my parents were coming to pick me up around 9am for an everett-chelsea supply run. so i got up at 8am to take a shower before heading down to the community garden to water my plants. the squash fruit i saw yesterday, i can't tell if it's getting bigger or not. i'll check again in a few more days.

beginning this month, costco will allow executive members to enter their warehouses one hour early beginning at 9am instead of 10am. i was wondering how they'd enforce this, and there are actually people by the entrance who will tell you you can't enter because you don't have the right membership. fortunately for us we're executive members, so we got inside. it was weird being inside a costco with so few customers, but weird in a good way, like we should do this all the time.

i checked out their 16" macbook pro selection. they sell it for $2250, for a M4 pro 24gb/512GB in black. i'd only get a macbook pro with at least 1TB of storage. i don't think the 16" is too big, it's basically the same size as the old 15" retina macbook pro, but with a larger screen because of the reduced bezel. i don't like the jumbo-sized trackpad though, only because i'm used to the small sized trackpad. i feel like the jumbo-size will cause more accidental clicks when i'm resting my wrists.

costco also sells an e-bike: the jetson OTG elite 16" folding e-bike for $550. it's actually not a bad deal, for something that has a 20mph trottle and a front suspension. only issue is the smaller wheels and the 350 watt motor just has a 20 mile range.

5 dozen large white eggs at costco are $13.19, so a little less than 22¢ an egg. still expensive compared to when eggs were just pennies, but at least the price are slowly coming down.

next we went to the chelsea market basket. originally we were also going to visit restaurant depot to get soy sauce, but my father said we still have enough. even here at market basket things were slow. unfortunately their supply of pork butts hadn't arrived yet and that was the whole reason why we were here. we gathered what else we needed and left.

because we started so early and only visited 2 places, i was back at home by 11:30am. i changed clothes, picked up my things, and rode to the cafe to help unload. by the time i got there, my parents had nearly finished unpacking. they still needed to go to the bike, while i went to belmont instead.

for lunch we ate some leftover black soy noodles i made on thursday before the 4th of july weekend. we also got some cake from costco and i had a slice.

because it was so hot outside, i didn't go into the backyard until around 4:30pm. my father was busy brushing waterguard on the pressure treated wood. he said because those wood are so dense, the waterguard doesn't absorb as readily compared to the drier 2x6. speaking of which, the 2x6-6ft boards he treated yesterday had dried, so i used them to make a new saw horse plant stand. i ended up using 3 boards. they now hold our outdoor shade loving houseplants.

for dinner we grilled some thawed frozen swordfish. my father had seasoned it earlier, but i seasoned it some more with a thick layer of cajun spices before we put it on the grill. it took close to 8 minutes to grill, when the internal temperature approached 145 degrees. later i read the internal temperature should be between 130-145 degrees for medium-rare to well-done. doneness wasn't the problem though: because we ended up seasoning it twice, the swordfish was super salty. i have a high sodium tolerance and even i could barely eat it. scraping off the burnt cajun spices helped reduce the salt though.

after i got back home, i went out to put the rain cover on, as there might be intermittent storms throughout this week. just then, i heard a crack, and saw a large branch from one of the tall oak trees crashing down bottom branch first like a missile straight onto the roof of a parked car. it was so loud, neighboring tenants all pulled their blinds/curtains to see what happened. and i was just standing across the street! the car didn't seem damaged at first, but a section of the roof was caved in. a good body mechanic might be able to hammer it back into shape. but the two unfortunate owners came out to inspect the damage. i ended up giving corey and maddy my contact info, in case their insurance needs to speak with a witness. there's always some kind of drama on my street!

after a shower, i enjoyed a bowl of cold watermelon. i spent the rest of the night updating the blog.

sunday is the best time for a chinatown supply run because we can not only visit baifu/foodpak, but there's free weekend parking at the two chinese supermarkets on washington street. before heading to belmont though, i first cleaned the weber kettle grill by emptying out the briquette ashes before rinsing everything with a garden hose. i left them out to dry before putting everything away in storage.

i packed up my things and rode to the community garden to water my plants. i didn't water yesterday, and it's going to reach the 90's today, so giving my plants a good drink of water was essential. the female squash flower i saw 2 days ago had already flowered. not sure if it successfully fertilized because i don't see any other male flowers, but the fruit itself seems pretty big. if it doesn't abort within the next few days and starts getting bigger, i'll know whether or not it was successful.

from the garden i rode directly to my parents' place. i found my father in the backyard sanding the 2x6 planks with an old sander. he tried looking for our two orbital sanders but couldn't find them. i tried looking myself and had no luck, started to think maybe somebody came into the garage and stole them. however after some more searching i found the two orbital sanders hidden away on a shelf in the garage.

