as soon as i arrived in belmont around 10:15am, my mother told me we were ready to go on our supply run. today we were going to chinatown first, followed by foodpak in south boston. we thought we missed our turn to get to chinatown so my father made an illegal u-turn on mass ave. a passing scooter actually scolded us for driving recklessly. turns out we didn't miss our turn, so instead had to wander some south end residential streets to finally get to ming's market on washington street.

with the chinese mid-autumn festival AKA moon festival happening on tuesday, ming's market was very crowded, at least from the busy parking lot (which is free to park on the weekends if you're shopping at ming's). inside they were trying to get rid of all their moon cakes and selling them for cheap, with customers swarming the moon cakes aisle to grab whatever boxes were still available. my mother got two boxes on sale for $10 each. i noticed they were also selling butane fuel for portable gas stoves, an 8-pack for just $10. i might come back and get some, fuel source for our thermacell butane refills (i just need the right adapter). we spent a good amount of time at ming's, and didn't leave until half an hour later. we remembered to bring our grocery bags this time since ming's doesn't offer free bags anymore.

next we went to foodpak (AKA baifu). normally we go there first, but because we were getting some frozen stuff, we didn't want them to sit in the car while we shopped in chinatown, so we went to foodpak last. there was an easier way to get there from ming's market via an access road, but my father took off before i could google map the route, so we went to foodpak via mass ave instead.

foodpak wasn't very busy, since most asian restaurants are opened on sundays (a busier day would be mondays). we'd bought most of our supplies at ming's market, so there were only a few things to get here, bulk items that we couldn't get elsewhere, like a box of taiwanese noodles or a 50 lbs. bag of rice. our favorite porter was there, pushing our cart out for us before we even paid the cashier. ever since my father gave him a $5 tip, he always makes sure to help us when we check out. after he loaded everything into the trunk of the car, i gave him a $3 tip.

we started heading back around 12:30pm, got back to the cafe by 1pm. after we unloaded the supplies, we returned to belmont.

for lunch we had some pan-fried chinese dumplings. we tried one of the moon cakes. moon cakes are the chinese equivalent of holiday fruit cakes. people give them as gifts all the time, but nobody really likes them. moon cakes are dense, and after just one bite, i'm pretty much full. these had a lotus paste filling and a salted duck yolk in the center. if i had to eat a moon cake, i prefer one with a black jujube filling, but it's not very common to find (you'd need to go to a bakery). in china i learned about savory ham moon cakes, and i searched them out where ever i could. they're good in that at least they're different. you won't find ham moon cakes here in the US due to meat import restrictions.

my sister showed up with esmei. she went outside and was immediately swarmed by at leat half a dozen mosquitoes, all trying to find a clear spot on her fur where they can bite. i brought out the thermacell which takes a few minutes for the odorless smoke to work its magic. i could even strap it to the back of esmei's harness, but i was afraid it might burn her. my sister was too worried about her dog getting mosquito bites and called her back inside. i remained to water some dry potted plants before going back inside as well. later my father went out to water the garden wearing the thermacell clipped to the back of his belt. he said it worked well, he didn't get a single mosquito bite. at one point esmei crawled underneath the guest bedroom bed. she's good at finding places to hide, from her early months as a puppy fending for herself (and her brother) on the streets before being discovered by the animal shelter. dogs like her have an independent streak, don't need to rely on humans to take care of themselves.

sunday means football. patriots lost their early afternoon game to the seahawks, their first home game in new england. there was a late afternoon game between the bengals and chiefs. i always root against kansas city, and i thought they'd lose, but the chiefs just find ways to win, which reminds me so much of the patriots. there'd be close games where they were going to lose, but always find a way to win. that's what good teams do, and as much as it hurts to me to say it, the chiefs are a very good team, the best in the NFL.

i fell asleep on the zero gravity chair. when i got up my body was aching all over. not sure if that was a me problem or something to do with the chair.

for dinner my mother had been simmering a pot of beef bone broth with daikon radish. we had that along with a broad bean & chicken stirfry and some mushrooms. my mother wanted to get some wild mushrooms but they were too expensive, so instead we cooked regular white mushrooms with butter and garlic. it tasted okay, but nothing like the taste and texture of wild mushrooms.

i returned home after dinner, forgot that the emmy's was tonight. out of all the award shows, the emmy's the one where i've actually seen a bunch of the shows that're nominated, compared to the oscars where i might've seen 2-3 movies at most. shogun was a big winner, winning best drama, best actor (hiroyuki sanada), and best actress (anna sawai). that's why it hurts to know that they're making a sequel, not sure how it can be better than the original, especially since sawai's character dies. the bear won some as well in the comedy categories, best actor, best supporting actor, and best supporting actress. they would've swept the field except ayo edebiri didn't win for best actress, that award instead went to jean smart for hacks. baby reindeer won a bunch, but i didn't watch the series (nor any interests in seeing it). lamorne morris won best supporting actor in a limited series for fargo which was a surprise, going up against heavy hitters like robert downey jr and john hawkes. jodie foster won lead actress in a limited series for true detective.

when i went to bed around midnight yesterday, the light in pansusu's bedroom was still on. later i heard television noises, like maybe he was watching a video on his phone with the volume turned up. i also heard him going to the bathroom a few times. i slipped in and out of sleep but as late as 2am i could still here him.

i needed all the sleep i could get as i woke up at 7:20am to get ready for work. my parents were already at the cafe when i got there around 8am. the largest order we've had up to this point was a 40 item order that included a combination of bentos and noodles and other dishes. this 73 order that was due by noontime was easy in comparison since it was just bento boxes. the only daunting thing was the logistics of piecing it all together.

we started by cooking the 8-9 cups of rice in our two zojirushi rice cookers. it took about half an hour to cook, after which we transferred the rice into "keep warm" containers - a third rice cooker that cooked terrible rice but kept things warm no problem, and a large 8qt instant pot with keep warm function. we then cooked a second round of rice. that rice we put half in a 6qt instant pot and the other half in an inset pan inside of cooler next to a pot with some boiling water. we cooked a third round of rice, which we kept in the rice cookers.

in order to keep the food warm, we couldn't assemble the bento boxes until closer to pick up time. what we could do instead was assemble the pickled vegetables, which were cold anyway. we assembled them in batches, and put the boxes into bags until they were ready to be filled with the final pieces.

