i had enough time this morning to water my front and back yard before leaving for work. i noticed all the foxglove seedlings i sprinkled in the front yard had germinated. i wasn't able to water my community garden, figured i'd do that on my way back later in the evening.

i was the first to arrive at the cafe. the two passion flowers from yesterday, no new flowers this morning. however, there were a few promising buds. maybe once the plant gets some sun, some new flowers might show up.

my mother showed up while i was loading the drink fridge. she walked to the cafe. my father showed up a short time later by car.

the well-defined triple layers of makgeolli was a bit murkier today. the topmost layer of undigested rice was less, while the bottom most layer of used up rice was more. the middle liquid layer was murkier, with a lot of rice particles swimming up and down from the carbonation. instead of waiting the full week, i think we need to filter the makgeolli today.

my father was busy cutting up all the pork butts and beef shank we bought yesterday, to make room in the fridge. he was also making a new batch of pad thai sauce, but needed sweetened lime juice, which we didn't have. i did buy a bunch of lime from haymarket last weekend, but they were all in belmont. so i opted to make a porter square star market supply run. it'd also give me the chance to pick up some cherries on sale ($1.99/lbs) as well as look for lamb loin chops ($7.99/lbs).

i left by 10am. there were three partially opened passion flowers. seems like the moment they got some sun, that's when they bloom.

the trip to star market was quick. it beat going to market basket, which was my original choice. i got the sweetened lime juice, the cherries, and the lamb loin chops. i put the cherries in my messenger bag while the lamb went into one of my rear baskets. coming back, i passed by some flannel blankets somebody had left out on the sidewalk, nicely folded. i grabbed them and returned to the cafe.

by that point - 10:20am - the three passion flowers were fully opened. despite their intricate shape, they can be deceptively well hidden. blue passion flowers are mostly white, with purple filaments. in a bed of dark leaves, it's easy to miss. if the flowers were bright red or yellow, they'd pop out more. they say passion flowers have a fragrance, but i didn't really notice. if you get close and take a hard sniff, they kind of have a gross sweet odor, reminded me of sycamore trees.

hot water at the cafe was scaldingly hot. this typically happens on a monday, when the hot water tank isn't used for a few days so it has time to fully heat up. over time the hot water gets progressively cooler. however today was different, even by early afternoon the hot water was still scalding. i've already adjusted the temperature on the water tank twice already in the past, not sure if i could lower it anymore. i figured maybe the thermostat was on its last leg. i went down to the basement anyway, maybe i could make one last adjustment. what i saw shocked me: the thermostat was set between A and B. normally the thermostat is set to low. no wonder it was scalding! i turned it back down. by late afternoon the hot water temperature finally went down to our normal level. my sister later told us eversource came by yesterday to do some gas testing, and they must've adjusted the thermostat when they turned off the hot water tank. so basically eversource is responsible for us almost having to go to the hospital from nearly getting burned from the hot water.

i bought a 9.5 inch wide stainless steel frying pan which arrived last night. my mother used it to cook some sour pickled mustard green. it worked well - she used high heat so it didn't stick - but she said the pan was too heavy for her to lift. her typical pan is 800g which this stainless steel one is 900g. i will say it was easy to clean. with non-stick i have to be careful about the surface, but with stainless steel, i can just use a stainless steel scrubbing pad to quickly clean off any stuck debris. it's easier than using a carbon steel wok, which requires special care (no dish soap, no metal scrubbing) to keep it's non-stick surface.

a busy day. customers started showing up around 11am and didn't stop until 3pm. we had an hour of reprieve before it got super busy again around 4pm after a big phone order came in. noodles - no bentos - were the most popular items today: dan dan noodles, cold sesame noodles, zhajiang noodles, even beef noodle soup. i don't even remember how many batches of black soy noodles i made today, at least 3 if not 4.

my sister went out with esmei and came back with some what-da-chick takeout, including fried chicken bones. my mother does like what-da-chick anymore after we used to order it at least once a month, but my sister said their stuff is really good, focusing the rice, properly cooked with individual grains and mystery added flavors. i finished her leftovers, mostly for the spicy tamarind sauce, which i sprinkled all over the rice before eating.

in the early evening my father and i finally had time to filter the makgeolli. i opened the lid, it had a very fragrant jiuniang smell. i tasted some of the mash: not so sweet anymore, a very strong alcohol taste. that probably means we're too late for a sweet makgeolli. in hindsight, we should've filtered yesterday, when there was still 3 distinctive layers. nothing that can't be remedied by adding sugar, which is what we ended up doing. yes it's cheating, but the additional sugar will spike the carbonation, making it a fizzy sweet makgeolli.

we poured the content of the 2 gallon jar into a nut milk bag. i then squeezed to get as much liquid out as possible. we tasted some as-is: strong alcohol, not very sweet. my father scooped out some in a cup, added some sugar, water, and some nice, which made it taste so much better. after we finished straining, my father added about a cup of sugar into the makgeolli. once properly mixed, we poured the makgeolli into 1L plastic containers. we managed to fill half a dozen, with about half the container empty for head room.

my 2nd aunt showed up unexpectedly around 5pm to drop off some produce supplies, right before it started raining briefly. not just rain, but the weather turned incredibly humid after a relatively warm by dry day. we will be stuck in this soupy heatwave all the way through this weekend.

my mother packed me a bento before we closed. since it rained, it meant i didn't need to go to my community garden plot to water my plants, so i could go straight home.

norway beat ivory coast 2-1, france blanked sweden 3-0, and tonight mexico beat ecuador 2-0. the 8pm mexico-ecuador game was delayed due to thunderstorms. i waited for the game to start before eating dinner around 9:30pm.

i woke up at 8am so i get to belmont by 9am for a needham-waltham supply run.

we went to the needham restaurant depot first. surprisingly, it wasn't very busy. where did everyone go? a case of extra large loose eggs - 15 dozen - costs just $16.02, which comes out to 8.9¢ an egg. seems like the eggpocalypse is officially over. can eggs prices get even cheaper? we bought close to 70 lbs. worth of beef shank to qualify for the bulk discount (shank we use for our beef noodle soup, only the needham store seems to carry it). pineapple juice prices continue to rise; each time we come it gets a little more expensive. we use it for our smoothies which are only second as popular as boba tea, but we may need to raise the price in order to make a profit. we also needed 20 oz. cold PET plastic cups but they were all sold out. i blame the world cup and the 250th independence anniversary, deplete the supply of cups. we still have a case left, but if they still have a shortage the next time we come, we may have to source our plastic cups elsewhere.

waltham market basket was our next stop via route 93 north. like restaurant depot, it wasn't very busy either. i was tasked with returning our collection of cans and bottles. sometimes the deposit machines don't work but i got lucky today, managed to deposit everything, even bottles i didn't even buy from market basket. i collected about $5 worth of deposits. i went inside the store to join my parents. for some reason there was a bunch of chinese seniors talking loudly, each one with a thick regional accent.

our last stop was the waltham costco. we stocked up on some july 4th items, including st. louis style spare ribs which we'll need to freeze and thaw before next weekend. i checked their egg prices: 5 dozen large eggs for $8.59 - that comes out to a little over 14¢ an egg. we made the right decision buying from restaurant depot. costco had watermelons for $6.99 but we already got one from market basket for $3.99.

we made it to the cafe by 12pm to drop off the supplies. the first thing i did was check for new passion flowers. we found one hidden underneath some leaves, facing the patio. it was my parents' first time seeing our passion vine with flowers. this time i came prepared and took some photos with my fuji 3D camera. later my mother found another flower facing the parking lot. it was even more hidden. the flower from yesterday had already closed up. blue passion flower don't produce fruit unless there's another plant for cross-pollination, so we may cut off these spent flower buds.

our makgeolli now has 3 layers, which is usually the sign that it's almost ready to drink. it was bubbling in the middle layer, pushing the fermented rice grains up and down. we may end up filtering early, don't want it overfermenting and losing its sweetness over more alcohol production.

