i bolted out of bed last night, unable to sleep because of the heat pump compressor noise. in the dark i opened up my laptop and wrote an e-mail to renee explaining the grief that her heat pump has been causing me the past few months. that made me feel better and i was finally able to fall asleep.

a bit of good news this morning: the supreme court struck down trump's tariffs in a 6-3 vote. of course trump will find some other illegal way to circumvent the court's ruling, but it's a glimmer of hope that the conservatively-stacked supreme court isn't just a rubber stamp for the administration (which it seems to be so far).

two snowstorms will hit us over the next few days. one will start today, giving us 1-3" of snow. the other one's scheduled for monday will give us 6-10" of snow, a proper nor'easter. i went outside and covered up my bike seat with a plastic bag to keep it dry for the ride home. of course we originally planned on doing a supply run on monday, but with the snow, it looks like we aren't going anywhere. instead my parents will do a quick supply run tomorrow before we open the cafe in the late morning.

my parents made hand-drawn noodles for breakfast. we ate them with some zhajiang noodle sauce and cucumber slices. my aunt showed up in the late morning. "what's there to eat?" she asked. my parents made her a bowl of jiuniang soup. the jiuniang is now slightly carbonated, which means the yeast is converting the sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide. keeping them in the fridge will hopefully slow down the process. my aunt left soon afterwards with a jar of jiuniang, some dill dumplings, and a frozen package of homemade chunbing.

two semi-final men's hockey game happened today: canada vs finland, and US vs slovakia. canada was uncharacteristically down 0-2. they had to mount a comeback, scoring their final goal 3-2 with just 30 seconds left in the game, to win it. what surprises me about the canadian team is they're so stacked with talent, yet they've struggled throughout the tournament. they should be destroying their opponents, yet they've only won by the slimmest of margins, including an overtime win their last game. maybe they've been unlucky to be matched up with some really strong opponents. the US on the other hand made quick work of slovakia winning it in 6-2. it really wasn't even that close, slovakia scored in garbage time when it was all but certain the US would be advancing. so now the stage is set for a canada-US final sunday morning. i'm actually rooting for canada. that whole country would be devastated if they lost in the only winter sports they're good at. the canadian women's hockey team already lost to the US yesterday, taking home the silver. i don't know if they could handle another loss. have put the whole country on suicide watch if that happens.

today was the busiest day this month. we were busy around noontime before we had a lull, then a family group came in during 2pm making a big order. not only that, they also bought a trio of hats from my mother. after that we weren't so busy. the snow already falling by late morning and seems like people were more likely heading home to hunker down than eating about getting a bite to eat. also typically end of the day friday we don't get too many customers.

my father finally got in touch yesterday with xiaowu our HVAC guy. he called back today, said he'd meet my father at the house at 2:45pm. maybe it was just a consultation, but knowing xiaowu, he was probably going to install our hybrid hot water heater while he was there. so my father left for belmont. he came back around 4pm, told us the new water heater had been installed.

it's been a long journey. we first bought the heater back in may, when my father was worried about possible tariffs, so we bought one while the price was low. it took a month to arrive (june) because the package got lost so we had to order a new one. it then sat in the garage for the entire summer, before we finally moved it down into the basement in september. my father then tried in vain to get in touch with xiaowu for nearly 6 months until he finally came today. cost of installation including labor and material? $250. at that price he's basically doing it for free.

the model we got is the rheem proterra 50 gallon smart high efficiency heat pump water heater with leak detection and auto shutoff ($1500). because of its heat pump capability, it can "steal" heat from the air to heat up the water. because of that, it runs cold, like having an air conditioner. as an additional perk, it functions as a dehumidifier, so we no longer have to run one in the basement during the summer. it didn't come with a condensate pump, so we'll need to buy one and install a discharge line to our basement sink which is about 30ft away from the hot water heater. in the meantime, my father has a bucket to catch the condensation water (1-2 gallon per day). my father saw the inside of the our old hot water heater and said it was probably about to fail anyway, since there was blockage inside the output pipe. one key feature of the water heater is its smart capability. my father didn't have time to set it up for wifi yet.

going home was rough. snow was starting to stick, and what was falling was sleet, which seeped through my pants. ice would also occasionally hit my eyes as i very slowly pedaled home. i did my best not to slip and fall, traveling in a straight line, and avoiding any potential slick spots like patches of snow. i was relieved when i finally made it home in one piece.

i logged into the rheem app using the credentials i set up for my father earlier. he had already connected the hot water heater to the internet, and i could see all the settings. it's actually pretty cool, shows the status and usage, set up a heating schedule, change the heating mode. it'll allow us to have granular control of the hot water heater, which is the one appliance that uses up the most electricity.

once again my mother packed me a leftover bento for dinner. it tipped over during transit but none of the content spilled out. i ate after i took a shower.

i played another hour of cyberpunk. i'm afraid to do any new missions, waiting for kenny eurodyne to contact me about the concert venue. i did open up a new gig where i steal cars for reyes, a phantom liberty side quest. i haven't visited doggtown very much (only to check in occasionally to see if they have any iconic weapons for sale), but most of the NPC don't appear elsewhere in night city, so new opportunities to people watch and take photos.

i went to bed at 1:30am last night but didn't go to sleep until 3am because the hum of renee's heat pump compressor kept me awake. i really need to have a serious talk with her. last night wasn't even that cold, but for some reason the compressor ran all night long. eventually i was so exhausted i fell asleep despite the noise.