at 10am i started peeling 73 tea eggs. it took me well over half an hour, as i was careful and tried not to accidentally peel off the egg whites. i put them in flat boxes so the eggs wouldn't get crushed.

pansusu's taxi was scheduled for 10:30am but the driver texted me around 10am, said he was about to arrive. the same driver who texted me last night at 12:30am, just casually reminding me he was coming in the morning. so my father called pansusu and told him to get ready. the driver showed up at 10:10am, and the only reason why i knew this is because i saw it on the webcam.

at 10:30am we started the final assembling. yes it's true there was still 1-1/2 hours before pickup, but it'd be too risky to prepare the bentos any later than that, as it was close to our 11am opening time, and we didn't want to deal with both assembling the takeout and taking care of incoming customers. it was a 4 person job: my father handed my 2nd aunt a bento box to give to my mother who scooped rice into the bento box, i'd cut a tea egg in half and place it on the rice, she'd cut the meat and layer it over the rice, my 2nd aunt squirted some sauce and sesame onto the meat, and then hand the box back to my father who stacked the final bentos and put them into takeout bags. we started with sausage, followed by charsiu pork, then minced pork. chicken was the most with 18 bentos. the final 5 variety was tofu, and for that my sister made a cameo after 11am to make the tofu.

we finally finished by 11:30am, nothing left to do but wait for the customer. my parents didn't make them leave a deposit, so there was a risk they might not show up. close to noontime they came by as promised. they came by car (toyota camry), three people, grabbing bags and loading it up into the vehicle. they nearly ran out of space, and one of them had to hold a bag on their lap.

with that we started our second round of work, our regular saturday shift. it was almost anticlimatic as it started slow (if you disregard the hours we spent assembling a massive takeout order). we were thinking, "thank god for the big takeout order, otherwise we wouldn't have any business today." but around 1:30pm customers started showing up. it wasn't the best day, and compared to the rest of the week it was the least profitable day, but we still made an okay amount that had we not had that big order, it would've still been fine.

around 3:30pm i started making another saturday cocktail: mango daiquiris!

i've had the ingredients for a few weeks now, before my parents went on vacation. the mangoes were from a box of ripe fruits i bought from haymarket that my father helped me cut up into chunks and we frozen them in the freezer before bagging. i wasn't sure how sweet these mangoes were, so i decided to add mango nectar to boost the sweetness but also to enhance the mango flavor. the recipe was basically the margarita recipe, replacing tequila with rum, and adding some triple sec. i added equal parts frozen mangoes and ice cubes.

my father suggested we blend all the ingredients first minus the ice cubes, so the vitamix wouldn't jam up like last time. the first pass worked well, but when i added the ice cubes, none of the cubes could meet the blades below, so they just sort of sat there. so we had to scoop out the mango ice in order to pulverize the ice cubes. we ended up adding more mango nectar for "lubrication." after the ice was crushed, we added back the mango ice and blended again. it could barely work through the thick slush, but after we saw it sort of spinning up the column, we stopped the blender.

the final result reminded me a lot of a traditional indian mango lassi. except a lassi uses yogurt as the "glue" while in our case the "glue" is the frozen mangoes and ice cubes. unlike a lassi though, there was no sour taste. because we blended it so long, it was very smooth, no frozen chunks, like a mango flavored slushie. very sweet because of the mango nectar, we didn't need the triple sec at all which just distracted from the total mango experience. another thing we didn't need? the rum. we could make it completely non-alcoholic and it'd still be very good, with the only caveat being you'd need to drink it immediately as you couldn't store it in the freezer for later (without the alcohol, the slush would just freeze solid).

after we closed, my parents gave my 2nd aunt a ride home while i went to belmont. my stainless steel bolts and nuts had arrived, as well as my aluminum washers. that means i'll be able to install my new windshield. i've been riding without a windshield for the past few weeks and it's not a fun experience. i thought i'd enjoy the feel of the wind rushing over my entire body, but it makes my eyes water to the point where sometimes i can't see, and my helmet gets blown back where it feels like it might come off. and now that the evening temperature is dropping as well get closer to autumn, it can get cold on the motorcycle without a windshield. if i was to get a new motorcycle, the first accessory i'd buy would be a windshield, it's pretty essential for riding.

while i waited for dinner, i dozed off briefly in the zero gravity chair. my sister brought home esmei briefly. her fur had a sticky feel to it, like the way your hair gets after a day spent at the beach, all crunchy from the salty air. my sister said she was taking esmei home for a bath.

my father made some fried rice for dinner. my parents both had some leftover korean seafood soup, but i thought it was too fishy smelling so i just ate my rice.

i returned home a bit after 7pm, back to an empty house again. i tried one of the sandalwood cone incense in the bathroom to make it smell better. i like the fragrance, and it is sandalwood, but not what i'd imagined. it also burned pretty quickly, less than 15 minutes before reducing to an ash cone. it did leave the bathroom with a nice scent, and throughout the rest of the house as well.

my father showed up at the cafe with my mother this morning. he stayed long enough to fry 3 boxes worth of salt & pepper chicken before leaving around 11am to meet up with pansusu who was still at my house. by then my 2nd aunt had showed up as well, and close to noontime my sister made an appearance.

of the 4 days so far this week (and of the month of september), today was the busiest. not only did we have a bunch of customers to tend to, but we were also making preparations for tomorrow. anything we can do ahead of time to make saturday more smoothly we did. my sister prepared a large batch of pickled cucumbers. i made 6 large containers of edamame. my mother cut up all the yellow pickled daikons and also made 2 large containers of suancai. i made one more batch of tea eggs - for a total of 120 tea eggs made since yesterday, nearly exhausting all our egg supply. as busy as we're going to be tomorrow fulfilling the 73 bento boxes order, we're going to be just as busy over the weekend making supply runs to restock.

my aunt showed up in the afternoon. she said she ordered a large box of shi jia fruit (AKA sugar apple Annona squamosa)- a taiwanese delicacy - from a place in florida that specializes in exotic tropical fruits. it arrived when my parents were away on vacation, but my aunt figured it'd keep for at least 2 weeks. that turned out to be wrong, as some fruit arrived already rotten, and the rest quickly spoiled so she had no choice but to eat whatever she could before it all went bad. my aunt also told us that matthew's niece will be appearing on dancing with the stars this season (33).