my father and i left for chinatown, my mother opted to stay home instead. because we were getting some frozen items from baifu, we decided to go there last, otherwise the frozen food would melt inside the car. instead we went to ming's market first. we took the route on storrow drive that cuts across copley square to the south end. everything was normal until we entered boston. a car made a left turn from a right lane, cutting us off. my father slammed on the breaks and i heard a thump like we hit something. the car that ran us off the road kept driving into a parking garage. i jumped out of the car and gave chase, yelling at the car to stop. the young driver was totally oblivious as to what happened. "you ran us off the road! we crashed into another car! stop right there! i'm calling the cops!" i yelled at him as i headed back out to inspect the damage. miraculously, there was no damage. the sound i heard might've just been the brakes locking up, or maybe something jostling in the back. some pedestrians who saw what was going on were asking me what happened. i ran back into the parking garage and told the guy there was no damage and he could go, but be careful next time. so a weird start to our supply run.

ming's market wasn't very busy. seems like even the chinese had left town for the 4th of july weekend. it was nice and relaxed as we did our shopping. taiwanese cabbage was on sale for 38¢/lbs! i paid something like 78¢/lbs. last time, and those weren't even good cabbages. these were large and heavy, the best for making paocai. hopefully they'll be at this price 1-1/2 months from now, when i need to remake my paocai again. there was also a sale on longans, but at $5.99/lbs. it was too rich for us.

we took the access road to get to baifu/foodpak. like ming's market, here too was also very quiet and not busy. they did some more rearranging, moving all the boba tea supplies to the far end of the store. we looked for our frozen food but the freezers were all empty. i didn't pick up on it but my father knew what was happening: the wall freezers were all broken, so they took out all the food. my father ended up asking one of the employees, who had to get our frozen food from the freezer truck, where they've been emergency storing their frozen food.

we left by 1pm and headed to the cafe to drop off the supplies before returning to belmont. i had some leftover barbecue for lunch.

my father was outside treating the 2x6 planks with olympic waterguard clear wood sealer. we've never used it before. it comes out milky from the metal container, but turns clear when dried. it only requires one coat, but from the instructions it seems like its only good for a season and you need to apply it every year. thankfully it's water-based, so clean-up is easy.

we also repotted the lemon verbena. the soil doesn't seem to hold any water, resulting in the potted plant being perpetually dry. we moved it into a larger container, loosed up the root ball (it was mostly roots), gave it a quick soak in a bucket of water, before replanting it. the fresh new soil holds water much better.

for dinner we had a braised white fish along with stir-fried chicken & thai basil. we've eaten barbecue every single weekend for so long, it felt a little weird having rice for a change.

returning home, i was expecting all my neighbors to be back, but there were still plenty of parking. i found a spot right in front of the house. after a shower, i finally cut up the watermelon that'd been sitting on my kitchen counter since last week. since it'd been sitting outside, it was still warm, and i like my watermelon cold, so i had some cherries instead.

i'd been communicating with eliza via whatsapp ever since they arrived in boston late afternoon yesterday. she got in touch with me again this morning. they're staying at her friend shana's house in inman square. eliza asked if i still had her moka pot (yes), and if she could borrow it to make coffee. they needed to buy sneakers and i suggested the somerville target, which was just a 13 minute walk from their house. we decided to meet up in union square around 1pm, which gave me more time to clean up the house and make preparations.

one of the things we wanted to do was have a classic barbecue in my backyard, show theo some american-style grilling. it's been ages since i last used the weber kettle grill (january 2019, once to treat LSH, the second time a bonus bbq in the snow), i had to dig out from my basement. it was still in surprisingly good shape. the grate was a little rusty because i didn't clean/dry it well before putting it away in storage, but nothing that a little wire scrub brush can't clean, and most of that will burn off eventually. that meant i needed to visit market basket to get some barbecue foods.

ever since this morning i saw a large black sorel shoebox outside my house on the sidewalk. so while i was leaving for market basket, i picked up it to toss into my recycle bin. but there was something inside. i opened it up to see what it was: an empty plastic container with some paper towel. maybe something had lunch and tossed their trash inside the box. i was about to grab it and toss it into the garbage, when i noticed something else. it took me a few seconds to realize what it was. at first i thought it was food that had spilled out, until i realized it was actually a snake. a baby boa constrictor to be exact. not only that, there was a dead mouse inside the shoebox as well. apparently this was somebody's unwanted pet they decided to toss out. the snake was pretty chill, so i gently closed the shoebox and put it back outside.