i forgot to wear my hearing aid when i went to the cafe this morning. i don't really need it, but it allows me to hear orders from the front of the cafe before the ticket prints out. i can also listen to the television sound much better without needing to turn up the volume.

i found my father out in the parking lot trying to reduce the snow pile from from the snowstorm we had weeks ago. if we rely on natural melting, that snow pile won't be entirely gone until may at the earliest. the trick is to break it up a little bit every day and throw that snow onto the parking lot so it can melt faster. after taking off my jacket, i helped him shovel some more snow.

my parents made jiuniang soup with a jar of my homemade jiuniang. my mother rolled up some glutinous rice balls while my father incorporated the eggs into the soup. for an even more traditional dish we need some pink glutinous rice balls as well. when i made them in the past i just used artificial food coloring, but i read the classic way is to use beet juice.

my father fried a small batch of salt & pepper chicken this morning, about 20 servings. that meant all the clothes i was wearing would be saturated with fry oil smell. after he finished, i made a new batch of tea eggs. this time i let the eggs come to room temperature first fo 30 minutes, resting them above a container of hot water i'd later used to steam the eggs. the thinking is these cold eggs crack because of rapid thermal expansion. after steaming them for 15 minutes, 2 of the eggs were still cracked, but they didn't break apart as in past batches. so maybe this is my new technique going forward, allowing the eggs to come to room temperature first before steaming.

for a week that was supposed to be slow because of public school vacation, this week has been surprisingly busy. we made above our daily average every day this week. today we sold well over a dozen bentos, not counting any delivery orders or cash orders. we were busy around lunchtime and then even more so in the evening after 5pm. i say evening but sunset today wasn't until 5:20pm. we change our clocks forward in 2 more weeks, so sunset won't be until almost 7pm. i can go home while there's still some daylight left!

in the early afternoon after it stopped being busy, i made some turkey rollups for lunch. i spent the rest of the afternoon following the women's figure skating competition live on television. i watched history in the making when american alysa liu won gold - despite seemingly having no desire to medal, and skating with a carefree abandon and confidence one gets when there's no pressure to win. i felt bad for the second place silver winner japanese kaori sakamoto (in her last olympics), who won bronze in 2022 but should've won gold if it wasn't for russian shenanigans (competing under the confusing ROC acronym). russians are still competing but under a new acronym - AIN. american amber glenn skated a near perfect performance, and sat at the number one spot for 1-1/2 hours, before the heavyweights sent her down to 5th place. glenn would've medaled as well if she didn't skate a disastrous short program where she skipped a jump, but her performance tonight vindicated her standing as one of the greats.

after we closed, my parents stayed behind to have some dumplings while i was sent home with some leftover beef noodle soup. i took a shower where i moisturized with my aveeno eczema therapy lotion afterwards before having dinner.

i played an hour of cyberpunk, no gigs, just wandered around the city. i found a new place for clothes shopping, then tested out weapons on some unsuspecting arasaka security guards. i then called up one of my newly purchased cars (the cthulhu) and drove it over 100mph through the city with the intend of driving it off of the highway. that turned out to be impossible as highways all have barricades that prevent drivers from flying off the roads. i ended up having to jettison the car as it sustains so much damage it self-destructed. i then did more weapons testing on a gang war between scavengers and animals.

i read the good news this morning: mikaeala shiffrin finally won gold after failing to get any medals in the 2022 winter beijing olympics and unsuccessful in her events thus far at the milan cortino olympics. it's been a long 8 years wait, with her father/coach having passed away during that time. it's quite a redemption story. also chin finally got some gold medals, two of their athletes won gold in individual men and women freestyle skiing aerials. it was starting to become downright humiliating since china won 9 gold in the last winter games.

i went to market basket around 11am before the forecast of rain in the afternoon. temperature was close to the 40's. i decided to shovel some snow pack out onto the street with the hopes that they might melt faster.

i bought two bags of cans and bottles to deposit, clear up some room in my kitchen. i wasn't sure what i wanted to eat, but got a few things, including fish sticks and pasta. i got in the wrong line, the woman was buying hundreds of dollars worth of groceries using food stamps but she wanted to do a split payment, so it took a long time to process her groceries. i stood there and vegged out, wasn't in any particular hurry. there was already a light drizzle by the time i left, my bike seat slightly damp.

i cooked up some kielbasa and scrambled eggs (with feta cheese) for lunch, washed down with chocolate milk. all that protein really hit the spot. i ran my air purifier in the kitchen to get rid of some of the cooking smell. i ate while watching the canadian-czech hockey game. it was a close one, but canada won in sudden death overtime. i can't even fathom what would happen had canadian hockey been eliminated. i think canada would implode from the devastation. elsewhere, the US beat sweden in overtime to advance as well.

i played some cyberpunk. i started the mission where johhny silverhand takes rogue on a date to the drive-in movies. the date finished abruptly, which prompted johnny to track down former bandmate kerry eurodyne. one thing led to another, and they decided to get the band back together again for one last concert. that meant tracking down each band member and getting them to agree to do it.

my amazon purchase of more wide-mouth quart-size canning jars arrived today around 4pm. they're compatible with my wide-mouth rubber-seal plastic lids. i like these new jars because they're simple and don't have any brand marking, just measurement marks.