i basically did everything i could possibly do with the exception of making the peanut sesame sauce: i cooked a new batch of boba pearls, made a container of black soy noodles, cooked some dumplings, made some ice cubes, vacuumed, sorted the drink fridge, divided up two boxes of chinese noodles, helped fry some salt & pepper chicken when my father was busy, cleaned and put away the deep fryer, mixed a fresh batch of DIY powerwash, sprayed some jasmines with alcohol (after noticing some more mealybugs), cleaned the office room, cleaned the back tables (to be used as bento staging areas for tomorrow), made a batch of black tea, made a batch of green tea, and i also went to trader joe's in the late afternoon for a few last minute supplies. all the while i don't think i ate anything today, just drank some leftover ginger milk tea.

my father and pansusu were hanging out in harvard square. pansusu wanted to visit a seafood restaurant in medford but when my father drove them there, apparently the restaurant is no more, replace with a dunkin's donuts. so they came back. we ended up going out with them to dinner again at joyful garden in watertown after work.

pansusu loves fish so we got the set meal which comes with not only fish but twin lobsters as well. we were just there last month with my taiwanese aunt and niece when they were here over the weekend before my taiwanese aunt went on her canadian cruise with my parents and relatives. everything was the same as last time, except they prepared a different type of fish using another style of frying. the fish was crispy enough that you could eat the bones, but it wasn't a white fish, which was what we were hoping for. instead of duck my mother also replaced it with chicken. and we didn't order an additional pineapple shrimp. everything was seasoned better this time, the chef added the perfect amount of salt. pansusu ended up paying for dinner. we took home the leftovers.

since we were right next to belmont, my father dropped off my mother first. i was the second to go, getting dropped off back at the cafe where my bicycle was parked. it was already dark (sunset today was at 6:56pm) and i didn't bring any bike lights because i wasn't expecting to go out to dinner after work. so for the first time in a long time i biked home without lights, which is sort of dangerous (you know, the fact that cars can't see you when you're riding in stealth mode). i made use of street lights, but i noticed good sections of my ride back was in complete darkness. fortunately i made it home in one piece, right at the same time my father dropped off pansusu.

i booked a taxi for pansusu tomorrow morning at 10:30am (he has a 1:15pm united flight to houston for a conference). did you know it costs $73 in cash including $9 toll fee and 20% tip ($12) to get from cambridge to logan airport (6 miles)? makes me wonder if calling an uber would've been cheaper. my father and pansusu ended up going out while i stayed home. i took advantage of the situation by using the bathroom and taking a shower before they came back. i think they were smoking cigars because i could smell it on them. my father said good bye to pansusu as they wouldn't meet again, since my father has to be at the cafe first thing saturday morning to begin assembling our big takeout order. i won't see pansusu either since i'll be gone early as well.

the only thing on my mind when i went to the cafe this morning was how was i going to make 3 batches of tea eggs. that's 90 tea eggs. i ended up getting the biggest stock pot we had and putting in 60 eggs. i was going to add another 30 eggs but decided that was too much. instead i boiled an additional 30 eggs in an inset pan. at one point i had all four induction cooktops working to make 3 batches of tea eggs. by early afternoon i was finally finished.

i replaced the filters on our honeywell air purifier. the HEPA filters needed to be replaced every year, while the carbon prefilter gets replaced every 3 months. the air purifier is a leftover remnant from our pandemic days. does it even work? but it is true the front of the cafe is less smelly than the back kitchen area of the cafe.

after hearing so many good things about it, i decided to make my own dawn powerwash. i just happen to have a mist spray bottle that i bought off of temu. it doesn't have the traditional "pistol" spray design but instead looks like a fancy pepper grinder. 12 oz. it's the perfect size for the recipe i found online, which adds 4 tbsp of dawn dish soap (concentrated) with 2 tbsp of isopropyl alcohol (i used 91% alcohol). the resulting mix looked like heavily diluted dish soap, but when it sprays, it comes out mostly foam, and the alcohol furthers dissolve the grease. the thinking behind the formula is so simple i could kick myself for not coming up with it myself, as i often clean with dish soap and alcohol, just not combined together. it has the added benefit of conserving dish soap, since it only takes a small amount to make a whole 12-13oz. bottle. it made dish washing fun again, like when i bought a new dish washing brush. i did notice that because the mist spray bottle reduces the spray into very fine particles, sometimes faint traces of alcohol mist gets into my nose. and because the spray bottle has such an unconventional design, there was one time when i sprayed it backwards onto my shirt instead. i loved using the DIY powerwash so much, i ended up finishing the whole bottle by the afternoon. so i quickly mixed up a new batch.

michael called around 1:30pm. most of the time it's not a good thing. he said his windows OS was giving him a suspension error and when he clicked start it'd bring him to a grey screen inside of parallel. i told him i'd swing by around 3pm. my father had left for south station at 12:30pm to pick up pansusu. instead of bringing him to my place, they came to the cafe for lunch. 2pm there was a lull in business so i raced down to harvard square to see what was the issue with michael's macbook pro. i had no idea what was happening, and even after restarting windows, it just restarted to the grey screen. the trick that did it was an option in parallel to reset the OS. i tried that and it brought me to the windows desktop, a promising sign. i found windows outlook, opened it, and everything was back to normal again. while working on the machine, i chatted with michael. he told me his kids are getting into mushrooming at their property up in NH; they like hunting for mushrooms but they don't like eating them. they search for mostly boletes, hen-of-the-woods, and straw mushrooms. he then gives them to his parents to clean and dry before storing in glass jars.

it was busy today at the cafe, for the third straight day. closing the cafe for 2 weeks did not affect the customer base in the slightest. in fact, business seems to be better compared to before they left. it could be because now all the college students are back. after my father left, my sister came to help, and my 2nd aunt was already at the cafe since 11am.

in the late afternoon my mother made some vegetable stirfry noodles using indomie instant noodle packets. it was pretty good, and when my mother couldn't finish her half, i ate hers as well.