we didn't leave the cafe until 12:45pm. when we got back home, my mother prepared some brie on baguette with some expired (2019) ikea cloudberry jam. never had cloudberry, reminds me of figs with its abundance of crunchy seeds.

my sister showed up with esmei. esmei got her fur brushed yesterday so she felt very sleek. we played tug with a rag toy before letting her outside. my sister and i blew bubbles hopefully esmei would catch them but she was actually scared of the bubbles and ran back inside the house.

in the late afternoon i finally got around to changing the oil on my motorcycle. it's not too hard, you remove the oil filter to let the old oil drain out, install a new oil filter, then refill the engine with fresh motor oil. the old filter that was installed on my motorcycle didn't have a socket nipple, so i had to use an adapter to remove it. i had a pan underneath to catch the oil drips. what came out was a black sludge, more ink than oil. the honda shadow spirit uses 2.6-2.8qt of motor oil. however what came out of the engine was only half a cup at best. where was the other oil? confused, i asked my father for help once i saw him up from his nap. i installed the new filter and he made a tin-foil funnel so we could pour the motor engine (full synthetic triax xterra 4T 10W-40) - 16 oz. at a time (half a quart). after about 1.5 qt the engine seemed full, at least according to the dipstick. i took the motorcycle for a quick spin and came back. we measured again, now there didn't seem to be any oil in the engine. so we continued pouring in oil until we reached 2.5 qt. the dip stick showed the correct amount. reusing the tin-foil funnel, we poured the old black engine oil into an empty 1L soda bottle.

what did i learn? that i've been running the motorcycle with hardly any oil in the engine. the reason the engine hasn't seized up or gotten completely destroyed from running dry is because i only make short trips, from my house to my parents' house, 3 mile at most. actually, since i got my motorcycle out back in early may, i still haven't filled up the tank yet. shows how little i ride, between my bike and ebike, there seems to be less and less room for a motorcycle. my father said i probably got lucky, because there wasn't any metal parts falling out of the engine when i drained the old oil, meaning there wasn't any damage yet.

i mixed some more potting soil with a combination of old soil, slow release fertilizer pellets, and cambridge fine compost. i then dug up most of the cypress vine seedlings from RB4 while my father replanted them into prepared pots. they're a pretty plant, but they're way too much in RB4 that they're essentially a weed at this point. i also did some weeding between RB3 and RB2, while my father watered the garden using rain barrel water.

for dinner we grilled a pair of 7-bone steaks. beef prices are so high, affordable steaks are now paper thin (these were only a centimeter thick). we grilled on high heat (500 degrees), 2 minutes one side, 1 minute the other, before we reach 145 degrees medium temperature. even though i salted and peppered the steaks beforehand, it could've used a touch more salt. next time i should use montreal steak seasoning instead, it adds more flavor. we also harvested some more swiss chard (i did the harvesting) and stir fried that for dinner as well.

i returned to cambridge. the motorcycle - now with an engine full of fresh motor oil - ran very cool. previously the engine always got super hot. i figured it was just the weather but it was actually a symptom of low motor oil.

i stopped at the community garden. somebody had already brought in all the garden refuse bins except one. anne marie was there watering the common bed. i tried to wave hello to her a few times before she either didn't see me or was zoned out. i noticed she had on wireless earbuds. i watered my garden plot before finally returning home. i used the front steps, it's been more than 48 hours of drying (actually i already used it this morning when i left the house).

steve sent me a text saying that jeff won't be staying here past july due to work reasons. he didn't go into details, said jeff would let me know when i see him. steve said they'll try to rent out their place for the 3 remaining months but because it's so short notice, it might stay empty until they return in november.

we went on our supply run early this morning so we could get back home to watch the brazil-japan world cup match at 1pm. the game was tied going into extra time, but in the last second brazil scored a goal to put them up 2-1 and win the game. japan was eliminated. 5pm there was a germany-paraguay match here in boston (foxborough). once again it was a draw - 1-1 - and had to be decided by penalty kick. paraguay ended up winning in an upset. finally there was the netherlands-morocco game at 9pm. like the previous match, this one was tied 1-1 and had to be decided on penalty kick. morocco won. i'm sure my moroccan mailman is very happy tonight!

who knows how long i slept last night because for some reason i took off my mi smart band in the middle of the night. i think i slept maybe 6-7 hours, waking up at 9am. i had the window opened for most of the night, there was a cool breeze and my neighbor didn't have her heat pump running so it was blissfully quiet. it felt like having a mini-AC in my room. midway through the night i finally closed the window, it was getting too cold.

today was my one free day. had nothing going on this morning but planned on going to my parents' place by noontime to do some gardening. the front steps needed more time to dry, so i decided to leave the house from the back door. i spent some time rummaging through my key collection, trying to find the back door key. i also took down the tarp. i feel the steps dry faster without it.

i finally left the house around 11:15am. i took the motorcycle because i haven't ridden it in a while and i was hoping to do an overdue oil change. i went to the community garden to water my plants. lynn was there, working on her plot. i told her she could help herself to some of my striped mallow seedlings.

next i stopped by the cafe to put away the tea eggs. as customary, i took a peek at the passion vine to see if there were any flowers. to my surprise, there was a single passion flower facing the sidewalk. i couldn't believe it. i took a quick snapshot and called my father with the news. my mother answered, i sent them the photo. the flower itself had a diameter of about 3 inches. based on the flower, it looks like we have a common (blue) passion flower (Passiflora caerulea). the flower itself looks alien, or something AI generated. not only is the blossom wide, but it's all tall (about 2 inches), with highly expressive anthers and stigmas that stick outwards.

i went inside to put away the tea eggs and dump the catch bucket for the watered boston fern. i attached the expanding hose and watered all the outdoor plants. i then grabbed my cameras - fuji 3D and canon dSLR with 60mm macro lens - then went back outside to properly document the passion flower. this was the perfect occasion for a 3D camera, but unfortunately there was no juice left in the battery. instead i took high quality photos using my dSLR and a video using my phone.

i didn't get to belmont until 12:15pm. my father had moved all the cars out of the driveway. i didn't understand at first, but it was so we could take out our collapsible picnic table. my mother made wonton soup for dinner. she told me my father had been working in the backyard since 6am.

the big project today was to string up our bean trellises. one week later, all our bean seedlings have sprouted, forming their first true leaves, soon to form tendrils so they can begin climbing. before that though, they needed trellises. these wooden trellises had jute twine strings on them before, but we left them outside during the winter, and the elements tore off most of the strings. our two newest tallest trellises also needed to have string holes drilled into them.

stringing the trellis is actually pretty easy work when you have two people. besides the jute twine, you also need a pair of small flathead screw drivers and a pair of scissors. so the assembly goes like this: using a screwdriver, i push the string through one of the bottom holes and tie the string. i then pass the spool to my father, who loops it around a screwdriver inserted into the complementary hole above, handing the spool back to me. i put the string until there's about 6 inches below the bottom before i cut it. my father pulls up the string so he can string it through the top hole, while i'm already tying the a new string to the next available hole on the bottom. once we get through all the holes, we turn over the trellis so we can pull the strings and tie them to the bottom of the other side. our wooden string trellis is an elegant solution. if we take better care of them (instead of just leaving them outside over winter), they should last more than one season.

we didn't string two of the wooden trellises (RB0) because my father decided to use leftover wire fencing clipped to the trellis frames. it's not as elegant, but it works. one side benefit is all the caging makes it difficult for birds to get access to the seedlings. not that it's something we're worried too much about, the seedlings are now large enough that birds and chipmunks will leave them alone. now comes the hard part where we need to thin out the seedlings. we're waiting until they get bigger and we're pulled out the weaker ones. my father also needs to make one more trellis with bamboo poles for RB4. he said next season i should space out the bean rows. i was too focused on lining the seeds up with the trellis base i totally failed to realize i was planting some of the rows way too close together.