feeling hungry, i had some instant spicy & sour glass noodles that my parents brought back from taiwan a year ago but i only recently rediscovered i had them in a brown paper bag in the guest bedroom. i ate them in the early evening which was enough to last me for the rest of the night.

i played a little more cyberpunk, but mostly trying to figure out how to take videos of the game action. i tried the built-in macos screenshot saver, but it wouldn't save the audio. several online places recommended OBS studio, but i couldn't get it to work. it either didn't recognize the game screen, or cropped it, or saved the video with the window frame. i then looked for an alternative paid solution, but didn't try it yet.

i bought some oranges from market basket's reduced price produce rack. i cut some up thinking they were navel oranges but they were actually blood oranges. after i finished eating, i threw out the trash. it had stopped raining by then. the transition to snow that was supposed to happen overnight never happened because it was too warm.

i finally got around to downloading the 3000+ photos from my camera's memory card onto the hard drive backup. i sort in the photos into dated folders, but to make all of those directories was too tedious, so i figured out how to do it using terminal commands:

cd /Volumes/5TB2020/Photos/2026

cat 2026_date_folder_names.txt | xargs mkdir

i auto-created a list of folders using sheets and exported the list as a txt file. i then used a few terminal commands to quickly create those folders. it worked very well and saved me the hassle of having to make them manually.

i'm still trying to find a good photo cataloging app for the new mac. since media pro doesn't work with apple silicon chips, i need to find an alternative. neofinder might be a potential solution, since it can also import old media pro catalogs. capture one studio pro is another possibility. they originally bought the source code for media pro before deciding to kill it for their more expensive pro level photo tool, but i think they incorporated some media pro UI elements. i need to sit down this weekend and make a decision which one i want to use. after that i can finally complete my migration from my old mac to the new mac.

i didn't feel like i had much of a weekend. i was basically at the cafe every day, even on my days off. and now today i was back at work. soon after i arrived i took off to trader joe's to get some supplies. for the most part the roads were cleared, but a big semi truck was parked on the bike lane near the gas station next to dunkin' donuts. i noticed my metal cup holder was cracked; not a problem, should be easy to replace, but the cold weather takes a toll on bike accessories.

with school vacation this week, we were expecting today to be a slow day. and it seemed like that at first, just a trickle of business around lunchtime. but between 1-3pm it got really busy. after 3pm all the customers suddenly disappeared, only to come back after 5pm for another spike in business. we sold a lot of bentos, but chicken curry was once again a surprisingly popular option, with no less than 4 orders. it used to be we'd get maybe one curry order a week if we were lucky.

my parents made another batch of dumplings around lunchtime followed by some chunbing bread for the turkey. i had 4 turkey rollups, gave me thanksgiving deja vu. i also had some ximilu dessert soup, although the tiny tapioca balls have lost all their colors.

we finally figured out how to descale the nespresso machine. we were waiting for my sister to do it because she's the only who's done it in the past, but she said she didn't remember. had i known she had no clue, i would've gone online and researched the procedures myself. i found an official nespresso video demonstrating the steps for our machine model.

my mother's shingle rash has pretty much disappeared. she took the last of her shingles virus medication last night.

only one jar of our barley jiuniang didn't have mold. actually, it had a little bit, but not like the other jars, where there was a thick carpet of white fuzzy mold. we tasted from the "clean" jar. it smelled faintly of jiuniang, but it tasted sour, slightly carbonated, with a slight sweetness. because we used whole barley, the husks didn't dissolve, which made it harder to eat. the sour taste was too off putting, so we ended up dumping it all.

i went home with some leftover beef stew bento box. after i finished eating, i played a few hours of cyberpunk. i'm still following some small side gigs. i discovered a new favorite weapon, the iconic fenrir power submachine gun that also does shock damage, modified with a hyakume short scope and a TSX tocororo silencer.

i didn't get out of bed until 10am this morning. had a nice restful sleep, my neighbor's heat pump didn't seem to be running as noisy, or maybe it wasn't too cold outside. i watched the latest episode (5) of a knight of seven kingdoms last night before sleeping. the events were pretty faithful to the book, but dunk got more wrecked than i remember, and prince aerion didn't try to backstab him after yielding. there was an extended backstory showing dunk as a boy surviving in flea bottom with his friend rafe and how he met ser arlan of pennytree, who rescued him from a pair of murdering thieves. these elements were not in the original short story (but maybe subsequent tales, or maybe even original content).

my mother called me around 11am, asked for ceramic ramekins for her brown sugar fagao cakes. she tried making them from home last night but the yeast shed used had expired and the recipe failed. my parents were on there way to market basket to get some supplies. when they arrived, i gave them 4 jars of jiuniang as well. they'll give them a taste test, and based on whether they've sweetened since last night, i might make another batch. i have enough glutinous rice to make 4 more jars.

i didn't leave for the cafe until almost 1pm. i went around the corner to get some beers before i went. i bought a 4-pack of frost beer works lush double IPA. i figured it'd be $13 but it was actually $20, wasn't expecting it to be so pricey.

my parents were waiting for me to arrive at the cafe because only i knew the settings for roasting the 13 lbs. turkey in our breville oven. we roasted a small turkey back in november. for a 13 lbs. bird we baked it at 325 degres for 2 hours and 50 minutes. the turkey came out beautifully, but the cook time seemed excessively long. i went online and found instructions specially for the breville oven. this recipe said to use the roast setting with convection at 325 degrees for 2 hours. that seemed a more realistic roast time so that's the setting i used.