after my sister showed up at the cafe, she wasn't the least bit interested in returning home to check on her dog. she did turn on the webcam, but she recently bought esmei a dog tent, and the camera can't see her if she's inside the tent. i went to check on her around 4pm. she was happily sleeping in her tent. when i went to the backyard she quickly followed to go outside. i thought maybe she needed to use the bathroom, but she was busy eating the grass. i had a hard time coaxing her back inside. even with treats, she did not want to come in. i ended up having to push her a little bit to get her started before she finally went inside.

we thought maybe my father took pansusu back to my place. instead they went back to belmont, where pansusu took a nap while my father surfed the web in the dining room. my mother saw him on the webcam and called him. he said they were coming to pick us up after work to go to dinner together. i wasn't the least bit interested, after work all i want to do is go home and veg out. but i ended up going in the end, even though we got an ubereats order 10 minutes before closing so we had to fulfill that order and wait for the driver to show up.

we ended up going to koreana. i went home first to drop off my bike, before my parents showed up with pansusu. my 2nd aunt sat in the car while my father helped pansusu bring in his luggage. together we left for the restaurant, with my sister meeting us there after taking esmei out to the dog park first.

koreana was okay. my 2nd aunt and i sat so far away from the grill, it was hard to get to the barbecued meats, like the kalbi and the pork belly. the pork belly was bland, only made flavorful through the sauces. the kalbi was more delicious. pansusu ordered a codfish stew that arrived with its own sterno burner. my parents both got a soft tofu soup. we also got a spicy bone soup that in hindsight was probably too much. likewise the bibimbap, only my 2nd aunt and i seemed to have eaten some of it, while my father had a spoonful. the little side dishes left something to desire. koreana has been around for a while and its side dishes could use some renewing. at least there were actual koreans eating there, a sign of authenticity. there were also very noisy twentysomethings who didn't seem to care how loud or obnoxious they were. i glared at them at one point, hope they all get food poisoning. my mother grabbed the check before pansusu could pay.

my sister gave my 2nd aunt a ride back while my parents dropped pansusu and me at my place. they came in to chat for about an hour before finally leaving around 10:30pm. after using the bathroom, pansusu went straight to sleep, didn't even bother taking a shower, which he said he'll do tomorrow morning, as well as washing some dirty clothes.

i went running this morning at 10am, probably the last time this week i'll be able to run. it took a little over an hour, including stopping by the community garden on my way back to water my plants. i came home, showered, then had some granola-blueberries-yogurt for lunch.

around 1:40pm i went to walgreens to pick up a prescription that'd been ready since the weekend. but i got there right around the pharmacy's lunchtime so they were closed until 2pm. instead i went to market basket to get some groceries. there was a sale on pastrami so i decided to make pastrami sandwiches for dinner.

back outside i talk with a brazilian granny who was riding an electric trike. she was really into her ride and told me all the features of her vehicle - an addmotor citytri E-310. i didn't ask her how much but guessed $2000 which i later found out was the actual price.

i changed my bicycle for motorcycle then went back to the pharmacy to get my prescription before heading to the cafe to drop off some supplies. my parents were trying to figure out how to cook enough rice for 73 bento boxes, and how to keep it all warm. my mother said we'd need at least 5 rice cookers cooking at maximum capacity to meet that demand. we normally use 2 zojirushi 10-cups rice cookers (one primary, one backup), but we also have another 10-cups rice cooker in the basement (brand new, we don't use it because it has a tendency to scorch the bottom of the bowl).

originally i was going to go to my parents' place and do some gardening, but it was already 3:30pm. only thing i needed was some russian dressing and that had a leftover bottle at the cafe. i decided to skip belmont and return home.

the motorcycle was getting a little dirty so i gave it a quick clean with some hot water in a spray bottle and a microfiber cloth. i had it looking brand new again. i also opened up the air filter box for the very first time to inspect the filter. there was some oily dirt and some dried leaves, but it wasn't that filthy. hard to say if it needs replacing or not, but a new filter just costs $13, so may be worth replacing.

i started cleaning the house in the evening, with pansusu scheduled to arrive in boston tomorrow around noontime. my father will go pick him up from south station then hole up in my house. my mother asked my 2nd aunt to work tomorrow as well, and my sister might show up too.

i even brought out my handmade turkish runner carpet that i bought in istanbul more than 2 decades ago. i used it briefly before putting it away in storage because i didn't want roommates getting it dirty.

i didn't finish cleaning until 9:30pm. it was too late for making sandwiches, so instead i baked two french bread pizza in the oven, and ate them around 10pm while watching the MTV music award. it was easy to find, with nearly a dozen channels all simulcasting the ceremony.

it was back to work today after 2 weeks off due to parents going on vacation. in retrospect we should've came in over the weekend to do some prep work, so it was a busy morning as we ramped up. it all started at 8am when i remotely turned on the ice machine. i was the first to arrive at the cafe by 9am. i started making a new batch of black soy noodles and boiled some frozen dumplings. i also reheated the tea eggs i made on friday, then made another batch of tea eggs after that. my mother pickled some cucumbers. my father went to market basket to get some supplies. when he came back he made a batch of minced pork. he also sorted two boxes of chinese noodles. throughout the day i ended up making a total of 4 batches of black soy noodles. i also cooked a large pot of boba pearls. i grounded some spices and made 10 new bags of tea egg spices.

i was fighting a hay fever, running nose, itchy eyes, coughing. when i saw my sister i asked her for some zyrtec. my mother had some symptoms as well and took a tablet but she said it didn't do anything for her.

our android tablet dedicated to the square app lost its wifi connection twice. not sure if it's a router issue or a tablet issue. i fixed it by simply restarting the tablet. none of the other tablets were affected so it feels like a tablet issue. walmart sells a similarly spec'ed 8" android tablet for just $79 (2024 edition). come in 4 color choices, 3GB/32GB with android 14.

i bumped into renee yesterday who told me that she might be getting solar panels installed today. reason why she wasn't sure was they haven't contacted her in months. but i checked my webcam today and saw a bunch of contractors show up in front of her house for about an hour. i don't think they did any installation, maybe just came by to figure out how they'd do it. renee told me she was just leasing the panels, and wasn't paying anything. i thought it was a little weird, especially how her house (like mine) isn't exactly optimal for solar panels as we have a huge oak tree in the backyard. so who knows what's happening now.

