tire with another kenda tire ($25)- but came across a chinese-brand knock-off (YUNSCM) that looks exactly like the kendas. the only catch is they come in a pair (front and rear), but they also include the inner tubes and tire levers ($50). i checked my rear tire and it could use some replacing as well, so i ended up ordering a pair, to arrive on sunday. maybe i spent my rainy monday at home working on my bicycle.

a phone order came in this morning for 8 servings of dumplings. i told the woman they'd be ready in half an hour. that kicked off our lunch time period where we were busy for the next 3 hours until things tapered off around 1pm. we sold a lot of bento boxes today, with charsiu pork being the most popular choice followed closely behind by minced pork. a woman called in asking for minced pork. when she arrived to pick up her order, she told me they call it something else at home: lo-bah-peng. that's actually taiwanese for "minced pork rice." if my father was here he'd understand, as i don't speak taiwanese. hopefully she comes back again.

my sister left the cafe around 1:30pm to take esmei hiking. my 2nd aunt and i fielded a few orders, but we didn't see a single customer during the 4pm block. when my sister came back around 5pm, it got busy again. my 2nd aunt laughed at me for cooking 3 cups of rice when it looked like we were running low, but it turned out to be a smart decision, as we don't have anymore backup rice in the freezer.

i noticed yesterday a crack on my 2nd aunt's phone screen protector and helped her replace it. i also happened to bring a replacement tempered glass screen protector for my own phone, while has a cobweb-patterned crack for months. i replaced that as well.

i was so busy today, i didn't finally sit down until mid-afternoon. meanwhile, my 2nd aunt seemed to be eating non-stop. her favorite thing to do is to rummage in the basement freezers for things my parents bought at costco but never ate. today she found a box of spring rolls she asked me to heat up for her.

i made a new batch of tea egg spices. instead of making 10, i now make 20. it was my first time using the tiny 50ml beaker i got from aliexpress. it works better than the plastic sauce containers i'd been using before because the glass material didn't get statically-charged like the plastic. also it's easier to pour out with its built-in spout.

my sister took esmei to the dog washing place after they returned from hiking. i saw esmei in the back of the car, fur all shiny and soft from her wash.

my sister had another episode today. it's at least the third one she's had since we've been working while my parents are on vacation. she started to get crazy because i didn't believe her when she said our old non-stick coated pans can be revived by oiling. i know you can do that with cast-iron pans, but not non-stick. she became livid when i didn't believe her, and said i never believe anything she says. she gets angry over the most trivial thing, the most random topic might set her off. she said a few other things but i don't remember them all because as soon as she has a fit my brain just tunes out. after today we only need to work another 3 days before my parents get back. thankfully i was able to steer the topic to something else and she quickly returned to normal.

after we closed, i was the last to leave after letting everyone out the front door. once again, had an unsatisfactory ride home because it wasn't dark enough to really get a feel for my new headlight even though i had it turned on.

back at home, i reheated a container of leftover meat sauce i found in my freezer and boiled some spaghetti noodles. all that pasta was really good, left me in a food coma afterwards.

after weeks of forcing, the bulbs are finally ready to present. i put the hyacinth by the register while the altruist daffodils went behind the utensils table. both flowers are fragrant, but only if you put your nose up to them, the scent doesn't spread too far (maybe the air purifier has something to do with it).

as if making up for the lack of business yesterday, we were intensely busy today. it started at 11am, didn't taper off until 2pm. we only had about an hour of reprieve before it ramped up again, culminating in a busy final hour. there were also half a dozen delivery orders (5 ubereats, 1 grubhub), plus we sold a pair of knitted garment my mother had made. the stream of customers was relentless, but be so busy made the day go by much quicker.

we had a few supply crisis. the first one was running out of boba pearls. it'd take me about an hour to cook up a fresh batch, so we resorted to our emergency quick boba, which only takes 10 minutes to prepare. the second crisis was we ran out of rice in our final hour. we had a supply of leftover frozen rice, which my sister kept pushing me to use up. that meant i only cooked 5 cups of rice today. throughout the day we'd reheated the leftover frozen rice, until finally we were down to just one box. that's when we got in quick succession multiple orders that required rice: bento boxes, curry chicken, fried rice. we had to dig deep to find a few more old containers of frozen rice in the freezer, while i quickly cooked 2 cups of rice in our secondary rice cooker. though not really a crisis, we only had a single tea egg left in the slow cooker by the end of the day. i'll need to reheat our backup batch tomorrow while i make a new batch.