my parents tried the jiuniang i gave them, they said it was already pretty sweet, good enough to eat. i noticed the rice grains in the february 12 batch was already floating in liquid, a good sign of successful fermentation.

my parents were busy making all the chinese new year dishes. i helped my father cooked the tiny colored tapioca pearls used for our ximilu dessert soup. we cooked it the same way we cook our boba pearls - boil for 15 minutes, then steam for another 15 minutes, until the pearls become translucent. we then added the cooked taro (in sugar water) along with a can of coconut milk. the soup turned pink (normally it's white) because of the food coloring in the tiny tapioca pearls. my mother also successfully steamed her fagao cakes.

my father went to go pick up my 2nd aunt, while my sister's godmother showed up on her own. when my sister arrived, she let esmei have fre range in the cafe. normally she's not allowed in the kitchen area for food safety reasons, but since we're closed, we allowed her to roam again. she likes to explore and went down to the basement on her own before we called her back. for the most part she was well behaved, didn't try to steal any good. when she got tired she just laid down on the ground and went to sleep.

my aunt and matthew showed up a before 3:30pm. we were having chinese new year eve's dinner early in order to accomodate my aunt, who had a meeting earlier and need to leave by 6pm for a tennis match. matthew brought taiwanese beer but was more interested in the lush double IPA i bought. turns out his old house in vermont is practically neighbors with frost beer works. he ended up drinking two cans, with an alcohol content of 8%.

my parents also made dumplings (pork & dill filling) while my sister made lamb dumplings (pan-fried instead of steamed). while everyone was eating, i was still busy in the kitchen washing the pans so the oil doesn't stick. i also whipped up my own dumpling dipping sauce: soy sauce, hot chili oil sauce, vinegar, chopped garlic, and cilantro.

there was a lot of food but i didn't feel like i ate too much. afterwards my parents made more dumplings for my aunt and matthew to take home. everyone left with leftovers except for me, since i'll be back at the cafe tomorrow morning. we never got a chance to try the jiuniang, even though i had a taste test of a february 13th batch and it was okay but could be sweeter. and we also had a turkey! but nobody really ate it except for me. i much rather prefer eating it with some chunbing bread, hopefully my father will make some tomorrow.

after we finished cleaning up, we took out supplies from the freezer and left them in the fridge to defrost for tomorrow. my sister gave her godmother a ride home while my parents drove my 2nd aunt home. i went home via bike, still keeping my eyes open for my lost tail light. i got back by 6:40pm.

i played some cyberpunk until 9pm. i'm very close to the end, still have unresolved missions with judy and panam, befor meeting hanako at embers. plus i have a bunch of dogtown missions still left to do.

i was still hungry. i finished an asian pear my 2nd aunt gave me weeks ago, and ate the thai chicken feet i bought on wednesday.

i wasn't able to watch too much olympics coverage today, but happy to learn that eileen gu once again wasn't able to win gold (just silver) in her second event. that means china still hasn't won a gold in this winter olympics (3 silvers, 2 bronze).

i spent the evening watching some youtube videos on how to make makgeolli - korean rice wine. it involves buying some nuruk, which is the korean version of jiuniang yeast balls.

on the one day that i could sleep in late, i still only ended up sleeping 6-1/2 hours. i'm just used to waking up around 8am, it's hard for me to sleep any later than that.

i checked the progress of my jiuniang. the one i started on thursday - feb-12 - should be ready by tonight, day 3. there's water in the jar, but the rice isn't floating quite yet. the batch from friday - feb-13 - even though i started it a day later, it looks very similar to the earlier batch.

i left for the cafe around 11am via ebike. my mother asked me to grab some brown sugar and my father asked me to flip the brining turkey in the small fridge. it totally slipped my mind that i was also supposed to take the hunter sausages until i was nearly to belmont. i dropped off my stuff and returned to the cafe. it was actually quicker on the ebike since i didn't have to stop for red lights and follow those pesky traffic rules. i returned to belmont a short time later.

my mother made scrambled eggs along with the hunter sausages. while she was making lunch, i went outside to refill the birdfeeder. it didn't take long before the birds and the squirrels came to feed.

since i won't be in belmont tomorrow, i went down to the basement to water the plants. one of the orchids has already bloomed, a white flower. this winter we won't be getting the flower show of past seasons because i left the orchids outside too late in the season and most of them suffered cold damage. i don't have any sentimental attachments to any of them, most were rescued from the trash back when the cafe had a florist for a neighbor. it wouldn't be hard to go down to home depot and get some brand new and healthier ones. i did a soil drench with Bti-infused mosquito bits. i added 3 heaping tablespoon of granules to the water. it's probably the last time i'm doing this since my gnatrol powder will hopefully arrive by next week. that second dying pepper plant i noticed last week didn't seem to make it even though i gave it more water. that's okay, they grow fast from seeds, all i need is just a handful of plants to keep alive to give me some early hot peppers before the seedlings grow big enough to fruit later.

i was watching the men's big air freestyle skiing qualifiers. but before i could watch the 3rd run, NBC cut away to pair figure skating short program. most of the broadcast seems to be either curling or hockey, two sports i'm not very interested in.