a taiwanese customer spoke with my parents before they left for vacation about a big order for this coming saturday. she came back today to finalize her order. originally she just wanted 35 bentos, but now it's 73 bentos, to be ready by noontime saturday. i believe that's the biggest order we've ever had. fortunately it's just bentos which are easy to assemble, and we have a few days to make preparations. i need to make at least another 2 new batches of tea eggs. we also don't have the table space to assemble 73 bentos. not to mention how it's usually pretty busy on saturdays, on top of this big order. but it'll make up in some small part the lost profit when we closed for 2 weeks.

we weren't sure how the day would go. having been closed for 2 weeks, might we have lost some regular customers who find alternative places to eat? was it going to a be slow day? but it ended up being pretty busy, as i worked non-stop in the kitchen until the afternoon. a few regulars did return, welcoming my parents back from vacation. maybe being closed for 2 weeks made them want to eat our foods even before than before.

closing time came unexpectedly, though the final hour felt like a long time as we waited for the business day to end. my parents cooked up some taiwanese meigan cai (梅干菜) with tofu and broad beans. my mother packed me some for dinner in the spillproof bento box. i returned home while my parents finished eating at the cafe before leaving.

i ate as soon as i got back. afterwards i took a shower and prepared for the first debate between kamala harris and donald trump which started at 9pm. i made myself a bowl of microwave popcorn. i almost couldn't watch it, the anticipation was getting to be too much for me. but i forced myself to bear witness to history.

the debate started with kamala crossing the stage to shake trump's hand and introduce herself, even though it seemed like he was trying to dodge her. kamala seemed like the more sensible candidate, the adult in the room who answered the moderators' question. trump on the other hand rarely answered his questions, babbling away in his patented speech pattern, spewing a stream of lies knowing they won't be fact-checked. kamala baited him at one point by criticizing his small crowd size, which made trump go off the rails defending his crowds, before he started talking about migrants eating cats and dogs in ohio. the moderators did fact-check trump's more egregious lies, but before critics complain the moderators were harder on trump, he did get more airtime (5 minutes more) though mostly because he just ignored the moderators and kept talking over his allotted minutes or interrupting kamala. after the debate was over, taylor swift tweeted that she was supporting kamala harris.

there was a bunch of talking heads post-debate coverage, but i went to the live daily show coverage with jon stewart. i followed that with a special live episode of the late show with steve colbert.

i went out for a monday morning run a bit before 10am. temperature was in the lower 60's but i warmed up quickly walking in the sun. i listened to the latest happy endings podcast with elisha cuthbert. coming back i stopped at the community garden to water my plants. i also brought in all the empty garden refuse bins.

i got back home around 11am. i didn't even bother taking a shower, my sweat-soaked t-shirt was already dried. i just put on a pair of jeans and left for belmont.

i thought we were making a supply run to baifu and market basket, but my parents were busy cleaning the house for pansusu's arrival on thursday. i told my mother he could stay at my place which already has an empty guest bedroom. she was waiting to hear those words, which meant she didn't have to clean the house. for lunch i had a leftover burger and a sausage.

my sister showed up with esmei. she kept wanting to go outside but nobody wanted to go with her. after i finished eating i finally let her outside. while i watered the garden, esmei was busy digging a hole underneath the 3-level plant stand. i also played fetch and tug with her using a rubber squeak ball. she finally went back inside the house and fall asleep on the living room rug.

i used a metal scrubbing brush attached to a drill in an attempt to remove more paint from the old windshield brackets. i made very little progress. at this point i'm ready to just spray paint them and get it over with. i found a wire hanger and strug up the three bracket parts. i might come back on wednesday for one final pass at removing the paint before finally spraying.

i finally made filipino magic water. i didn't add a lot of sugar because i still wanted to keep it water-like. the gelatin was actually sweeter. i though the gelatin would mix with the ice cubes, but the ice floated while the gelatin sank. having never had magic water before, i didn't have a good frame of reference. from what i made though, it wasn't anything special.

i helped my father take down the living room air conditioner. i filmed the whole process so we can remember how to put everything back next summer.

with my parents migrating from cambridge trust (now eastern bank) to TD bank, i helped them change the bank numbers on a bunch of autopays. for some reason the bank clerk set them up with a bunch of accounts - i think around 11? when they only just need a checking with debit card function and a credit card. my father thinks the bank workers get a commission for every account they open. the only thing i wasn't able to migrate was the autopay for their EZpass. they signed up when it was called fast lane, and never created an online account or remember their original account number. they do get an e-mail from EZpass each month, but they're entirely unhelpful, just a link to the website.

for dinner we finished our leftover barbecue from yesterday. with my 2nd aunt taking a bunch home and my sister taking some for dinner and then for lunch today, there actually wasn't that much left.

i got back home by 7pm. after a shower, i settled in for some monday night football between the jets and 49ers. this was aaron rodgers comeback game after injuring himself last season in the first few minutes of his first game with the jets. he managed to play the whole game tonight with the exception of the final few minutes when the coach pulled him because they were losing. san francisco won 19-32.

i did a load of laundry tonight. seems like the perfect time to do it as the weather is supposed to heat up the rest of the week, so i probably won't be wanting to use the washer dryer. plus if pansusu really is staying at my place for two nights, i won't have time to do laundry later in the week.

i called my parents at 9am this morning, after seeing they were already up. my father already knew that my taiwanese aunt was scheduled to return to new york at 10:45am this morning leaving from alewife (cambridge). as soon as she gets back, she's bound for a 1am flight returning to taiwan, as her 90-day visa is about to expire on tuesday. i've printed out her bus boarding pass but realized i could just send my parents the QR code, saving me a trip. that means i wouldn't be able to see my taiwanese aunt before she leaves, so the last time i saw her was actually last night when she was in the back of the car as we left the airport.

so my taiwanese aunt originally thought that if she left the country and come back, her visa would get renewed for another 90 days. yes that's true, but not if you travel to mexico or canada. apparently the US immigration has realized this loophole and made it so that you need to be in mexico or canada for more than 30 days in order to reenter the US and have your stay time renewed another 90 days. now if my taiwanese aunt went to a different country - like say the bahamas - and come back, she wouldn't be having this problem. nothing we can do it about it now. unfortunately one of the reasons why my taiwanese aunt was in new york in the first place is my niece is about to close on a flushing condo. it was scheduled for tuesday, and now her grandmother won't be here to witness the signing.