after we finished with the trellises, we moved the picnic table out of the garage for our 4th of july barbecue. i thought it'd be better if we moved the DIY wooden picnic table under the tree, so guests can admire it better. but my father didn't want to move it so we're using the plastic-metal picnic table instead. he originally wanted it put it on a shady spot on the lawn, but i told him it'd be better under the tree, since no grass grows there anyway.

with picnic table set up, we repotted the two hanging tradescantia. they were starting to get very long and shaggy. we started by removing them from their old pots and sorting the plants. we tossed out any that had yellowing or dead leaves, leaving enough stem so we can plant them. we then refilled three hanging pots with new potting soil and planted the tradescantia stem segments. my father crammed a bunch into one pot, while i was more selective with my arrangement.

the only world cup game today was between south africa and canada. from now on all games are elimination games. it was scoreless throughout the match, until canada finally scored a goal in extra time to give them a 1-0 victory and advancing to the next round.

finally we watered the garden one last time. my father showed me the luffa growing in the black grow bag with the plastic rice bag liner on the side (for moisture retention) was growing much larger than the luffas growing in just grow bags (without liner) or large plastic pots. he also suggested we grow the kabocha squash horizontal on the sawhorse platforms instead of letting them climb the trellises, because squash grow so much faster than the luffas or bitter melons, they'd simply take over. maybe next season we can have a squash only trellis, but for this year we're reserving the trellises for luffas primarily and some bitter melons.

for dinner my mother made a eggplant stirfry and a pork & hot peppers stirfry. she wanted to add some basil to the eggplants and earlier was out in the backyard with scissors ready to cut the basil seedlings before we caught her in time and told her the basils were still too young to be harvested.

i left soon after dinner, around 6:30pm. i saw our next door neighbor hoping around the street on crutches. he was wearing a the wire t-shirt. he had hip replacement surgery last monday and was already on the mend.

i returned to the cafe. the passion flower was still opened, but was starting to fade especially around the edges. they only open for a day, before closing up. i couldn't help but to take a few more photos with my phone. i forgot to give the flower a sniff, apparently they're fragrant.

i went inside the cafe to do something i forgot to do this morning: stir the makgeolli. today was the 3rd and final stir. afterwards i gave it a quick tast test. sweet, more sour, now with a slight hint of alcohol that made me feel a little lightheaded even after a small taste. while it was 76 degrees on the countertop, the jar of makgeolli measured 80 degrees, so definitely some serious fermenting. i screw on the lid. now we enter the anaerobic alcohol making phase (seems like it already making some without my help). by thursday the makgeolli should be ready, if not earlier.

i stopped by the community garden as it was my turn to bring out the trash. lynn said she might be there and she was (because she planted some striped mallow seedlings) but i didn't see her. i did see david walking out. i honked my motorcycle horn but he didn't see me. after moving the garden refuse bins, i had time to water my plants once again before going home.

i didn't walk through the front door, but did take off the coaxial rope so the postal worker can deliver the mail tomorrow. i came in through the back of the house, just like how i left.

i continued monitoring the cafe patio webcam. i spotted a group of seniors admiring the passion flower. later in the evening a girl on a bike stopped to take a photo of the flower with her phone. wait until we get more flowers!

my nest thermostat kept resetting tonight, i didn't know why. i thought maybe it was updating the firmware, but it told me it didn't have enough power, so it couldn't connect to wifi and was in offline mode. i got this new nest thermostat (gen 3) just last july, so it should still be under the 1-year warranty. i tried going to google nest's page to check the warranty service, but it'd only allow me if the thermostat was registered to a google account, while mine is registered to an old nest account (before google purchased nest).

i ended up charging the thermostat offline with a microUSB cable. that seemed to work, but i was still curious about the warranty, so i finally relented and switch the nest account to a google account. when i did that, it informed me i had a year left on my warranty, starting tonight. i never did figure out why the thermostat was malfunctioning. i checked the battery level periodically and it seems to be charging now again, so go figure. not a big deal if the thermostat dies on my during the summer - when i don't use it. but it'd be a big hassle if it doesn't work come wintertime.

last night i started ready the buffalo hunter hunter by stephen graham jones. i found it on some recent best horror novel survey, as well as a pick on obama's annual reading list. something about the wild west, very violent, and i accidentally spoiled it a bit my discovering vampires also figure into the story. i only got through 15 pages before i went to sleep, so don't have a good feel for the book just yet.

i woke up at 8am and left by 8:45am for boston via cambridge street. i figured i'd hit haymarket first because i wasn't getting too much there, before going to ming's market to get a few supplies.

i had to get money from the ATM when i got to haymarket. i also visited the samuel adams statue behind faneuil hall, still wearing an orange traffic cone courtesy of scottish football fans. there were barricades along the row of bars, preventing patrons from leaving the area with their alcohol. there were also plenty of signs warning people against bringing their own drinks (no BYOB) or leaving with drinks. along with world cup decorations, there were also a lot of 250th american independence displays. a very busy summer for boston businesses.

the only thing i needed to get at haymarket were some pineapples for our 4th of july barbecue. i found the cheapest vendor, $1 each, i bought two. a lot of sellers had cherries, but star market currently has a $1.99/lbs. sale on bing cherries, so i'll just get it from there, better quality. i did get some rainier cherries, $2.99/lbs., got $7 worth (2 bags). also in my haul: 8 limes ($2), 2 packages of baby cucumbrs ($2), 3 lbs. of large red carrots ($3), and 1 bunch of cilantro ($1).

i went back to my ebike and packed everything into my backpack, as i still needed the room in my rear basket to carry all the stuff i needed to get from ming's market. i traveled down tremont street to get to my next destination. instead of a chain lock, i had a simple 3ft kryptonite security cable that i looped through the front wheel and locked it to my seatylock u-lock. not sure if it was even necessary, my ebike front wheel doesn't have a quick release, but anything to make my bike look less appetizing to thieves is a plus.

even though it was the morning, ming's market was busy. the best time to come on a weekend is late afternoon. aisles were clogged with shopping carts, seems like every chinese person was oblivious to making room for others. in the end, i parked my shopping basket in one area of the store while i made tactical stops in the produce aisles to get what i wanted. funny thing is i forgot the grocery list i spent all day yesterday making, so i had to figure out what to buy from memory. by some recall miracle i was able to remember everything.

i left chinatown by 10:10am. it then took me about half an hour to get to the cafe. cutting through cambridge common i saw a group of seniors doing taichi in the park. if i did this by regular bike i would've been exhausted and soaked in sweat. on an ebike, i wasn't too tired, only a tiny bit sweaty.

my mother walked to the cafe today. i cooked some dumplings and black soy noodles and set up the back patio. i watered the plants with the new hose. alas, none of the passion flowers have bloomed, but the buds continue to swell. the whole plant will be covered in flowers once that happens, it'll be quite a sight.

we got busy between 11am to 1pm. fortunately my father stopped by around noontime. not to help us, he just happened to arrive right during our busiest time. some customers had to wait 20 minutes before they could get their food, we had such a logjam of orders. at one point my 2nd aunt casually mentioned she dropped one of the bento boxes. she said it was okay because the lid was closed very tightly, so nothing spilled out. we quickly went to check the bento: the contents were completely mashed together inside. we had to reorganize the content, but it still looked like a mess. i think everyone thought the same thing but didn't say it: my 2nd aunt can't work at the cafe anymore. not when she's making these kinds of mistakes. a minute later while washing some dishes, she accidentally sprayed her eyes with the dish soap. we weren't so busy by that point, so having a cafe klutz wasn't a liability anymore. she won't be here for two weeks anyway, going with my taiwanese aunt back to flushing. yes i'll have to cover all her shifts but at least we won't have these mistakes.

i stirred the makgeolli for the second day. yesterday it was just one big porridge layer, but today all the digested glutinous rice was floating on top of a layer of semi-clear liquid. we tasted the mash, sweeter than yesterday, with a hint of malt flavor. still no alcohol taste yet. i also tried some of the liquid, which was even sweeter. the warmer temperature is accelerating the fermentation. i'll stir again tomorrow for the third time before closing the lid. once i do that, there will be no more stirring, while at the same time yeast bacteria will convert the sugar into alcohol.