my mother told me i was making korean rice cake for dinner, which was a surprise to me. luckily we had all the necessary ingredients. instead of corn syrup, i used agave syrup, which is probably better. the only thing we didn't have was dashi powder, so the anchovy/seaweed broth was very bland, which resulted in a bland rice cake.

after dinner i rode home. it was pretty uneventful until i was about to put the ebike away in the basement and realized i lost my tail light. it actually popped off this morning when i hit a pothole. this time, not only was the light missing, but the bracket was completely gone as well. that was a found light so i'm not particularly attached, but a replacement rear rack bracket costs $10! the original bracket came with my planet bike rojo 100 tail light.

what are the odds of finding the tail light? but i had to try. so after putting away my stuff, i retraced my steps, keeping an eye on the road for a flashing red light. i made it all the way back to my parents' place without seeing it. my parents were surprised when i came back, and said i was crazy to ride back searching for the lost light. i went back home, giving me a second chance to spot the tail light. i ended up not finding it. either it got crushed by a car, or somebody saw it and picked it up. i'm hoping for the latter, it'd be nice to see that light go to a new home.

after putting the ebike away, i came inside. the first thing i did was pop open the computer and order a new planet bike tail light bracket for $10. there's a 3D print model of the bracket online for free, and it'd seem like the perfect thing to print out.

now officially 3 days later (72 hours), i taste tested my jiuniang from feb-12 thursday. it smelled of jiuniang inside the jar, with a slightly pungent whiff of alcohol. the inside of the jar was warm. using a clean sterilized spoon, i poked at the rice, which felt soft. i gave it a taste, definitely jiuniang, but not very sweet. it needs another few days of fermenting to get sweeter. out of curiosity, i tasted the feb-13 friday jiuniang as well. that actually tasted slightly sweeter, but neither of them are very sweet yet. i think they'll be ready to eat for tomorrow, i'll bring them to the cafe for our chinese new year dinner, my food contribution.

i had some guava my 2nd aunt gave me a few days ago, sprinkled with some suanmei powder.

i played about an hour of cyberpunk. a lot of these side gigs are starting to become repetitive. it's either steal something, or assassinate someone, or rescue someone. this mission involved sneaking into a tyger claw factory where they were making the illegal drug glitter. i tried to sneak in but couldn't find an alternate access point, so went in the front door, stealthy taking out a few guards with my toxic throwing dagger. while hacking into the security camera to mark the number of gang members, i ended up just taking a few out by exploding a few gas canisters. i basically lost the element of surprise after that, and proceded to the basement with smart gun blazing.

i watched the imitation game (2014) on pluto.tv. i watched all the way until they managed to crack the enigma code, which is the best part of the movie. after that i didn't care too much for it and switched over to the 11pm news.

i was surprised to find my mother already at the cafe this morning. the car was missing because my father went to go pick up my 2nd aunt, then later visit my sister's godmother in central square to help her with some banking business.

my 2nd aunt showed up with some fishnacks she got me from her latest weee order. she also brought the morkovcha - soviet-korean pickled carrots. i've never had it before and was curious to try some. it basically tasted like shredded carrots, with a slightly sour note that's either fermentation or spoilage, hard to say. i thought it had a lychee flavor, but maybe it was just my imagination. if you didn't tell me it was korean i would've never guessed, since it has zero korean tastes i'm familiar with.

when my father finally came back, he started boiling some chinese spices for the turkey brine (we're having a chinese new year dinner at the cafe on monday) and made some candied pecan. my mother and 2nd aunt were busy making a 18-ingredients dish (buddha's delight).

i made a new batch of tea eggs. steamed eggs have a tendency to crack, so instead of 15 minutes, i reduced that time to just 10 minutes. that didn't seem to work as two eggs still cracked. i removed the cracked ones. when my mother cut one in half, the yolk was still runny. so it looks like the 15 minutes steaming is crucial. i might try steaming room temperature eggs next time, as i read it's the temperature shock that cracks them. another source said it's the rapid expansion of the gas pocket inside the egg, and to made a little hole at the fat end to prevent cracking.

we got busy between 1-2pm. we made slightly more than yesterday in just half the amount of time, but once again didn't reach our daily average. the day went by quick, before we knew it, it was time to go home.

when i got back home i immersed myself in cyberpunk. i stopped around 6:30pm to finish the korean wings, before returning to cyberpunk.

i finished the evening watching bone tomahawk (2015) on pluto.tv. i know about this movie but never watched it because i thought it was too graphic. it's the definition of western horror, with emphasis on the horror. it's a well-made movie, but the story is grim.

i slept with the humidifier on after fishing it out of my utility closet. i filled it up with distilled water, which i had from my carbon dioxide injection experiment. using distilled water doesn't leave that white dust residue if you use regular tap water instead. i set it on a barstool for some elevation. there was a blue led light (which i already covered up with masking tape but still was plenty bright) and the machine made occasionally gurgling sounds. when i woke up, my skin didn't feel as dry. it could all just be placebo effect, but prior to that, last night my dermis was so desiccated it felt downright crispy, painful and itchy all over.

my father brought in the car jump starter battery. he took apart our broken one last night - the one that was bulging and seemed in danger of exploding - and revealed a lithium battery pack that looks replaceable. it has some thin wires and an EC5 connector. using google lens, i found something similar, but it was only through alibaba, you had to bulk buy (at least 10, around $550), and it might not even be available. even at its unit rate ($55) it wasn't worth it, since a brand new unit is around that price. later he unwrapped the blue covering on the battery to reveal 3 layers of lithium cells. i told him we could probably use the battery to make an improvised explosive.