i also realized this morning that the cambridge carnival parade was today. that's why i didn't go with my parents on their costco supply run. they ended taking my 2nd aunt since she was already with them sending my taiwanese aunt off on the bus.

i took the gelatin mold out of the fridge. i was relieved that there's no smells, it's just odorless gelatin. i cut them into small cubes with a butter knife then scooped everything by hand into a quart container. i tried a piece: tastes like flavorless jello with a slight sweetness (because i added some sugar). mixed with ice cube and water, i could see how this would be a refreshing summer drink.

the parade wasn't until 12:30pm. the "celebration" the past 2 years have been depressing and lackluster. like the year before, i was tempted to skip it, but i just can't resist a parade, even a bad one. i figured if i can get at least a few good photos out of it, it'll be worth it. plus the parade takes place in nearby central square, which is practically my backyard. and the weather today was nice, very fall like, compared to last year when it was raining.

i packed my 55-250mm lens, figured that was all i needed, and could use my phone if i needed the occasional wide angle shot. temperature was in the lower 60's, cool enough that i wore a light jacket. i left the house by noontime, riding down to memorial drive to take advantage of the closed street on sundays, heading down to blackstone street in cambridgeport, the staging area for the parade. i got to see the groups and once again it was small. i rode up river street and parked at the intersection of western ave and mass ave in central square. i warmed up enough from biking that i took off my jacket, before walking back down to blackstone street to watch the start of the parade.

the parade started more or less around 12:30pm. a trio of 3 wheel motorcycles started the parade, holding up signs for cambridge city councilwoman ayesha wilson. next came the mayor of cambridge riding in a chauffeured rickshaw. a marching band followed behind her. a group of children dancers preceded adult costumed dancers, including gigantic wheeled costumes (which i already saw at the boston caribbean parade). finally a group of energetic dancers. the high energy dancers made it all worthwhile, since the rest of the parade was more "is that it?"

as usual, i walked a bit further, turned around to take some photos, then kept walking, repeating these steps until i made it back to central square. there i waited for the procession to arrive. it took them well over an hour to make it up river street. i felt bad for the people waiting, as they were about to be disappointed with how small the procession was. i snapped some more photos before finally leaving around 2pm.

i rode down mass ave towards harvard square, then circled the campus towards home. i bumped into ann who was walking down oxford street, which reminded me i had to water my plants. i went to the community garden where i found lynn talking with a young couple who were admiring her plants. turns out lynn had a praying mantis hiding in her garlic chives. after watering my garden (a lot of plants looked whithered, it's been nearly a week since i last watered), i went to water renee's plot as well. i then chatted with lynn briefly before finally leaving.

i was home just long enough to gather my things - including the gelatin - before leaving via motorcycle. i went to the cafe to get some ice cubes, then continued to belmont.

my parents were already back from their supply run. i was surprised to find my 2nd aunt at the house as well. so originally my mother invited my aunts over today for a barbecue, but with my taiwanese aunt gone, i figured the invitations were cancelled. but my 2nd aunt came nevertheless, not so much for the food, but rather she needed my help in filling out some benefit forms. they were actually due today, but she was on her cruise and didn't get the letter until yesterday. we ended up doing it online, which took less than a minute to complete.

when i came in i found my mother and 2nd aunt taking covid tests. apparently my california uncle tested positive when he got home. this forced everyone else to test, even though nobody else really had any symptoms. neither my parents or my 2nd aunt have covid, though they'll need to retest again in a day or two just to make sure. did i mention neither my sister or i have yet to catch covid during this while pandemic?

i thought i was going to do some gardening today, but instead i stayed indoors and watched week 1 of the NFL. there was a patriots-bengals game, significant in that it was the first game in over 2 decades that bill belichick wasn't the coach. i had low expectations so was surprised when new england actually won the game and played fairly decent. then at 4:30pm was the premiere of tom brady as fox football's color commentator. it was okay for his first game, though nothing spectacular. brady does not have the best on-air voice, it's sort of high-pitched.

around 5:30pm we started grilling the italian sausages and burgers. earlier i rolled the ground beef mix into 16 balls. before putting them on the grill i smooshed them into flat patties. we ran out of propane at one point and had to switch tanks. my sister showed up around that time, after my mother told her we were having a barbecue. but after my sister heard that my california uncle has covid and might've given it to everyone else, she got scared and decided to take her barbecue home to eat instead.

the blue cheese burgers were good. i didn't need to add salt after all, the blue cheese more than made up for it. i had 2 burgers and one sausage.

my 2nd aunt decided to go home on her own via bus instead of getting a ride from my father. i left soon after she left, getting home by 7:50pm. it was a chilly night but luckily i brought my jacket.

my parents were finally coming back from their canadian cruise. it was only a one way trip so they needed to fly back. unfortunately there are no direct flights from quebec city to boston. instead they have to fly first to toronto before getting a connecting flight home (flying nearly 900 miles).

my original plan was just to simply drive up to quebec city, spend the night, and then pick them up (distance of about 400 miles). it would've been a 6 hours drive up, and another 6 hours down, and i could've done some canadian sightseeing. but my parents scrapped that idea and opted for a plane ride home instead. which in the end cost them over $1200 for 4 one way tickets and took longer than 6 hours from when they went to the airport to when they finally got home.

their flight leaving quebec city wasn't until 1:45pm but they were already at the airport by late morning. when i called them later they were just going through security check but they never called me back, left me to assume everything was okay.

after finishing the final 2 tea eggs for lunch, i headed out by 12:20pm. i asked my sister to put the new batch of tea eggs in the fridge, but she's not very reliable, and when i checked the webcam her car was gone but the eggs were still on the countertop. so i had to stop first at the cafe to put away the eggs before finally making it to my parents' place.

there was some kind of belmont porchfest and the neighbors had decided upon themselves to barricade the street. i almost wanted to just ride the motorcycle through the seats but took a detour instead. when i got to my parents' street, there was hardly any space to park my motorcycle. apparently their new neighbors across the street was having a wedding ceremony on their front yard and all those cars belonged to invited guests. at least have the courtesy to let your neighbors know what's happening. fortunately after the wedding ceremony was over, they all left for the reception.