other than an old tea egg, i didn't eat anything at the cafe today. i had a glass of black tea and i made some matcha latte with some expired milk. my 2nd aunt bought an instant cup of korean rice cakes (bibigo-brand). instead of following the directions, she used 3x the amount of water which made for a watery rice cake. we fixed it by reheating everything on the stove to reduce the water. the sauce was a little too sweet, not spicy enough. i still prefer my homemade korean rice cake recipe.

we ended up staying a little late at the cafe when we closed as we waited for an uber driver to arrive and deliver our last ubereats takeout. when we tallied today's total profit (square POS sales + delivery sales + cash) we were surprised by the amount. my 2nd aunt said it didn't feel that busy, but i was slaving away all day in the kitchen.

by the time i finally left it was already close to sunset. i used my headlight but it was still too bright outside, all i really noticed was road signs reflecting back at me.

even after working all day, i came home to do more cooking. instead of finishing my leftover rice porridge, i decided to take a break and make some korean rice cakes instead.

i had all the ingredients instead of karo dark corn syrup. so instead i just used some honey. it's a great recipe for cold nights (like rice porridge) like today when the temperature was only in the 40's. the hardest part is finding korean rice cakes, but i usually have a frozen package in the freezer. you also don't need the tofu wedges, but they're my favorite, so i add them. boiled eggs is a common addition, and i also heard of ramen noodles to sop up the spicy sauce. i paired the rice cakes with a woodchuck granny smith hard cider. it tastes like a regular woodchuck cider with maybe a hint more tartness.

i ate while watching the thunders-celtics game, a faceoff between the number one team in the western conference and the defending champions. OKC played extremely well, boston kept making multiple runs, only for the thunders to push back the lead. celtics lose 118-112. boston had chances, but OKC looks to be the better team, at least tonight. boston was without porzingis, still out due to a mystery illness (or is the team just icing our latvian unicorn until the playoffs?).

today was the first work day of daylight saving time. temperature this morning was in the upper 30's but would be in the 60's by the afternoon. with the nice weather, i was certain we'd be busy today, and prepared accordingly, cooking up 6 cups of rice. how the customers i'd envisioned never showed up. sure, we had an uptick around lunchtime, but it was barely perceptible. our most profitable hour was actually our final hour, when a customer who earlier called how late we were opened until, showed up to get some bubble tea and ended up buying two hats my mother had knitted. also in our final hours of work we got a bunch of ubereats orders for some strange reason.

those 4 old tea eggs from last week? i decided to retire them, have them ourselves instead of selling to customers. they're okay to eat, but not so fresh anymore. the hyacinths are starting to open up; once they show colors, i'll move them to the front of the cafe so everyone can see them. likewise the altruist daffodils are opening. i didn't realize the flowers are kind of tiny. is it because they're being forced, grown in just water and leca pellets? the one flower that i smelled has the faintest fragrance, hopefully it'll get stronger. today was a big day for noodles. i ended up cooking 3 new batches of black soy noodles, on top of the two containers of leftover noodles from saturday. we sold most of it, i'll have to make a new batch first thing tomorrow morning.

my sony hearing aid amplifies my hearing to such an extent that i've become pretty good at eavesdropping on the conversations of customers. even all the way from the back kitchen, if i turn on the sensitivity, i can hear people in front of the cafe, especially if they speak loudly. today two college girls came with a chinese guy in a suit. i think they were classmates. they were making plans for the weekend - apparently the st.patrick's day parade is a big deal for college students. one of the girls said she was staying in southie saturday night so she wouldn't need to brave the subways. they came in for drinks but ended up ordering some noodles.