my mother's face shingle continues to heal, courtesy of valacyclovir. the tiny blisters are gone, now it's just 3 red splotchy spots, surrounded by a white ring of dried skin.

my ass was burning this morning when i used the bathroom, courtesy of the super spicy korean wings. how did it manage to pass through my digestive system so fast? i had to use the bathroom a few more times throughout the day, all harrowing experiences. i still have plenty of hot wings back at home, but flaming bowel movements will not stop me from eating them.

for lunch my mother made a batch of fried rice using lard we saved up from frying pork skin. it made for a tastier meal, which i enhanced with some homemade hot sauce.

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i left at 1:30pm to go see the hasty pudding parade in harvard square. i was able to see it last year because it happen to be my one day off. this year was rose byrne. off the top of my head, i don't remember too many of her movies. i know she's in a bunch of comedies with seth rogen , and has become in recent years somewhat of a comedic actress, when she first started in the industry as a serious drama actress. i remember she had a small role in the star wars movie, as well as the movie troy. one movies of hers i remember (but forgot the name) is where she plays parents with mark wahlberg to 3 foster kids (i looked it up, instant family [2018]).

i got there with 20 minutes before the parade started. i parked on the island that used to house out of town news. it pays to get there early, to find a good spot for shooting photos. i ended up standing on perimeter of a tree border, slightly elevated above the curb. there was nobody there when i showed up, but over time people started to crowd the area. a stoner in a tall knitted hat ended up standing in front of me. it wasn't ideal, but i could still look over him, unless he decided to stand on the curb. he even asked me who the parade was for, i just shrugged. periodically h'd take out his phone and take a selfie with the crowd behind him. there was a noisy guy with a sign protesting something to do with jeffrey epstein and harvard. looks like he was trying to get attention, thankfully most people just ignored him. eventually he left before the parade started. as for that, it didn't get going until almost 2:30pm.

i spotted rose byrne through my telephoto lens. first thing i thought to myself was, "she's so pretty." sometimes you see a movie star and you know it immediately. it was a sunny day so there were harsh shadows, but luckily the procession was heading west. when the convertible she was riding in passed me, i left my position and walked further down the street to meet the procession again. i did that a few times, snapping more photos each time. the whole affair took about 15 minutes.

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after retrieving my bike, i rode out to harvard stadium, to the trader joe's next door. i was picking up a few things for the cafe (baby cucumbers) but also grabbing some alcohol while i was at it. trader joe was as crowded as i've ever seen it before. seems like a lot of people had friday off early so they could go grocery shopping.

i made it back to the cafe by 3:15pm, about 2 hours after i left. my mother said they didn't get a single customer after i was gone. my aunt was there, slipped me some birthday money. she also gave me her old camera bag, sans camera (which she sold ages ago), but did include an assortment of filters.

i was surprised men's figure skating event was still happening. i was able to catch ilia malinin's performance, the last skater to go. everyone expected to get gold, but he fell twice, and sank all the way down to the 15th spot. the gold went to kazazhstan skater shaidorov, while the silver and bronze went to japanese kajiyama and sato.

another slow day where we didn't make our daily average. only yesterday did we break average, compared to last week where we made above average profit on three days. the busiest time was between 1-2pm. next week might even be worse, since it's winter vacation week for cambridge public schools (not sure about the private ones).

my sister showed up around closing time to terrorize us with another screaming match. i'm not sure what she wanted - maybe to make the restaurant people pay for property tax - but she wouldn't leave, even after we closed. my sister will single-handedly drive my parents to an early grave. the less we see her the better.

i can start a batch of jiuniang in just 40 minutes, and most of that is waiting time (30 minutes for the instant pot to come to pressure and cook the glutinous rice). so when i came back home that's exactly what i did. instead of using angel powder, i used a yeast ball instead. online research informed me that one yeast ball for every 500g of rice. i was making 3 cups - 600g - but that's about the same amount. i rinsed the rice in the pot until the water was mostly clear, drained it as much as possible (without spilling out any rice), then added back 3 cups of water. i then put the pot in the pressure cooker and pushed the rice button.¹ while that was happening, i crushed one yeast ball on a piece of aluminum foil using the flat side of a meat tenderizer. i also sterilized the jars by first washing them before baking them in the microwave for 1 minute. these jars we new anyway, i just replaced the metal lids with plastic ones.

i'd forgotten about the rice and returned after it had already finished cooking and was in keep warm mode for nearly half an hour. the pressure had already vented naturally, i could just turn the lid and remove the rice. i sterilized the plastic rice paddle and chopsticks in some boiling water before using it on the rice. i added cold water to the cooked rice and loosened it up with the paddle before pouring everything out into a sieve. i continued to break up any rice clumps while rinsing with cold water to lower the temperature until it was below 80 degrees. i returned the rice to the pot and added the crushed yeast ball powder. i mixed everything before adding them to 1-quart wide-mouth jars. i found a box to put them in, covered with a small towel, then put them in the bathroom with the jiuniang from last night. i checked the status of that jiuniang, no change so far, but there is condensation inside the jars, which hopefully is a sign of fermentation.

i took a shower afterwards. didn't want to do it beforehand, because i was going to moisturize with my new aveeno eczema therapy lotion, and didn't want my oily hands contaminating the jiuniang. i put some on my legs, my arms, my neck and face, and whatever remaining on my body. there was no odor, and the lotion basically absorbs into the skin, with no oily or sticky residue. i could immediately feel my skin more hydrated.

for dinner i ate that leftover piece of fried chicken breast. it was enough to last me for the rest of the night.