i switched the leads on the solar controller to the second battery, the one we built ourselves. it seemed to work at first, but when i checked again, it was showing me the E01 error - battery undercharge. i unplugged and plugged the solar panel a few times, and each time it's sort of work again, but after a while it'd fail. i think that battery just needs to be charged with an external power supply, and not through the solar controller, which seems to be a little finicky with that battery. i eventually swap the leads back onto the first battery, which continued to charge without issues.

i made some blue cheese burger mix with 3 lbs of 85% lean ground beef. added to that a whole head of garlic chopped, chopped scallions, mustard, hot sauce, worcestershire sauce, blue cheese, and fresh ground pepper. i didn't add any salt, i'm hoping the cheese and some of the sauces would provide all the sodium. after mixing everything by hand, i put it away in the fridge to chill. there's a chance we won't be grilling today, but i'll be ready for tomorrow.

i cleaned the bathtub using a combination of scrubbing bubbles foaming bleach, soft scrub, and oxiclean powder. the foaming bleach was for the mildew stains on the caulking and on the grout between the wall tiles. the soft scrub was for cleaning the bathtub surface, though the bottle might've been expired because it came out in large clumps that were hard to dissolve. finally i used the oxiclean powder mixed with some hot water to remove any remaining bathtub stains.

i didn't go outside into the backyard to work until 2pm. i cut off the strawberry rhizomes and replanted them in a long planter. i covered the top with chicken wire to prevent squirrels from digging in the soil. after watering the garden, i mixed 3 gallons worth of high phosphorus miracle-gro flower food and fertilized all the luffas, bitter melons, and hot peppers, in the hopes of increasing the fruit sizes. originally i wanted to spend the whole day gardening, but by then it was already 3pm, and starting to get late. i still have tomorrow and monday to work in the backyard.

i tried the belt-clip on the thermacell mosquito repeller. it works, but because the repeller hangs vertically, it may not be as effective. nevertheless, while i was wearing it from my jean pocket, never once did i receive any mosquito bites. maybe thermacell tells you not to wear the repeller when it's on for liability reasons.

i wasn't sure if my parents had arrived in toronto yet. my mother finally called me when they were onboard the plane returning to boston, just to make sure i didn't forget to pick them up from the airport. their flight wouldn't arrive until 6:40pm.

i went to snack and wait for the start of the US open women's single final between american jessica pegula (6) and belarusian aryna sabalenka (2). sabalenka comes from the same mold as a venus williams - big and strong, sort of muscles her way with opponents. you watch her play and you wonder how any of the other women can beat her. i still think it's weird that in women's tennis it's played best out of 3, unlike the men's best out of 5. it reeks of sexism, that female players don't have the stamina to endure a potential 5 sets. anyway, after sabalenka won the first set, pegula started to challenge her in the second set. before i could finish watching though, i had to leave for the airport.

i left by 6:10pm. i was a little worried because the car hadn't been drive in a week and a half. what if the battery was dead? but the car started up just fine, as i followed the google maps directions to the airport via the turnpike. i'd forgotten that when you go to logan via turnpike, it takes you through the ted williams tunnel. that's why everything felt so strange, since i'm used to the sumner tunnel instead via storrow drive. i missed the cell phone lot and had to basically circle around to get back on track. i got to the lot by 6:35pm.

my father called me at 6:50pm, said they were waiting for their luggage. he told me he'd call back when they were ready for their pickup. 20 minutes later he finally called back. they were waiting at the terminal B arrival platform. i basically had to circle the whole airport to get there, but google maps directions sent me to departure instead. so i circled the airport once more, ignoring google maps but instead following the directions on the signs. i finally got to terminal B arrival where my parents and my aunts were waiting.

my father drove us back but i should've drove instead, because we missed our exit and started going onto 93 instead of 90 turnpike. we exited out at the seaport district and took a complicated detour to get back onto the turnpike. once we were through the ted williams tunnel and properly on the turnpike, everything was familiar again. my taiwanese aunt was saying she still couldn't get online with her phone even after entering the US. the solution was just to reboot her iphone. once it started back up, her phone was chirping with 1200 new messages.

we headed to belmont to drop me off. my father and i harvested a luffa from the backyard while my mother gathered some eggs and other ingredients from the fridge. they then left for the cafe to make some dinner before dropping my aunts off. i instead picked up my things and went home. my mother did call me afterwards asking if i was coming to the cafe for food, but by then i was already home, making some instant bowl of ramen for dinner. so in total today i had 2 tea eggs for lunch and a bowl of ramen for dinner. hardly ate anything all day!

i made some gelatin for a magic water recipe i wanted to try out. i think traditional filipino palamig is made with seaweed-based agar; i used a collagen-based gelatin, which had a funky animal byproduct smell when i was reconstituting it in water. packets of agar powder can be readily found in asian supermarkets. i'll see how this recipe goes and try some agar next time if it doesn't go well. i poured the sugared water gelatin mixture into a glass lasagna dish and put it in the fridge overnight to solidify once it cooled.

with the cafe set to reopen on tuesday, there were things i had to do first. i took down the vacation notice on the website. i established call forwarding so cafe calls will also ring on my father's phone and my phone. i changed back the voicemail message from the vacation message. i turned back the scheduled timers on the coffee machine and the tea egg slow cooker. the only thing left to do is get some supplies on monday (eggs mostly, i already bought a lot of stuff).

somebody kept sending me messages around 12:30am. i thought maybe it was somebody on wechat so i ignored it. when i checked my phone a few minutes later, it was my niece. she said it was an emergency, and that her grandmother (my taiwanese aunt) had to return to taiwan BY TOMORROW because her US visa was about to expire. why nobody took notice of this is a mystery. my niece bought her a new bus ticket for tomorrow, leaving alewife by 10:45am. i called my mother to let her know, she was already asleep but heard her phone chirping with messages which she ignored.

the sky was grey when i woke up, looked like it might rain. the reason was a big storm out on the ocean, too far to drop any precipitation in the city. i waited until the morning bike rush hour was over before heading to chinatown around 10:40am. my rear derailleur already needs adjusting, i can't engage 7th gear without a grinding sound. all remaining gears work fine.