esmei made a visit in the early afternoon. my sister left her outside on the deck, assumed one of us would keep an eye on her dog while she was inside talking nonsense. my mother came out to feed her an egg. temperature today was in the 70's, but it felt hotter on the black parking lot asphalt. esmei grew bored and simply toppled over to sleep, didn't care about finding a good spot.

my 2nd aunt boiled some of my mother's homemade dumplings. i had some as well, using laoganma-brand spicy chili crisp to make a dipping sauce with soy sauce and black vinegar. we seemed to have rediscovered laoganma recently. it's the most popular brand of hot sauce in china. i've had it before, but wasn't impressed. what i had was the fried chili in oil sauce, which apparently everyone hates and should be discontinued, since it's just oil and not even that spicy. laoganma claim to fame is her spicy chili crisp, which a previous chinese astrophysicist left behind a large used jar when they moved back to china. we gave it a try and suddenly realized why it's so popular. i bought a small jar from ming's market for $4.99. not worth it, since a large jar - 4x as much - is only $10 (but they were all sold out).

the next door korean bakery also left behind something. originally i thought it was crushed graham crackers they used to make pie crusts. but then this week my mother was snacking on them. it looked like molten bubbly shards of burnt sugar. it doesn't look particularly appetizing, but it tastes amazing. definitely strong burnt sugar flavor, but also something savory like maybe butter. it's also very crumbly yet sticky, definitely a unique mouth feel. later - using google lens search technology - i found out these are honeycomb toffee. knowing what it is, we might be able to make some ourselves.

my mother was able to gently convince my 2nd aunt to walk home instead of them giving her a ride and adding 10 minutes to their trip home. i went directly to my garden plot to water my plants.

after storing the ebike in the basement, i got all the material i needed to oil the front steps. while sweeping off some remaining debris, i discovered that one step i fixed a few years back has started to come loose again. i can fix it but it has to be on another weekend so i can avoid foot traffic and i can taking off that one board and repair it.

i started applying the australian timber oil with a 3in paint brush beginning with the top step first and working my way down. i remembered to unlock my back door because that's the only way i can get back inside the house once the front steps are oiled. i didn't even check the weather, just assumed it wouldn't rain today. timber oil needs at least 48 hours to dry, with the more dry days the better. i had my thermacell mosquito repellent: wasn't sure if there'd be mosquitoes out front, but better safe than sorry.

it took me a little over an hour to oil all the steps. i went back inside the house to find some rope. the only thing i had was a long coil of coaxial cable, which worked just as well to make a makeshift barricade alerting people to the "wet paint". as for the brush, i found an empty glass salsa jar, poured some mineral spirit, and rinsed the brush inside. it was quite messy. after i got most of the timber oil removed with paper towels, i sprayed the brush with dish soap and rinsed it under the tap until the water ran clear. i then wrapped up the brush in a paper towel. at some point i still need to oil my own backyard deck, but i'm in no hurry.

i watched the panama-england game. it was pretty boring until the second half, when england finally scored 2 goals, including on by harry kane. at 7:30pm there was a colombia-portugal game. i watched it on the couch but drifted off to sleep. i woke up a short time later to check the weather and saw heavy rain clouds fast approaching the cambridge area. any other time i'd welcome rain, but not today, not when i just oiled the front steps and they have to be dry for the next 48 hours.

i went down to the basement to find a tarp and then went outside to drape it over the steps. it was challenge, because i couldn't walk on the steps yet, so i'd adjust the bottom of the tarp from outside, then go back inside the house and adjust the top of the tarp. i used rocks to keep the tarp in place. i did a pretty good job, but i was prepared for the eventuality that parts of the steps would still get soaked and i needed to go out afterwards and try to dry up the water spots.

thank god for drought, because as soon as the storm clouds approached the boston area, it simply dried up, disappeared. so there was no rain. i left the tarp in place, because we might get some spot showers tomorrow as well. i picked the wrong weekend to oil the steps. but honestly, it was the most optimal weekend, because the weather isn't too hot or humid, and most importantly my upstairs neighbor jeff is out of town. not sure when, typically he's gone for weeks, i should probably send him a text just in case, warning him about the steps, or just to make sure he won't be back within the next few days.

the colombia-portugal game was a snoozefest. the final score was 0-0. it was exhausting to watch: they played in miami, which i'm guessing is sweltering hot, and the players were all soaked in sweat, like they've all been dunked in water. i could feel myself getting hotter just watching them play. speaking of which, i did turn on the AC for about 1-1/2 hours today. earlier i tried opening a window, but it was still too stuffy, and i needed both dehumidification and cooling.

i didn't eat the last of my zongzi until 10pm, during the last 2 matches of group stage. the game to watch was jordan versus argentina. argentina was going to advance and get the top seed no matter the outcome of the game. that's why the coach decided to bench lionel messi, bring him in later in the game. argentina didn't need messi tonight, scoring 2 points. although jordan did score a goal as well. when messi was finally subbed in the second half, it didn't take long for him to score with a free kick that threaded the needle and happened so fast the jordanian goal keeper had no time to react. argentina wins 3-1.

i found a small blood stain on my newly laundered white bedsheet last night. maybe i picked a scab, who knows how it got there. this was a job for hydrogen peroxide. i put the stain over a small bowl and poured a little bit of H2O2 into it. i watched as the blood stain fizzled white. i dabbed it with a paper towel, it was starting to fade. i poured a little more hydrogen peroxide. it fizzled again. the stain disappeared. hydrogen peroxide saves the day! white garments stain easily, but they also clean easily. i had other options of course: oxiclean soak for tough stains, stain remover for stubborn small stains, and if everything else fails, there's always bleach, which will just about remove any color off of white fabric. blood is easy to treat, as long as the stain is fresh (less than 24 hours). hydrogen peroxide is your first line of defense again blood.

i left for the cafe a little bit later as it was raining this morning. it created some puddles. by the time i left at 9am, the sky was already turning bright.

i look forward to coming to the cafe and seeing multiple passion flower blossoms. unfortunately today was not that day as none of the buds have opened yet. the build-up is so great, i imagine the day when they finally bloom, neighbors from all over will stop by and congratulate us for a job well done. we left the umbrella closed again today to give the passion flower maximum sun. no customers sat outside anyway, even though the weather was mild. later in the day the sky turned grey and looked like it might rain (never did).

my aunt showed up at the cafe this morning. she said she came early while we weren't busy yet. our regular customer allen stopped by and told us a friend was in town so he wasn't coming to lunch today. my parents made another scallion bread, my aunt waited for the bread to finish baking so she could take some home.

we stirred our makgeolli. the sticky rice grains have sort of dissolved into porridge consistency. it had grown overnight, nearly reaching the lip of the jar. it also looked dry. we gave it a taste, it already tastes slightly sweet, like a lightly sweetened oatmeal. after i gave it a good stir, the volume collapsed a bit and the whole mixture looked moist again. two additional days of stirring before we close the lid. right now the nuruk needs oxygen to make sugar. once we close the lid, we deprive it as oxygen while it starts converting the sugar to alcohol.

my aunt left when we started getting busy around our lunch hour. besides the scallion bread, she also took home some savory zongzi and a jar of my homemade chili oil sauce (5-27).

today was not the busiest day this week (that would be thursday) but it was close. spikes around lunchtime and evening, but also a small spike around 2pm. not as many bentos as yesterday, more noodles today, including zhajiang noodles and beef noodle soup with a few pad thai for kicks.

my sister went to lunch with her godmother, leaving esmei alone at home. my sister turned on her living room webcam, esmei was asleep the whole time. when my sister came back in the afternoon, she found an oval le creuset dutch oven in red. it was in pretty good shape; the interior was no longer white, but still porcelain smooth. enameled cast iron are great because they also work on induction cooktops.