the day seemed weird in that it felt early even though the clocks said it was late. before we knew it it was close to closing time even though there was still plenty of daylight outside. i looked forward to riding home so i could use my new headlight but it wasn't even dark yet. i turned it on anyway, in case it suddenly got dark in the few minutes it takes me to bike home.

because of daylight saving, the time difference between boston and tokyo is only off by an hour. so i was able to call my parents in japan at 8am, while they were still in their hotel room. they told me about the rainy night garden they visited last night, where they saw many blooming prunus mume trees, one of the highlights of their japanese tour. my father even sent me a photo, said it was one of the best photos he'd ever taken, of people standing on a wooden bridge above a foggy stream at night. they have just one day left of sightseeing today around nagoya before they return to taipei tomorrow afternoon. then they have 4 days remaining in taiwan before they head back home (the flight takes about a day).

for dinner i reheated some leftover rice porridge from last night. i added some spicy chili sauce which increased the flavor profile. i washed it down with a can of woodchuck pearsecco. advertised as a dry cider, i had to go online to figure out what dry meant in terms of alcohol. so it means "not as sweet" which is the opposite of what i like in a hard cider.

i woke up at 7:30am to get ready for my 9am allston dentist appointment. i left the house by 8:30am, cutting across harvard square. in my haste i forgot to wear my helmet, but i was riding slow anyway.

when i got to the dentist office, there was a vietnamese lady dentist i didn't recognize. i think doctor huang rents out their dental practice space to other dentists. doctor huang's wife was there too, we chatted briefly before i sat down in the dentist chair. just a reminder, i was there to get my implant crown fixed after it became loose for the second time. doctor huang removed the crown and compared it to the old crown. he showed me that the abutment of the new crown is different than the old crown. it came from the same manufacturer, but they changed the design since the last time i had my crown made.

doctor huang put in the old crown and took an x-ray, before reinstalling the new crown. the moment he screwed it in place, i could feel the crown pressing painfully up against the front teeth. doctor huang removed the crown, filed it down slightly, and reinstalled it. it was still tight, he removed and filed one more time, before installing it for good. there was still some contact, but nothing like it was before. he then took another x-ray. there was still a small point of contact to the adjoining front tooth, but nothing compared to an x-ray he took the last time the crown became loose.

i volunteered to pay for his time (seems like i come practically every week) but he said no. he did tell me that if this still doesn't work, he might need to make a new crown. i said good bye to his wife, and told her i was sorry to hear about the passing of her aunt. she told me she was 90+ years old and had been sick for a while, so it wasn't unexpected.

i was done by 10am. i decided to revisit bazaar, try a few more different brands of smoked sprats. i came in from the cambridge street entrance. the cashier was the same blond girl from last time. she was working behind the pastry/bread counter today. she seemed to be the only person working. i got two round cans of smoked brand, one old riga brand (same brand as the glass jar sprats we've bought before) and another riga brand.

coming back i also stopped by the allston trader joe's. they had hanging pots of prayer plants and tradescantias, the two varieties i have but these were way healthier. i picked up a few things for the cafe.

i got home around 10:45am. i thought about riding to market basket, but decided to do it after lunch. i reheated the three slices of leftover spinach and mushroom pizza from last night.

after i finished eating, i biked to walgreens to pick up an amlodipine prescription. i then went to market basket. once again, it was mostly things for the cafe. i glanced at the eggs but we have so many at the cafe, it'll be a few weeks before we need to replenish our supply.

when i got back home around 1pm, i put all the supplies into the car and drove to the cafe to drop them off. i moved foods from the freezer into the refrigerator to defrost. i also defrosted a box of marinated charsiu pork so i can roast a fresh batch tomorrow. i vacuumed the floor, including the tiny fern leaves. but the most important thing i did was to change all the clocks (two wall clocks and two microwave clocks). i didn't go until almost 1:45pm, walking home so i could leave the car behind.

i was finally done when i got home. besides doing a load of laundry, i didn't do anything else constructive the rest of the day. i spent it watching youtube videos, fell asleep briefly in the late afternoon, only to wake up around 5pm because i was getting cold on the couch and closed the blinds before i turned on the heat.