i got to chinatown by 11:10am. i went to c-mart first to check their prices, before heading to ming's market across the street. taiwanese cabbage was cheaper at c-mart (48¢/lb) so i got some bokchoi and cucumbers, before returning to c-mart to pick up the cabbage and carrots.

i came with a large cardboard box strapped to the back of my bicycle. i could put the cabbages in my rear bike baskets, but they'd all be beat up by the time i got back. putting them all in a box is the safest way to transport the cabbages.

i return home via the mass ave bridge, going by MIT then up hampshire-beacon to get back home. by then the weather had turned sunny again. i got back home by 12:30pm.

i had 30 minutes to shower and eat two tea eggs for lunch before heading out again around 1pm.

i went to the cafe to make a new batch of tea eggs plus a month's worth of taiwanese paocai. tea eggs was easy: i just boiled the eggs before cracking them and putting them into the tea brine. with the 6 eggs i brought from home, i had just enough eggs to make 30. i left the eggs to simmer in the brine for 1 hour. normally i simmer for 2 hours, but since we won't be using the eggs until tuesday, they will naturally absorb more flavors while they sit in the fridge.

next came the paocai. i weighed the 4 heads of cabbage which came out to over 25 lbs. that's way too much cabbage. i had 20 lbs. last time (actually 21 lbs.) and that was the most i've ever made. the problem with making too much is after about a month, the paocai starts changing color. normally it goes from green to white, but after a month it'll change to slightly red because of the carrots. i figured just make enough for a month. so i took out the smallest cabbage, leaving me with 19.5 lbs.

it took me 25 minutes to chop the cabbage and break them apart by hand. i wonder if i can save time by simply chopping them up with a knife, but hand torn cabbages have a more natural shape. i made sure to pick heavy cabbages, and the ones that i got were very good, no bad leaves on the inside, crisp and clean, very few thick pieces.

i normally add salt in a 1:1 ratio of pound:tbsp. according to that formula, i should add 20 tbsp of salt. but you don't need that much salt because you're rinsing the cabbage afterwards anyway, the salt is just there to reduce the cabbage and add some flavor. so i went with 18 tbsp. i julienned the carrots to 2 cups worth and left them to reduce separately with 1 tbsp of salt.

i called my mother, just to confirm they were returning tomorrow night. she didn't realize they were arriving in quebec city a day in advance, because they could've taken an early flight that was just $100 per person instead of the more expensive afternoon flight that has a stopover in toronto before arriving in boston. poor planning on the part of their travel agent, i don't think they'll be using them again.

my sister returned from the dog park with esmei while i was making the paocai. esmei was in the backseat, too tired to even bother looking at me. i think my sister felt guilty for not doing anything cafe related the past 2 weeks, so after i left, she mopped the front of the cafe.

i left the cafe around 3pm for belmont. my temu package had arrived and i wanted to water the backyard garden. i figured i'd come back in just 30 minutes but it ended up taking me an hour.

when i was there yesterday i not only forgot to close the blinds, but i also didn't lock the back door. i measured the width of the foam tape of the windshield bracket using a digital caliper. it's about 0.85 inches, so now i can order a replacement. i checked the status of chargeable battery in the living room. it's operating normal again, voltage at 13.4, inline meter says 56W coming from the solar panel.

when i went outside i brought the thermacell mosquito repeller. i was in a hurry so i didn't let the device warm enough long enough (instructions said 15 minutes before full protection), so i got a few mosquito bites on my legs. i installed two more retractable pulleys for the newly located hanging thanksgiving cactuses. inspecting my plants, i was livid when i discovered squirrels had dug up the tradescantia 'nanouk' i planted in a pot. the squirrel didn't kill the plant, but did break one of the leaves. finally i watered the plants before returning to the cafe by 4pm.

i had a feeling it'd be 4-5pm before i could leave. the reduced cabbage and carrots were ready for the next step, which was draining then mixing with the remaining ingredients including sugar and vinegar. the ratio of sugar and vinegar is for every 2 lbs. of cabbage i add one cup of sugar and one cup of vinegar. that means 10 cups of sugar and 10 cups of vinegar, which is a lot. i remember i had about the same amount last time and ended up with a lot of leftover liquids, so i reduced the portions to just 9 cups of sugar and 9 cups of vinegar.

i mixed everything together (along with sichuan peppercorns and chopped chili peppers) before putting them into quart (32 oz) containers. i made 12 containers last time with slightly more cabbage so wasn't surprised when i only filled 11 containers. i ended up with exactly 11 containers, no more no less, so good math on my part. i wiped the liquids from outside the containers before capping them.

i didn't get back home until almost 5:30pm. i didn't run today, but i biked a total of 14.5 miles, which is still some form of exercise. it felt like a full day of work, from going to chinatown in the morning to get supplies, to working at the cafe, then going to belmont for an hour, before coming back to the cafe and finishing up. from the noises upstairs i could tell my neighbor sheri had returned home from her trip with her brother and niece.

i ate the last 2 leftover bonchon wings. they tasted better this time, maybe because i was hungry. it wasn't enough so i threw a bag of pop secret into the microwave for some movie theater popcorn. i haven't made popcorn in the microwave in a long time, maybe only ever at my parents' place when i was a kid. the way i make popcorn in a big pot with some vegetable oil, corn kernels, salt, and some spices. i haven't made it in a while because it stinks up the house. nowadays if i want popcorn, i just get the bagged variety.

for dinner i reheated the last of my leftover congee. i wasn't really in the mood, but if i didn't eat it tonight, then i wouldn't eat it all this weekend. what i really wanted is ramen. it was so much it nearly overfilled the bowl. while waiting for the congee to reheat on the stove, i smelled the banana flavoring i got from chinatown to make a filipino magic water recipe. i wasn't going to get it at first because what's so great about banana flavor anyway? but when i smelled it it was pretty good.

i ate while watching the us open men's single semi-final match between taylor fritz (12) and frances tiafoe (20), both americans. it was a great game. tiafoe got the early jump on fritz with a 2-1 lead, but fritz came back to tie it 2-2, and that seemed to have broken tiafoe, who started to miss the shots he was making earlier. the 5th set went quickly, with fritz winning it in 6-1, to go into the finals on sunday against jannik sinner (1) of italy. the US crowd will no doubt be cheering on the first american to reach the us open in 16 years.