owner of the chinese restaurant came to the cafe today. he always just barges in, doesn't care if we're busy or not. he was asking about an eviction notice he received, asking him to remedy various issues (like present proof of insurance and clean the basement). the deadline was mid-july, but he said he can't do it because his family is on vacation in china that month. he was asking my father what to do but my father told him to talk with the lawyer.

in the afternoon during a lull i had some scallion bread. i also drink the korean aloe vera pomegranate drink. there were transparent chunks of aloe - kind of like a natural boba. it didn't taste like pomegranate though, more like artificial cherry. i've yet to try the aloe vera mango drink. i also had some stewed chicken broth with mushrooms. i added some chili oil sauce, some homemade sauerkraut, and some scallions, turning an already flavorful soup into a sweet & sour & spicy remix.

the garden hose i ordered a few days ago finally arrived in the evening: pocket hose ballistic double UV edition 50ft expandable with anti-burst reinforced sleeve and bulletproof fiber AS SEEN ON TV for $45. it's definitely on the expensive side, but my father was adamant about having an expandable hose to save space, despite the fact that those are prone to leaking and can't be repaired. the hose was something like 8ft compact but 50ft expandable, which is some kind of magic trick. we were finally able to water the garlic chives after many weeks of neglect. and no longer would we need to water our outdoor plants pitcher by pitcher. the hose came with a spray nozzle featuring a thumb lever (those are our favorite). it also came with a swivel adapter we don't need but could use it our backyard. the hose was too precious that my father didn't dare leave it outside for fear of it getting stolen, so after we shrank it back down, we put it inside. we did install a quick release connector so future connections should be quicker and easier.

i brought nothing home after we closed. i had two more zongzi left but decided to eat them tomorrow while i finished off the last of my fried chicken breast for dinner.

when i first got home though, i filled a bucket with warm water and oxi-clean and scrubbed the front steps. not sure if it's going to rain this weekend, but if not, i'd like to oil the front steps, and cleaning is the first step. i went down to the basement to find a short length of garden hose and connected it to the longer hose so it can reach the front of the house. i also installed a rubber washer from the pocket hose so my own hose wouldn't leak water everywhere. i then rinsed the front steps. neil and carrie saw me and we chatted. they were on their way out for dinner before going to central square for the dance party. we saw our neighbor's daughter leaving her house dressed in hooker boots. neil and carrie were envious that i take such good care of the house, but it's just a coincidence they always seem to catch me when i'm working on some home maintenance DIY project. i'm otherwise very lazy when it comes to taking care of the house.

the 8pm group match was between uruguay and spain, and cape verde and saudi arabia. spain barely won, scoring one goal against uruguay for a 0-1 victory. uruguay - who's last world cup victory was 1930 and 1950 - once more goes home early. adding insult to injury, one of their players got a red card in extra time for a questionable spiking.

i came to the cafe with a watermelon inside a backpack and my two rear baskets full of supplies. i also brought the heavy canvas tote bag i found yesterday, which included a collect of scissors and a bulb forcing vase.

the passion vine still hasn't flowered. we measured the largest buds this morning - they're about 2 inches long. my father purposely didn't open the shady umbrella to give the passion vine the maximum amount of sunlight. i read about the nectaries and found them on the leaf stems, two antenna-like structures that produce nectar to attract ants.

i went to trader joe's in the midmorning to get a few supplies (scallions, baby cucumbers). the more i ride the trek allant, the more i like it. shifting, braking, cruising, all so smooth. too bad trek no longer makes this model (the allant only exists as an ebike version).

i made makgeolli today. it takes a week to ferment, so it should be ready just in time for july 4th. having made it a few times, i have a better handle on how to make it. for one thing, don't over-ferment, otherwise it'll become more alcoholic (dry) at the expense of sweetness. ferment only a week, no more. it might actually ferment faster, since the last time we made it was back in march, when the temperature was colder.

i used 5 lbs. (2.2L) of weichuan-brand long grain rice that i bought from market basket a few years ago. i soaked the rice in a clear plastic bucket. this time i soaked for 4 hours, from 11am to 3pm. i then steamed the rice in a large double steamer for 40 minutes, rotating the two trays at the midway point to allow for equal steaming. i made vent holes in the rice with a chopstick to allow the steam to penetrate through the rice layer. once that was done, i dumped the rice into a large stainless steel bowl. i then scooped the rice onto the sides so it formed a donut, to help it cool faster. periodically i'd sift the cooked rice. once it was cool enough to touch, i used my hands to further break part the clumps to help it cool faster. once it cooled below 86 degrees, it was time to add the remaining 2 ingredients. one of them is water. i boiled about 2.5L of water and left it to cool while the rice was soaking. unfortunately i noticed there was oily residue on the water, so i decided not to use it. instead, i used cold water directly from the tap. normally i don't do this because tap water contains chloramine, which might kill the beneficial fermentation bacteria and fungi. but since i'm mixing it together with the cooked rice, i figured it was worth the risk. i added the water to the rice, mixing it together and getting rid of any large clumps. the second ingredient is of course nuruk. the package contains a pound, i only used half. it had a grassy smell this time, compared to last time when it was a sweeter smell. i poured the nuruk powder into the water and rice then mixed everything together. with my father's help, i then scooped the mixture into our 2 gallon glass jar. instead of closing the lid, we tied a cheesecloth with a rubberband.

my mother made a scallion bread today. when alex showed up with his kids, my mother gave them some bread to take home. i had some garlic melba toast for breakfast. later for lunch i had scallion bread spread with some laoganma spicy chili crisp.

we were busy today with an insane lunchtime spike. we probably sold close to 20 bentos. we had another spike around evening time, but the lunchtime spike was 3x as busy.

my sister finally took esmei to the vet. the vet shaved a part of esmei's tail but couldn't figure out what was causing her pain. they prescribed some canine antibiotics. i don't think esmei has gone through a single year where some part of her body isn't shaved. first it was belly, then her back (for the heart worm treatment), now her tail.

my legs were just a bit sore from all the running i did yesterday. it wasn't too bad, i could still move around, felt it most when i was squatting to get something or going down to the basement. i think my legs are just used to the strain from biking, so a bit of running isn't too much more.

after work, i went directly to the community garden to water my plants. it's going to rain early tomorrow morning, so i could've not watered tonight, but you never know with those forecasts, maybe the rain clouds miss us again. when i got home i watered the front and back yard as well. i was worried about mosquitoes but fortunately escaped unscathed.

i had a piece of fried chicken breast when i got back. later in the evening i ate two zongzi even though i still wasn't too hungry. my mother said if i don't eat them they'll go bad.

world cup game times today was weird - 4pm, 7pm, 10pm. the 4pm match featured ecuador versus germany. germany had already won their previous two matches and was looking to add a third victory. but ecuador beat them 2-1 in an upset, allowing them to advance as a 3rd place finisher. ivory coast beat curacao, 0-2. the 7pm game was between japan and sweden. that ended up a 1-1 draw. japan had the better record and advanced as a 2nd place finisher, with netherlands taking 1st place. poor tunisia lost all three of its group matches. finally, the 10pm group featured US versus turkey. US had already qualified so this was a scrimmage for them. the game ended up being unexpectedly competitive. turkey had already been eliminated after losing 2 games. they were playing for pride in with just seconds left in extra time, they scored the winning goal 3-2. turkey played very well. US had possession for most of the game, but whenever turkey got the ball, they were efficient with their attacks. i'm genuinely shocked they didn't win more games. hopefully the US can learn from this loss and apply it in their next game, an elimination match against bosnia.

i tried to get into apple+ widow's bay but after 1-1/2 episodes i got bored. single dad who's the mayor of a small new england island town with a history of strange and creepy incidents. is it supposed to be horror, comedy, father-son conflict, office drama - i didn't know what to make of it. after the first season ended (10 episodes), i kept hearing really good reviews of the show, so i decided to give it another try last night. glad i did because the story really picks up. i finished 4 episodes and would've watched more but i had to go to sleep. episode 4 really amps up the creepiness factor (social outlast local lady throws a party and wins over all her former classmate bullies) and makes it official that we are in legit horror genre.