it's been over 6 months since i last made my instant pot century egg & pork bone congee (september 2024), i didn't realize it was that long ago. it's a super simple recipe and probably the only thing i use my instant pot for these days. it's the perfect food for cold nights, and now that the weather is slowly turning warmer, i eat congee while i still can. most of the ingredients are asian kitchen staples, the hardest things to get are probably the bone-in spare ribs and century egg. the recipe will work perfectly fine without a century egg, but that is one of the traditional ingredients. the spare-ribs must be bone-in (to extract maximum savory pork flavors), that's why i only use bottom cuts. a little packet of pickled mustard greens is also essential i've found, adds a salty crunchiness to the rice porridge.

what this recipe gains in simplicity it makes up for in time: it takes a long time to make. most of that is just waiting for the instant pot to come to pressure (20 minutes), cook at pressure (35 minutes), then slow release (20 minutes). in total it takes close to 2 hours to make from start to finish. i always start too late and end up not eating until well in the evening. today i started around 6pm and was able to eat by 8pm.

the rice porridge was very hearty, really warmed me up. after i finished i felt like i just ended a workout, taking off layers and sweating. i lightly tested out my new crown, i didn't put too much pressure on it. so far it's felt pretty stable, hasn't loosened like the past two times.

celtics played the jazz tonight at home. utah is the second worst team in the NBA. you wouldn't know it from the first half though, where they matched boston point for point. towards the end of the 2nd quarter celtics did start to pull away a little bit going into halftime. the third quarter was the same hauser show, where he managed to make 7 three-pointers, giving boston a 24 point lead. give the jazz credit though, they fought back and managed to come back from that deficit and to tie the game with just minutes left. but the celtics were just too good, they locked down and scored some crucial points to win the game 108-114. same hauser had a career night with 33 points.

the start of daylight saving time is a little weird. the clock says i should be waking up but my body still remembers its early. i didn't get out of bed until after 10am, which is actually 9am. today was the only day i could afford to sleep in late, i just had to get to belmont by noontime. last night before going to bed i'd already adjusted all the clocks.

i left the house around 11:30am, reloading the car with chinatown supplies from yesterday. i stopped by the cafe to drop things off, including the 4 cases of taiwanese soda. i saw my sister taking esmei to belmont and i let them into the cafe.

i arrived in belmont after noontime, with my sister behind me. she dropped off esmei while she went to go get physical therapy. i thought it was still early until i turned on the television and was confused by all the shows seemingly airing in the future. that's when i realized none of the clocks at my parents' house had been adjusted yet. what i thought was 11:30am was actually 12:30pm.

my primary reason for being in belmont was to check in on the house. bring in the mail, make sure the place was okay. the strong winds from the past few days had toppled one of the trash cans. it also tipped over one of our 100W ground-mounted solar panels. and it broke a large branch from the cypress tree.

esmei spent most of her time outside. i tossed a ball with her, but she was more interested in a small log she'd found. she'd carry it in her mouth and give it to me so we could pay either fetch or tug. she also stripped off all the bark from the log. another thing she liked doing was snapping off small branches from the large fallen cypress. at one point she got the zoomies when she picked up a piece of thatch and ran around the backyard while i chased her, shaking the thatch until it disintegrated. i recorded esmei with both the gopro and the insta360 camera. the few times she was inside, i opened the front door so she could look outside. today i heard her growl and gave a short bark, as she saw a plastic bag fluttering outside. people walking around outside didn't seem to bother her but she was angry about the bag.

temperature today was in the upper 40's and not so windy, probably a good day to do some pruning. but with esmei in the backyard, i didn't want to risk hitting her with any branches, so pruning will once again have to wait. either i come back tomorrow or wait until next week. it's primarily the maple tree, which we've also pruned in late spring when the leaf buds have started to open, so time isn't that big a deal.

my sister was only supposed to be gone for half an hour, but it was already 2pm. the other thing i had to do was water the plants in the basement. i was hoping my sister would be back to take esmei home before i did that, but i had no choice but to start watering with esmei with me in the basement. thankfully my sister did finally get back and take esmei home.