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¹ i've always just used the rice button on my instant pot, but some people swear by a more manual method. using a 6-quart instant pot, and not exceeding more than 6 cups of rice, they still keeping the rice/water ratio at 1:1, then cook on high pressure for 3-4 minutes, natural release for 10 minutes before venting out the remaining pressure and removing the cooked rice. for brown rice, the method is the same, except cook for 22 minutes high pressure then natural release 10 minutes. maybe i'll try the high pressure manual method for next time.

my father made me a bowl of 2 eggs soup with some jiuniang i bought from chinatown yesterday. it's actually a birthday tradition from my mother's childhood.

today in winter olympics, i watched the germans win their 4th consecutive team luge relay. i watched some men's 1000m short track but there were no american contenders. american kristen santos-griswold crashed out in her 500m short track event. jessie diggins won bronze in the 10km cross country skiing. finally, chloe kim wasn't able to get gold for the third consecutive time, but silver instead. she was defeated by 17-year old korean choi ga-on, who won gold with a score of 90.25 in her 3rd run versus chloe's 88.00 in her 1st run. but chloe was in a good spirit about the loss, all smiles and hugs, you would've thought she won gold instead.

we weren't that busy during lunchtime. around 2pm i ordered 40 bon chon wings (20 soy garlic, 20 spicy, $60) and biked down to harvard square to pick them up. my sister originally was going to drive me, but she wouldn't be home until 3pm, so i opted to do it myself instead. biking was the smart choice, as traffic getting into harvard is a bit of mess due detours caused by the ongoing condo building demolition on mt.auburn street.

i returned to the cafe where we ate the korean wings. soy garlic is nice, but the spicy is not kidding around. having both choices is the best since you can alternate between flavors. i also got the pickled daikon but it must've been old refrigerated stock because the radish wasn't crispy anymore.

afterwards i had a red bean jam samanco ice cream fish sandwich.

we got super busy between 4-6pm. 3 large orders came in simultaneously: one grubhub, one square online, and a walk-in customer. it was insane but also exciting. my parents and i worked in unison to fulfill the orders. once it was over we could breathe a sigh of relief. by then it was near closing time anyway. my parents made some homemade noodles and ate dinner at the cafe. i went home with all the leftover chicken wings.

after a shower, i ate half a dozen wings. instead of playing cyberpunk, i did something more constructive, i made a batch of jiuniang. december 2020 i performed a bunch of recipe trials, trying to perfect the best way to make jiuniang. i learned that i could use the instant pot to cook the glutinous rice, and could even use it to ferment the jiuniang (with the yogurt setting). i experimented with traditional jiuniang yeast balls and also powderized jiuniang yeast. using a warm ferment (like using the instant pot as an incubator) makes for a fast jiuniang, but one that's more alcoholic than sweet. a slower ferment - 3 days or more - yields a sweeter jiuniang. it doesn't matter if i use yeast balls or powder, the key is the slower ferment.

i checked my records, i haven't made jiuniang since january 2023, more than 3 years.

i used wide-mouth 1-quart glass mason jars to ferment my jiuniang. 1-quart is the perfect size to fit 1 cup of glutinous rice. a standard bag of sweet rice is 5 lbs. that comes out to 2260g. one cup of sweet rice is a little over 200g. one 5lbs. bag can make 10 jars of jiuniang. to sterilize the jar, i first washed it the best i could. i then zapped the wet jar in the microwave for 45 seconds.

i cooked 3 cups of sweet glutinous rice in the instant pot, which will yield 3 1-quart jars. i replaced the metal lids with wide-mouth plastic ones that have a rubber seal, since those don't rust. i rinsed the rice in cold water until it ran clear, then drained the water the best i could, before adding 3 cups of water to the pot. i used the rice button on the instant pot, which is set for 12 minutes at low pressure. even though the cook time is only 12 minutes, the whole process takes around half an hour for the instant pot to come up to low pressure before cooking. afterwards i have to release the pressure before i can open the instant pot.

the sweet rice finished cooking at around 150 degrees. i need to cool it below 80 degrees before i can add the jiuniang yeast. i filled the pot with cold wate to cool the rice, before pouring the rice out into a sieve then running more cold water over it to cool it down. once cooled, i poured the rice back into the instant pot.

i used angel rice leaven powder. i tried looking for it at ming's market but they don't sell it anymore (or i just didn't find it). luckily i have a few packets i bought a few years ago, but they all expired back in 2025. a single packet - 8g - supposedly can ferment 5 lbs. worth of sweet rice. so i ended up using half the packet - 4g - for 3 jars worth of jiuniang. i mixed it into the rice before scooping the rice mixture into the jars.