i managed to sleep until 9:30am for a change (in the guest bedroom), after i was just talking about how i'm unable to sleep late. i did wake up at 7:30am then again at 8:30am. i had the urge to pee but was too lazy to get out of bed so i just crossed my fingers and hoped i don't have any water-related dreams.

weather conditions were optimal for a run. i kept promising myself i'd do it every wednesday but finally got the chance today. this is actually my second run of the year; my first run was back in march, when it was still cold outside. today was my first warm weather run. since i just have one day off a week, i can only run once a week. i could run on saturday morning before work at 11am, but i've never done that. i could also wake up early and go running before work on a weekday, but that means i'd need to wake up at 7am to have enough time to get to work by 9am. working nearly full time at the cafe has basically killed my running schedule. i could also go running after work. it doesn't get dark until well past 8pm, plenty of daylight. that might be an option if i'm serious about getting back to running.

i haven't used my earbuds in ages so it wasn't a surprise they'd lost their charge. it would've taken too long to recharge them, so i opted to used my hearing aids instead, set to bluetooth audio streaming. these resound vivias are definitely first generation. to pair the hearing aids to the phone actually involves disconnecting them bluetooth, which seems like the opposite of what you'd normally do. it took 15 minutes of fiddling around to finally get audio to stream from my spotify. also in my procrastination i decided to clean one of my living room windows. i use windex for cleaning, then i treat it with rain-x so rain drops don't collect in the window.

i didn't leave the house until 10:40am. completely forgot to stretch beforehand, but i don't normally run until i get close to the river anyway. going past bowdoin street i noticed somebody had thrown out a rain barrel onto the curb. i turned around to check it out. i've actually been in the market for another rain barrel, periodically checking facebook market place every few weeks or so. this one was perfect. i thought maybe i could carry it back home. then i had the bright idea of running to the cafe to borrow the car and come and pick up the rain barrel. so i half-heartedly ran to the cafe which was about a mile away.

my mother was surprised to see me. out of breath, i grabbed the car key and headed back to bowdoin. i saw my 2nd aunt just arriving at the cafe before i left. what took me more than 10 minutes by running took just 3 minutes by car. i was afraid somebody had already taken the barrel, but it was still there on the curb. there's not a big demand for rain barrels, especially ones located on small side streets. i grabbed the barrel and returned to the cafe.

the barrel was the same size as our largest terracotta-colored olive barrels. originally it was black, but somebody had painted it a grey color, maybe to prevent the water from heating up in the sun. it had a single piece screw-on lid, which had drain holes and a large opening for a gutter down spout. there were holes drilled along the top sides for overflow, and two holes drilled at the bottom for output, one high, one low. the holes were plugged up by something i've never seen before: threaded plastic plugs with a hex-shaped nuts. don't know how well they work compared to plastic stoppers. there was still some water in the barrel which unfortunately spilled inside the car. the water seemed clean though, not the mucky water we get in our barrels at the end of the season. it couldn't fit back inside the car while one of the seat was folded down, so my father will take the barrel home tomorrow (he needs to give my 2nd aunt a ride home after work, that's why the seat needs to be down).

i left the cafe by running, which was new to me. i headed to the river, which was about another mile away. i didn't mind, i was passing through neighborhoods i rarely visit on foot, as i admired all the expensive houses. i spotted a lot of hydrangeas, i guess they're in season now. i passed by the high-rise apartment that was torn down because of foundation cracks, now just a large chain-linked parking lot. once i finally reached the river, i turned on sports tracking (running) on my mi fitness app. this was my first time running with the mi fitness band 10.

i ran clockwise around the river, which added some extra distance compared to where i normally start. only a few runners and cyclists. they're adding a cycle track to that stretch memorial drive, so all the plane trees were surrounded by wooden barricades. i stopped to admire the white mulberries, only took photos even though i should've picked some. across the JFK bridge, i took some photos of female rowers. my pixel 7 camera phone can only do 2x, which is a paltry magnification (and not even true zoom but a crop and zoom). my main reason for upgrading my phone would be to get a phone with optical zoom (pixel 9/10 pro have native 5x optical zoom).

i listened to the what went wrong podcast about behind-the-scenes stories of how famous movies. i listened to how stephen spielberg's war of the worlds (2005) was made. not sure if it was the hearing aid, or maybe the pirated version of spotify i was using, but the audio would pause intermittently and i had to open the app and play it again.

crossing eliot bridge (still not fully repaired yet after a year but can finally walk on it on both sides), i stopped for a drink of water at the boat house fountain. i continued running until i made it to ash street, then walked my way home. i looked my fitness app and couldn't make sense out of it because the spiteful programmers at xiaomi will not gave us the option of english units, just metric. so around the river i ran 3km it tells me.

i stopped by the community garden to water my plants. there was nobody else there - if you don't count the horde of screaming children behind sacramento field, having fun in bouncy houses and other end-of-the-school-year merriments. a live deejay was playing some danceable music. last day of school is this friday. the first squash flower i got was a female; not sure if it got pollinated or not (if not, it'll just whither away and drop off). one of my hyacinth beans has flowered, which is surprising because they don't normally do that until the end of the summer. maybe it's all the hot weather we've been getting.

i didn't get back home until 12:30pm. how many miles did i run today? not sure. but my fitness band said i walked 17,000 steps today. i didn't stay too long, just long enough to drink some water before taking my trek allant out for errands. i was still wearing my running clothes, which felt a little weird, particularly the shorts, which are commando-style, so i was afraid i might accidentally flash somebody while biking.

i picked up one of my prescriptions at walgreens. all the pharmacists i used to see are mostly gone, a new generation of pharmacists now work there. the one who helped me was a blonde girl wearing a face mask that was pulled down to her chin. i noticed her left arm was dotted with small tattoos. after that i went to harvard vanguard to pick up two prescriptions for my mother. the pharmacist there was a young asian man wearing a sweater. i asked him about it, he said they blast the AC there. next i went to market basket. nothing for dinner, i'm already spoken for, but i did get som spicy grilled salmon roll ($6.99) for lunch. i also got a few things for the cafe.

i got back home around 1:30pm. it wasn't that hot inside the house, but it felt hot because i've been running around all day. so i turned on the dry function on my inverter AC to cool the house a bit. i then took a quick shower before eating my sushi while watching ground B of the world cup. for the final games of the group stage, each group play simultaneously (so no one knows the final outcome, to prevent teams from tanking if they know they've already advanced). switzerland vs canada (2-1), bosnia versus qatar (3-1). switzerland and canada were going to advance to the next round regardless the outcome, but had canada won, they would've secured "home field" advantage and the next game would be played in canada. even though bosnia was 3rd, they still advance under the new world cup rules, where 8 3rd place teams advance based on their match points.

i stayed until the games ended around 2:30pm. i threw a load of laundry into the washer - mostly bedsheets, but i also threw in some dirty clothes since there was room. i changed into some normal clothes then biked to davis square to get some things from h-mart. i added some wax grease to the locking clasps on my rear bike baskets. that made them too loose, and one of the baskets kept opening while i was riding, causing me to kick it with my back heel as i pedaled.

it's true h-mart is nearby, but there's no easy way to get there. all routes involve circling around the neighborhood since elm street is a one way leaving davis square. i basically rode until i hit the one way then walked the bike the 2 blocks to h-mart.

i was searching for nuruk (to make makgeolli). when my sister went to the burlington h-mart a few weeks ago, she couldn't find it, so i was worried maybe this store wouldn't have it either. but they had plenty in stock, the same brand i used before ($3.49). i also searched for yeo's sweet chili sauce - the only sauce i eat with my zongzi - but they didn't have it. while i was leaving, there was also a sale on flavored aloe vera drinks so i grabbed two bottles.

returning home, i stopped by the porter square star market to get some fried chicken ($7.99 eight pieces). yes i have zongzi back at home and that was my original plan, but i had a craving for fried chicken.