i watered all the plants except for the large potted jasmines and lantana. their soil was still damp, i'm going to let them dry out a bit more before. temperature in the sunroom was 56 degrees, maybe it's time to consider moving some of the plants there. the only reason i wouldn't move them just yet is because we have a bunch of osmanthus cuttings upstairs that are free of fungus gnats. i don't want to bring up some basement houseplants and accidentally infect them.

i watered the gardenia with some more acid fertilizer. the yellowing leaves are worrisome. they were fine all season, but now that they're supposed to be producing flower buds, they begin yellowing, which makes me think the two are related. that's why i've been fertilizing every weekend. gardenia are just too troublesome. i wouldn't throw it out, but if somebody wanted the gardenia, we wouldn't be against giving it away to a better home. the pink tradescantia began to flower a few weeks ago. i always thought tradescantia flowers were short-lived, but these haven't wilted at all. the orchids are doing very well, the best we've had since we've kept them. in the past flower buds would form but would later abort, but so far all the flower buds have all flourished and bloomed. some of these flowering orchids should be moved to the cafe so customers can see them, but a part of me thinks they won't do as well if they're moved.

i left close to 3pm. i went to the mt.auburn star market to get some corned beef on sale. all their packaged point count varieties (the ones on sale) were on the small size, the largest one i found was only 3lbs. i also got some hard cider. originally i was going to get the angry orchid crisp apple, until i saw they have a assortment 12-pack variety of woodchunk cider for just $2 more. this star market has a decent collection of alcohol, and much cheaper than the price at my local liquor stores.

i got home by 3:30pm. i took the first parking spot i found. after unloading, i moved the car to a spot right in front of my house that gave me some parallel parking practice.

i hadn't eaten all day. i found an old muffin in my fridge and warmed it up in the microwave. while that was going on, i replaced the aluminum foil on my stovetop, it was starting to get a little worn out from food drippings and crumbs. later in the afternoon i had an instant bowl of tonkotsu ramen.

the day felt weird, clock said it was late, but it still seemed early. i didn't do anything constructive the rest of the day, just spent it snacking and drinking and surfing the web. the late sunrise (6:43pm) was a nice surprise, definitely appeared more spring-summer-like. just my luck i buy a new bike headlight when the days are getting longer. when am i going to get another chance to ride when it's dark?

i heated a spinach & mushroom pizza in the oven for dinner. i thought i'd miss the meat, but it was still a pretty savory pizza. i only ate half, paired it with a can of expired heysong sarsaparilla soda from the cafe.

can't sleep late tomorrow, have to wake up early again to go see my dentist in allston. after that my day is pretty free, will need to visit market basket to get a few more things for the cafe.

i walked to the cafe this morning because i'd be using the car after work. a large family group came to eat at the cafe in our first hour, including several small children that left a mess. a trio of taiwanese customers came in and stayed for nearly 2 hours. at first we liked them, but my 2nd aunt noticed they hardly touched their food, and we couldn't wait for them to leave, especially since one of the women was wearing very strong perfume that stunk up the place. we were busy for the first 3 hours, but after 2pm we didn't have a single customer besides a college freshman who came in right when we were about to close to get a bubble tea. my sister ended up chatting with her while we closed up the cafe and we left them chatting as we slipped away from the back door.

i drove my 2nd aunt and i to chinatown to get some supplies. i haven't drove to chinatown in ages, and needed google maps to help guide me. i went on storrow drive then cut across copley square and the south end to get to ming's market. on weekend there's free parking. here i got two cases of taiwanese apple sidra soda and two cases of taiwanese heysong sarsaparilla soda ($23/case). i also picked up some vegetables.

afterwards we drove to c-mart, where parking was also free in the adjoining parking lot. after we parked i realized we could've just parked in the closer regular lot as it was nearly empty. my 2nd aunt prefers c-mart (she calls it 88, its old name) over ming's market. here is where she got all her groceries, mostly vegetables. i remember to pick up a bottle of light japanese vinegar (for pickling cucumbers) and a package of kamaboko (japanese fish cake, for our ramen).