i made a well in the center with a sterilized chopstick. this allows you to gauge when the jiuniang is ready, because the bacteria will produce liquid which will fill the well. i put the lids on and labeled the jars. i put the jars into a small box covered with a towel and put it in my bathroom, the warmest part of the house. hopefully in 3 days the jiuniang will be ready. you never know what you'll get. will it turn moldy? will it be more alcoholic? will it be sweet? each batch can have a life of its own. although the method i use, i've repeated it a few times, with near similar results each time.

i woke at my normal time of 8am. instead of going to work, i got ready for my 10am dermatology appointment at MGH. i got up early not knowing what kind of road condition it was and if i needed to scratch my plan of riding the bike and take the subway instead.

i left the house by 8:50am. the somerville avenue cycle track seemed to have been cleared, good enough for riding, but maybe not wide enough for passing. fortunately there was very few cyclists. temperature today reached the 40's, there was a lot of melting, but makes me afraid of the refreeze that will happen overnight. i first went to harvard vanguard to pick up a prescription for my father. i then continued to boston. i pride myself in being one of the few people who still rides during the winter.

i got to 50 staniford by 9:25am. i checked in, then proceded to wait. there other people in the waiting room, a lot of them were browsing on their phone. being a contrarian, i wasn't going to use my phone, but instead just sat there old-school style. i noticed some patients were dressed in sweats. i myself change into sweats when i get home, but i would never wear it outside (not entirely true: i have gone to star market on short trips in sweats if i'm grabbing something quick). wearing sweats as everyday wear says, "i've given up on life and no longer care about being presentable to others." i was also looking at people's footwear. i saw some rubber boots. looking down at my own shoes, they were caked in salt, my pant legs splattered.

everyone who was here before me got seen, and even those who arrived after me. i had to wait over 45 minutes before my name was finally called. a little black boy who'd been waiting with his parents longer me got up as well. his mother seemed confused. "did you call jony?"

in the exam room i waited another 15 minutes before my dermatologist came in. he looked at the discoloration on my hand, it looked exactly the same as last time, no growth. i asked about the bump on my forehead, he said they could remove it if i wanted, but he'd send me to a facial reconstruction doctor, so i wouldn't have a scar. he said he could write it up as a medical procedure, particularly if the bump gets bigger in the future. i showed him the growth on my pinky toe. they've already cut it twice, and it grows back every time, bigger and stronger. it doesn't really bother me, but if it gets any bigger, i might have it surgical removed. for that he'd send me to a foot doctor. finally i asked him about my super dry skin. i thought he was going to tell me about running a humidifier but he gave me a very specific tip: apply some aveeno eczema relief lotion after a shower. with that i was done. my next follow-up appointment won't be until 2 years later, valentine's day (monday).

now it was time for shopping. i followed cambridge street to tremont, pass boston common, to get to chinatown. i went to hong kong eatery first. i had to park my bike on top of a snow bank. 11am it wasn't very crowded yet. i got some pickled thai chicken feet and half a pipa duck for my mother. the cashier was joking with me, said i inserted my credit card before she even had the chance to ring up my order. i waited only about a minute before my order was ready.

i followed harrison avenue to ming's market. it's sad really, that there are no asian supermarkets in chinatown besides jia ho supermarket, and that place is tiny compared to the two de facto asian supermarkets on the outskirts of china. i had a shopping list of things i needed to buy, but my mother called me while i was there to add a few more items. i managed to get everything, and got everything to fit in my rear bike baskets.

i returned to cambridge via the weeks footbridge then across the longfellow bridge. i haven't biked manually for such a long distance in a while, and didn't have quite the endurance i used to have. i also didn't dare shift my gears, for fear of getting them into a grinding combination that would ride even more terribly.

instead of going home, i continued across harvard square to get to the cafe by 12:30pm to drop off the supplies. i was right around the lunchtime busy period and i stripped out of my sweat-soaked shirt and put on my apron and helped out for a little bit.

my mother was surprised i got her some pipa duck. i just figured she'd assume i'd get it for her if i was in chinatown. it was all bony duck pieces which she likes, but those are usually the worst parts. they even threw in the head. who eats the head? my mother told me not to get it next time.

i returned home with some frozen chinese dumplings and milk, so i wouldn't need to go to market basket for a supply run. however, when i got home, after unloading everything, i went back out again - not to market basket - but to the porter square star market - to grab some fried chicken and seltzer drinks. i also got a container of 50% discounted potato vegetable salad.

i know my birthday isn't until tomorrow, but i couldn't resist a fried chicken meal. i ate half when i got home, and felt gross soon afterwards after consuming all that grease. i tried the potato salad, but it'd gone bad, tasted fizzy and had a weird sour flavor. that's what you get for buying discounted perishables! it's not worth it going back to get a refund.

i was shocked to learn about the death of james van der beek. i knew he was struggling with an aggressive form of cancer. i watched dawson's creek when it first came out. probably wasn't my demographic, but it broke new grounds for a teen drama. van der beek became relevant again a second time when he played himself as an insufferable has-been actor in 2 seasons of don't trust the bitch in apartment 23. the pilot episode actually opens with a van der beek funeral (burning pyre boat viking funeral in central park).

i couldn't resist playing some more cyberpunk. i did that instead of making a batch of jiuniang, or making a japanese cheesecake, or doing some work on my bicycle.

later in the afternoon i had some thai chicken fingers.

for dinner i finished the rest of the fried chicken except for one last breast piece.

i ordered some aveeno eczema therapy moisturizing cream. should arrive tomorrow. can't wait to give it a try.