when i got back home by 3:30pm, i threw the washed laundry into the dryer. i took another quick shower before settling down with some fried chicken to watch world cup group C. scotland-brazil (0-3) and morocco-haiti (4-2). i should've found my moroccan mailman, who was probably ecstatic that morocco won. i was sad that scotland lost, but their game points total (3) might earn them a berth as one of the 3rd place teams.

after the game i went outside to plant the half dozen foxgloves i brought from belmont on monday night. i put in a new repellent cartridge and turned on the thermacell device. i wore it clipped to my pocket. it actually worked, i didn't get a single mosquito bite. i planted 2 foxgloves in the backyard, 1 next to the hydrangeas, 1 in a pot outside the alley gate, and 2 in our tiny front yard. i then watered everything. while i was watering i noticed one mosquito was brave enough to land on my forearm. i gently blew it away. i think maybe the water spray interferes with the repellent smoke. nevertheless, i still get didn't any bites, so a victory.

next i went to work investigating my trek utility bike. i used the crank puller tool to remove the crankset so i could have a better look. turns out the problem has something to do with the bottom bracket, which is wobbly. that would also explain the grinding sound. i can also look inside and see metal parts that seem to be frayed. these bottom brackets are sealed, so the fact that i look see inside is not a good thing. fortunately i replaced the bottom bracket back in july 2024, so i have some firsthand experience. i went online and ordered a new one, should be here by friday. hopefully i'll have time saturday after work to fix it.

while i was out, i also adjusted the balance of the front brake pads, and replaced a torn p-clamp that was holding the rear baskets in place.

my laundry was done drying. i folded my clothes and put the sheets back onto the bed, including the duvet cover for my winter comforter (probably should put that away in storage, don't need during the summer) and the pillow cases. i'm going to have a good sleep tonight on freshly washed sheets.

i can't resist a bargain: so tonight i was searching amazon prime for anything that looked good. i ended up getting a 50ft garden hose and some ice machine descaling tablets for the cafe. i was also looking at new sneakers, but all the ones i saw were thick cloud foam soles and i think they look ugly. the nikes i have now will do for the time being.

i took one final shower, a more thorough wash including my hair. for dinner i had more fried chicken (drumstick, wing, thigh - no breasts). when 9pm came across i watched the group A matches: south africa vs south korea (1-0), czechia vs mexico (0-3). both games were played in mexico. the mexican fans watching the africa-korea game were cheering when mexico scored a goal. mexican fans were also rooting for south korea - kpop is really big in mexico apparently. unfortunately south korea seemed listless. whenever they got close enough to the goal to attack, they just fell apart. nevertheless, because they have 3 match points, there might be a chance they advance as one of the 3rd place teams. but with a performance like that - against a south african team that lost their first match and tied their second - south korea will probably get eliminated sooner than later.

in the late evening i ran fan mode on my inverter AC. i thought it'd just blow air from the outside into the house, but i think it was actually just recirculating the indoor air, because my room temperature didn't change (77 degrees) while it was 67 degrees outside.

i took the trek allant to work today. it's really nice riding a bike where the gears work and there isn't weird creaking sounds. i also like the lighter frame and bigger wheels, feels like i'm going faster. the folded rear baskets didn't hit the heel of my shoes like it does on my modified ross road bike.

the wait continues: the passion vine buds still haven't flowered yet. it continues to produce new buds on fresh vines. when and if it does flower, it'll be quite spectacular. i'm imagining people parked at the intersection amazed by our flower display.

because we sold all the noodles and dumplings on saturday, i had to make new batches today: 4 servings of dumplings, 2 batches of black soy noodles. only when that was done was i able to go to trader joe's on a supply run. it'd also be my first time testing out the rear baskets.

after i paid for my things, i went outside to load the rear baskets. one of them opened up easily, while the other one was firmly stuck. it took several minutes before i was finally able to pry apart the rusted metal clip holding the folding basket together. each basket can hold a single grocery bag worth of food. some of the more delicate items - like bananas - i put in my messenger bag.

the loaded up baskets felt good in that i couldn't hear them or notice they were there. compared to my plastic folding rear basket on my velotric ebike which rattles incessantly when i ride. the baskets wouldn't fit a 12-case box of beverages, but i could always strap it across the rear rack and hold it in place with bungie netting.

when i got back to the cafe, i took some 3-in-1 oil and dribbled it inside the rear basket hinges to loosen them up.

a father (italian?) came to the cafe with his young daughter, asking my mother if she teaches any knit/crochet classes. the little girl - who had piercing pale green eyes - said she already she knew how to do some stuff. not sure what my mother said, but i told the father that there's a knitting circle every tuesday night (tonight) at the nearby library he can check out to see if they offer any courses.

it's amazon prime days! however with the gloomy economy (shrinkflation, rising oil prices, ongoing iranian war, inept federal administration, etc.) i'm not in the mood for any buying spree. i did see a sale on a 100W solar panel for only $38. i told my father about it and we ordered one.

in the late morning i made a new batch of boba pearls. we got busy around lunchtime, but business quickly disappeared by 1pm. from that point on, every hour it got progressively busier, until we got another spike in the evening after 5pm. yes we had our share of online and delivery orders, but today there was also a lot of phone orders. i've made it very clear i don't like phone orders. besides taking up my time to write down the order, i also have to trust that the caller will show up and pay for the order. when they order online, i just get a ticket with everything listed. if they don't pick up the order i don't sweat it because i already got paid.

i had a zongzi for lunch in the early afternoon. our business neighbor jeana came by to pick up her fried rice. we showed up the passion flower vine, which she gave us the end of last year. she was amazed how well it was doing, and full of flower buds. she agreed it'll looking amazing once it blooms.

in the late afternoon i made a new batch of tea eggs. i'm not happy with the recipe. i think the tea flavor needs to be stronger. visit any taiwanese 7-11 convenience store and the first thing you smell is tea eggs. i want to recreate the scent. i used tea bags, but i want to try it with some loose tea.

what has now become a habit, we watch the world cup matches while we work. first game today was between portugal and uzbekistan at 1pm. portugal won 5-0. second game was between england and ghana played here at "boston" stadium (foxborough) at 4pm. the english team don't train in the US but rather back in england. they flew to boston last night. maybe it's this transatlantic commute that mucked up their mojo because they couldn't score against ghana. fortunately neither could ghana, and the game ended with a 0-0 draw.

there were bouts of rain all day, light drizzle, nothing serious. the sky was overcast all day. i actually left the cafe 10 minutes early to try and beat some rainstorms approaching the area. turns out it wasn't necessary, what little rain there was barely dampened my clothes. i brought out the trash cans, all of them full courtesy of jeff and his family staying here for the past week.

i came home with half a dozen oil rice zongzi and a steamer pot. i was preparing dinner a bit after 8pm when i noticed the sky outside through the blinds was a brilliant orange color. i couldn't resist so i went outside with a camera and caught the tail end of a brilliant sunset. i came back inside and cooked two zongzi.

after years of waking up early for my cafe shifts, i am now incapable of sleeping beyond 7:30am. every morning at 7:30am i will wake up, sometimes even earlier than that. it's as if my body knows i have to get up. to drive home the point, my bladder will also join in the fun by sending an urgent urge to pee. so i have no choice but to get out of bed. on weekends when i can afford to sleep a little late, it becomes a futile task.

i noticed it was usually quiet upstairs this morning, after two weeks of noises. i checked my webcam and sure enough, jeff and michelle grabbed an uber this morning, left with their suitcases, what i'm assuming home on the west coast. so it looks like i have the house to myself again.

procrastination is a great motivator. this morning i was supposed to work on my bike and do a bit of weeding around the house. i didn't want to do either of those things, so suddenly i had all this energy to do anything but. i ended up finally taking apart my grow closet and filling it back up with my storage bins which have been sitting in the guest bedroom since late march. i wonder if this was my final year of the grow closet. when i want to start seedlings next season, i'll probably do it at my parents' place, with their free solar electricity, i can run as many grow lights as i want.