we left a bit after 5pm. i drove back to cambridge via berkeley street to get back onto storrow drive. google maps was not needed this time, i was more familiar with this outbound route. driving west, i was momentarily blinded by the setting sun. i dropped off my 2nd aunt first before returning home. there were plenty of parking spots. originally i was going to leave the soda in the car, but i noticed tonight's temperature will drop down to freezing so i bought the cases inside just to be safe.

i had rice noodle soup for dinner again, for the third consecutive night in a row. i'm not bored with it yet. i still have enough soup for one more serving but i finished all the chicken and ham chunks. i added fried shallots tonight, but didn't really taste it.

i watched the lakers-celtics game on ABC. supposedly this was the most expensive celtics home game ticket this season, especially in light of recent addition luka doncic. celtics had a full roster minus porzingis. lakers started out hot, and lead for most of the first half, though the celtics managed to grab the lead a few times but only by a few points at most before the lead would change back. coming out of the second half, the lakers hot shooting cooled off, while the celtics seemed to find their groove. lakers never regained the lead, and the celtics pushed it to 22 points at one point. celtics win 101-111.

i knew it was going to be cold today, but i didn't realize how windy it was also going to be. at one point the breeze was so strong, it literally took my breath away as i couldn't breathe for a few seconds. another time i was riding into a headwind which stopped me from pedalling forward. i stopped when i got a surprise call from doctor huang. his wife actually called me, asked me to bring my dental mold with me in case they needed to redo the crown. at this point if i need to pay more to get the crown fixed, i will.

we looked over some more new photos my parents had taken from japan. today (yesterday?) they visited kanazawa train station, famous for its drum gate, a local landmark. my parents also ate some gold-foil ice cream, which apparently is a popular thing to do in kanazawa (seems like a waste of gold).

my sister had another episode today. i asked her to come to work at 11am, which is when she should be there anyway. she rather wait at home and have us call her when we got busy. she arrived with stickers to put onto cookies we give to customers who leave us a tip. but neither my 2nd aunt and i remember ever doing that, even though my sister insisted it was something we always did. my sister then got very angry, accused us of ganging up on her, accused of gaslighting her (which seems to be her favorite expression). we were just casually chatting, but apparently the slightest thing could set her off. she then decided to call my parents in japan even though it was 1am japan time, to get them to weigh in on the issue. all we could do was watch as she delved further into her own madness. luckily US numbers don't work in japan. then we started to get busy and like a switch, my sister was back to normal as we started to fulfill orders. at this point i try not to say too much to her, as anything could trigger another attack. everyone act professional, keep comments to a minimum, try to get through another 1-1/2 weeks before my parents come back from vacation.

we had 65mph wind gusts today. we watched as the suspended traffic light swayed in the breeze, occasionally leaning to nearly 45 degrees. the winds kept blowing the door open, so all day long we had to check to see if it was just the wind or actual customers, it got pretty annoying.

yesterday we hardly sold any bentos; today, we sold almost a dozen. taiwanese beef noodle soup was also popular with 4 sales. lunchtime was insane. i saw a pair of customers wait nearly 25 minutes before they got their food. maybe they didn't mind, seeing us so busy, figured the food must be good if we're getting so many orders. good thing my aunt didn't show up, but she texted later in the afternoon to say she wasn't coming (we figured as much). my sister was set to leave in the afternoon but stayed longer than usual as we started getting busy once again.

a woman came in today, asked if we had an iphone cable so she could charge her phone. she didn't buy anything, just stood there for like 10 minutes and waited for her phone to charge before leaving. i think she said something about calling an uber. at least have the courtesy of buying something if you're going to use our electricity.

my sister took esmei to the vet in the late afternoon before coming back at 5pm for the evening rush. not as busy as lunchtime, but definitely an uptick in business before we finally closed for friday.

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my new bicycle headlight arrived today, even though my old headlight still works. i charged up the battery before trying it out as i rode back home. my initial reaction is i'm very impressed with the TOSUOD RHL800 headlight ($13.99). the production description said 8 modes but i only saw 3 modes: high-medium-low, which corresponds to 800-400-220 lumens respectively (according to the manual). it uses a rubberband mount and has a rubber pad on the underside of the mount to more firmly grab ahold of the handlebar. one problem i had with my old P2R headlight was it would slowly droop down as i rode, and i'm always having to readjust it. i didn't have to do that with the RHL800, it stayed perfectly stationary on my extension bar.

i had the light on the medium setting. i was pleasantly surprised by how wide the light beam was. it illuminated the whole road ahead of me. it made me realize that the P2R has a really narrow beam, and not very safe for night riding. i've only gotten away with using it because i ride on familiar roads. it's not just a wide beam though, but there also seemed to be a spotlight further away. the light color on the RHL800 has a slight bluish tint compared o the P2R. a red indicator light on the side lets me know the battery status: steady red means above 50% power, slow pulse red means between 25-50%, and a fast pulse red means less than 25%. i would probably prefer the indicator light to on top like it is on the P2R for easier seeing, but i'm just happy to have any sort of indicator.

when i returned home i took a closer look between the new RHL800 and the old P2R. the elastic mount on the RHL800 holds better do to the rubber padding, but the mount itself is not as robust as the P2R mount. the RHL800 mount base is flimsy plastic. it works, but i could see it failing eventually. the P2R mount is sturdier, and the elastic strap is replacement (though not sure where i'd find a new one). another thing: the clip on the RHL800 is the reverse of the P2R: that means unfortunately i can't use the RHL800 on the P2R mount.

i bought the P2R 800 for $20 back in september 2020. it uses a microUSB port for charging. the RHL800 has a USB-C port instead, which i like better because it's non-directional. one reason why i wanted to upgrade from the P2R was to get a USB-C headlight.

size wise, both headlights are about the same length, though the P2R is taller and thin, while the RHL800 is shorter and wider. including the strap, the P2R weighs 135g while the RHL800 weighs 120g. both lights are made from aluminum. i can't attest to the durability of the RHL800, but i've dropped the P2R numerous times and its survived them all.

a look inside the lens housing shows a single COB light inside the RHL800. there's also a curved reflector that produces the wide beam. it's harder to see inside the P2R lens housing as its frosted. i can make out a COB light, though the reflector seems more parabolic which explains the narrow spotlight beam. maybe because the RHL800 is newer, but it seems way brighter than the P2R, even at the lowest setting. both lights have memory feature which remembers the last mode setting.

the RHL800 also came with a tail light, which is more of an afterthought. it's functional, but i wouldn't trust it for my own riding, maybe as secondary light. it feels like a complete add-on, it doesn't even use USB-C but rather microUSB for charging. i think i'm going to clip this taillight to my messenger bag, in situations where i'm walking on dark roads with potential car traffic behind me.

a few random notes: the RHL800 advertises 8 modes, but i only noticed 3. apparently they counted the 4 modes on the taillight as well, plus one secret mode not mentioned in the manual, which is if you click twice on the headlight, it enters flashing mode. there is no SOS mode like the P2R, but i've never used that mode anyway (nor the flashing mode). the RHL800 is very similar to the ROCKBROS 800. identical design, identical mounting, but the ROCKBROS advertised 5 modes and sells on amazon for $25 (no taillight included).

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for dinner i reheated the chicken ham broth i made last night, sitting out on the stovetop. i remembered to add some tianjin pickled cabbage. while i was eating, i remembered something else i forgot: fried shallots. it's been too long since i made rice noodle soup at home, i'm out of practice, forgetting all the ingredients for making the perfect rice noodle. i've got enough broth for one more try tomorrow night, this time i'll remember the fried shallots.

for once this week i didn't have to wake up early to do something. i woke up at 8am, got ready for work, and left by 8:50am. i was back on the bike, having ditched the car last night. it rained overnight and the streets were still damp. temperature was back up in the 50's again, though tomorrow and saturday will be slightly cooler. i was surprised to find my sister already at the cafe when i arrived.

business has been good the past two days, and i thought today would be a continuation of that. however that would not be the case. we had less customers, and as a result, less profit. we didn't get our first customer until after 11am. it did get slightly busy around lunchtime, but only briefly. it got busy again in the early evening.