in the basement, i attached the two folding rear bike baskets (wald 582 black) onto my trek allant using p-clamps. now all i need is some test rides to figure out exactly how much i can carry with those things. i installed a pair on my old ross road bike, but i rarely rode that bike, so never really used those baskets. the manufacturing specs says each basket can hold 2 bags of groceries (i doubt it, maybe a bag each), can hold 10-15 lbs. per basket. one test i always use is, "can it hold a 12-pack of soda?" the folding baskets don't pass this test, they're not long enough.

i did some weeding in the small garden in front of the house. i cleared up space so i could sprinkle some foxglove seeds. since it's going to rain later, it will water the seeds into the soil.

i finally left a bit after 11am. i was riding my fuji bike which does have any rear baskets so i had to carry everything including a large watermelon that i put inside a messenger bag. the bag kept hiding me in the stomach and leg, to the point where my leg started feeling numb.

i went to the cafe to get a few things for my mother (marinated pork chops, frozen wontons). i also took out some foods from the freezer to thaw in the fridge for tomorrow. despite the fact that it's going to rain later, the passion vine looked a little dry so i gave it some water. once again, it didn't flower today. a lot of flower buds, no blossoms.

i started riding but got as far as 2 blocks before i pulled over. for some reason the pedals wouldn't turn, like something was stuck. i wheeled the bike back to the cafe and flipped it upside down so i could fix it. at first i thought it was a gummed up rear derailleur, but the problem was actually the chain getting stuck between two front cogs. it was jammed pretty tightly, it actually ruined a screwdriver i tried to use to pry out the chain. finally a crescent wrench was the trick to get the chain loose. i continued to belmont.

when i got to my parents' place, i went out to the backyard to see what my father was doing. looking in the raised beds, i was shocked to see a bunch of swiss chards had been entirely defoliated, eaten down to the stems. did a rabbit manage to get inside the pen? how could this have happened? but then my father said my mother probably came out and harvested some chards. nobody told her you're supposed to cut no more than a third, so there's enough leaves left to continue growing so we can harvest the rest of the summer. i went inside to yell at my mother for killing our swiss chard plants.

i planted a single leftover kabocha squash in RB1, RB2, and RB4. i'm growing them as ground cover, with the hopes that maybe we'll get a squash or two. i still have a bunch of leftover orphaned seedlings and we're already a week away from july. i'm looking to plant them where ever, regardless if they'll do well, just so they don't die in their pots.

for lunch i had wonton soup. as soon as i finished eating, i went outside to mow the lawn. rain was expected in 30 minutes. the front lawn has turned mostly yellow and hasn't really grown much, but there's still patches of thick grass in the backyard that could use some mowing. my father mowed the front while i did the back. we felt rain drops but the drizzle didn't start until after we finished.

my sister showed up briefly with esmei in the afternoon. i let esmei outside to look for rabbits, her favorite pasttime even though she's never actually caught one. while my mother was the kitchen, i gave her a tiny piece of stevia leaf to sample. she was amazed how sweet it was.

since it was raining outside, there was nothing to do but stay indoors and watch world cup coverage. argentina beat austria 2-0. france beat iraq 3-0 after a long rain delay after halftime.

my father and i adjusted the hybrid hot water tank so it uses the heat pump to heat up the water. we did this because we noticed the basement was still humid - 60% - because the heat pump wasn't running long enough. now it'll run basically the whole day, cooling the basement and drawing out the moisture. activating the heat pump means more condensation. that means we'll need to install our condensate pump soon. to do that, we have to do some wiring to install a plug inside a nearby junction box. we opened it up today to try and figure out how to wire everything. my father also showed me a rheem leakguard shut-off valve that came with the hybrid heater but xiaowu forgot to install it. we don't really need it, but if he ever comes back to do any HVAC work, we'll ask him to install it.

we had breaded porkchop for dinner. my father also cooked the swiss chard my mother harvested. yesterday's chard was very crunchy and juicy; today's chard was overcooked so mushy with a stronger earthy beet flavor.

after dinner i went outside to collect half a dozen foxglove plants i plan on bringing back to cambridge so i can plant them around the house. earlier during the day i put my fuji bike in the back of the car. looking at the raised beds, i noticed a few long bean seedlings had been decapitated from RB0. now i'm starting to wonder if birds aren't the culprit. that's why we started putting mesh barriers on top of the seeds. once they get a few things, birds won't be tempted to eat them anymore.

my father gave me a ride home. i unloaded the foxgloves as well as the bike. i checked the gutters: the one on renee's side is still leaking, i don't think the gutter guys fixed it yet even though i thought they came by with ladders and caulking gun last week. it's not a big deal, but for $1600, we shouldn't expect them to keep on coming back.

this soft rain will continue until early tomorrow afternoon. i don't know how badly it'll be raining tomorrow morning when i go to the cafe. will i need my rain gear?

i went down to the basement this morning to try installing the collapsible rear baskets on my trek allent. looks like the rubberize 1/2" p-clamps will work. i wasn't able to tighten the screws (stainless steel #10-32 1/2" with stainless steel washer and locknut) because i didn't have the right tools, so i'll come back again tomorrow morning. there also seems to be enough clearance for me to attach another basket on the rear rack.

i stopped by the cafe to put away the tea eggs and leftover rice. i was disappointed that none of the passion vine flower buds have bloomed yet. i read last night that buds typically are 1-1/2" to 3" in length - the ones we have are the smaller end of that spectrum, so maybe they still need more growing.

my father was working in the backyard, fixing the broken trellises by RB4 and RB3. most of the long bean seeds i planted have sprouted. however, a handful of them seem to have been decapitated by chipmunks. i read that sprinkling cayenne pepper powder around the plants can deter chipmunks. we didn't have any cayenne powder, but we did have some korean gochugaru, which i took outside and sprinkled around the bean seedlings. gochugaru surprisingly is not as hot as cayenne: 4500 versus 30,000-50,000 scoville. i'm starting to wonder though if birds aren't the cause of the seedling damage, because i saw some birds hopping in the raised beds. we did put chicken wire on some of the seedlings. i also replanted a bunch more long bean seedlings. blue beans are slower to germinate (thankfully), but there were a few that had sprouted as well.

i had two oil rice zongzi for lunch.

back outside, we planted the trio of butterfly peas in a large plastic pot. i dug up some milkweed and transplanted them into a pot. i transplanted all the remaining stevia seedlings into larger pots. my father and i tried some stevia leaves - super sweet with a slight bitterness. we set up a third saw horse table in the middle of the lawn for potted flowering plants like jasmines and gardenia, so they don't interfere with our two main sawhorse tables which hold climbing plants like luffas, kabocha squashes, and bitter melons.

my mother was busy cleaning up the house for my taiwanese aunt visit during the 4th of july weekend in two weeks.

my sister showed up with esmei in the late afternoon. esmei ran around the backyard smelling everything, chasing phantom rabbits, and eating the grass. they left soon afterwards.

my father harvested some swiss chards for dinner. he used a hand pruner to cut the outer leaves, but i showed him the leaves are crisp enough that you can just break them off by hand. despite their rainbow colors, chards turn green once cooked. they're still delicious though, retaining their juicy crispiness. my mother made an eggplant stirfry and a smoked ham and hot pepper stirfry.

i rode the ebike back home. the all day rain event forecasted for tomorrow now looks like it won't begin until 1pm. and the inches of rain? less than half an inch at most. i think i'm going to take one of my smaller bikes to belmont and either leave it in the garage or bring it with me in the car when i get a ride home.

the first match of the day was between spain-saudi arabia. spain had a poor showing against cape verde in their first game, 0-0. today was different however, they trounced saudi arabia 4-0. second match was between belgium-iran. a boring affair, 0-0. despite belgium getting a red card late in the game, iran couldn't capitalize. third game uruguay-cape verde, 2-2 draw. the final game was between new zealand-egypt. i figured new zealand would win, wasn't expecting egypt to score 3 points. final score 1-3 egypt wins.