i logged into my mother's google photo account from her cafe ipad and saw the photos they took in kanazawa. as this was a taiwanese tour, the itinerary features equal parts sightseeing and eating. the most interesting photos were those taken in a supermarket. various types of bentos and japanese foods, and with the favorable exchange rate, everything was insanely cheap.

customer C - who accused us of cheating her a vegetarian bun 2 weeks ago - showed up again at our cafe. she ordered some food for here and some food to takeout, and once again declined to pay until she finished eating, though she did gave my 2nd aunt her credit card to swipe. C also loudly took a phone call on speaker, fortunately she was the only customer at the time. when she finally left, she forgot her credit card (which was the table), and my sister had to chase her down in the parking lot.

because we didn't sell a lot of bentos today, we didn't use too much tea eggs. i did however cook 3 batches of black soy noodles, as dan dan noodles was one of the most popular items today. a lot of noodle sales today, zhajiang noodles was equally as popular. i also made a new batch jasmine green tea, and made some banchan with leftover bean sprouts for my 2nd aunt. unfortunately it was too salty, because it tasted too bland initially so i added another teaspoon of salt and some fish sauce. my 2nd aunt ended up taking all of it home with her for dinner.

i was surprised when it started raining in the early evening. not just a drizzle, but a steady rain. i went outside to cover up my bike seat. earlier i installed a new bike bell on the left handlebar grip.

i called my mother on line around 6pm. it was 8am japan time. my parents were still in there hotel room, waiting to leave at 9am. my mother told us out of all the people in their tour group of 21, she was the only one with a cough. just as i feared, they were underdressed for the occasion, as there's still snow in kanazawa. they tried to borrow jackets from our taiwanese relatives but nobody had anything warm enough. supposedly they were staying in a 4-star hotel but my father thinks it's only 3-stars.

when we finally closed, my 2nd aunt walked home in the rain (with an umbrella) while i rode my bike. i left my bag behind because i didn't want it to get soaked. the kind thing to do would've been to drive my 2nd aunt home with the car, but i didn't want to be burdened with the car again. the ride home wasn't too bad, but i splashed through so many puddles the bottom of my pants were wet, not to mention my shoes. when i got home, i stashed the bike in the alley before my front light suddenly out. i think it short-circuited in the rain. i couldn't get it to turn back on.

for dinner i made a broth with the leftover rotisserie chicken and a few end pieces of the smoked ham i carved up last month. to the broth i added some white ground pepper, salt, ginger slices, and a dash of chinese cooking wine. i left it simmering for over half an hour, as the broth slowly darkened and gained in flavor. i cooked a portion of rice noodles in another pot for 4 minutes. the way i used to do it is i'd cook the noodles in the broth itself, but i thought this way was more civilized. i then ladled the broth into the noodles, along with chunks of chicken and ham. i added some chopped scallions and a dollop of vietnamese garlic chili hot sauce. the final result was savory and delicious, a good meal on a cold and rainy night. after i was finished i realized i forgot to added the tianjin pickled cabbage (tung tsai). i'll do that tomorrow night.

i ate while watching the 76ers-celtics game. i wasn't even sure if it was a game i wanted to see, as both teams had multiple starters sitting out the game. but it turned out to be a pretty exciting game, only because boston was putting on a shooting clinic again. philly never lead, and celtics were up by 30 points at one point. derrick white got injured again! elbow in the face that sent a piece of tooth flying onto the parkay floor. celtics win 105-123. their next game is against the lakers on saturday night.

because my bike headlight was broken, i went online searching for a replacement. i wasn't in a hurry because i had other lights, so i could afford to buy something cheap from aliexpress and wait the 2 weeks for it to arrive. but i just couldn't find a light i like on aliexpress. i wanted an elastic band mount like on my old light, but many of the lights i saw used a semi-permanent clamp. i ended up buying a no-name 800 lumens light off of amazon for $14. it also comes with a tail light but i'm only interested in the headlight.

just for kicks, i plugged in the broken headlight. it actually started flashing red, which indicated it was charging. when i tried to turn the light back on, it didn't work at first, but after fiddling with it a bit, i got the light to turn on and cycle through the settings. so it looks like it's fixed. but it's always nice to have a backup headlight.