i biked to market basket. i arrived with a bunch of containers to deposit, but the machines would only take the aluminum cans, completely ignoring the plastic bottles, said they weren't recognized. i was making some blue cheese burgers, and got some italian sausages, hot dogs, and chicken sausages as well. originally i wanted to grill some steaks too, but they're a little more challenging especially on a weber kettle with hot charcoal, so maybe another time. i was looking for charcoal/briquettes but couldn't find any until i was paying, and saw a stack by the front of the store. they didn't have hardwood lump charcoal, so i just grabbed a bag of kingsford briquettes. it's a classic american brand anyway.

i came home and mixed the ground beef with the blue cheese before putting it in the refrigerator to set. the shoebox with the snake in it was still outside (i looked inside to check). i wanted to call cambridge animal control but they were closed today, so i ended up calling the cambridge police non-emergency line. i wasn't even sure how to start. "somebody left a shoebox outside my house. when i looked inside, there was a snake." i could hear the operator hesitating before she said, "okay," like this wasn't her typical call. she wanted to know if the snake was alive, how big it was, and how long had it been outside. she told me they'd send a police officer over to pick it up.

eliza contacted me, said they were finished shopping, and asked to meet up in union square for lunch. originally i was going to walk since we'd be walking back, but i decided to take the bike just to save time.

we met in union square around 1:40pm. i expected to see them at the intersection of somerville-prospect, but they showed up from somerville-webster. i got confused when eliza told me they could see me but i couldn't see them. i hadn't seen eliza since october 2023, when she visited boston and we went to the wellesley college greenhouse. she looked the same. theo i hadn't seen since december 2021, when we paid a visit to ponkapoag bog in the wintertime. back then he was about almost as tall as eliza, but 4 years later he's even taller.

we had various lunch options, but theo really wanted to try an american sub, so we went to mama lisa's. theo got the meatball sub, eliza got a salad, and i got the steak bomb. in retrospect, i should've gotten something lighter, since we'd be having barbecue later. eliza showed me her new shoes, a brandless knockoff of adidas. they looked good, i thought they were french sneakers because i didn't recognize them. we sat by the window counter and ate. i learned that eliza doesn't like to eat mushrooms.

afterwards we did a short exploration of union square. went to maprang bakery & cafe. they sell some stuff that our next door bakery sell as well, i wonder if the owners know each other. i was more interested in the bakery design, especially their window partition (trying to figure out if it was glass or acrylic). though there were a lot of delicious looking goods, we didn't get anything. next we went to reliable market, the korean grocery store. eliza and theo were admiring the unique craft beer labels. we picked one from aeronaut brewery to try out.

i grabbed my bicycle as we slowly walked back to my place. we stopped by the retrofitted church apartment, where theo's father used to live. we visited market basket (my second time) because i needed to get some scallions. if eliza and theo thought target was "bonkers" (her exact word), then they were left speechless by the sheer selection at market basket. it was really interesting seeing an american super market through their eyes, i felt like i was experiencing it for the first time myself. never thought too much about it, but we're inundated with choices. for example, goldfish crackers. theo knew what they were, but never seen so many different options, from plain to pizza flavor, to rainbow colors, to mickey mouse shapes. hopefully they can come back and do some more exploring, pack their suitcases with american-only junk food.

after we left market basket, i asked them if they wanted to see nearby aeronaut brewery. so we made a detour. i've only been down there a few things, but not before they turned a parking lot into a private outdoor beer garden. there were some cool murals on the wall. we didn't get farther than that since it was 21+ only. they probably figured theo was of-age because of his height. leaving the brewery, we came across a sony dual tape deck somebody had tossed out. google lens told me it'd sell for just $25 on ebay. there was also a rolled up banner. we thought it was for dunkin' donuts but was actually for bagels bagels bagels.

i noticed the shoebox with the snake inside was gone when we got back to my place. so a police did come by and pick it up. i'll look for the report on the cambridge police blotter when it comes out. i jokingly told eliza it was a story snake, and everyone who comes in contact with it has a funny story to tell about a snake in a box.

i turned on the AC when we got inside. the weather today was actually pretty nice, warm but not too humid. i could've opened some windows, but figured air conditioning was the more american experience (apparently very few people have AC's in paris). eliza opened the two graphic novels she bought and sent to my place. theo and i talked cameras. he'd just bought a canon 4000D before coming to boston. i wasn't familiar with that model, but apparently that's the european name for the canon rebel T100. i let him try out all my lenses, since they all fit his camera as well. made me realize just how many lenses i have! i also showed him my gopro and insta360, told him the pros and cons of those cameras. i forgot to show him my fuji 3D camera! but he might've seen it when we went to the frozen bog, i don't remember. eliza also gave me a present from paris: a kitschy fridge magnet like i asked! it said "delices de frances" and showed the 4 french food groups: cheese, baguette, wine, and sausages.

i started making cookout preparations around 6pm, after noticing eliza and theo starting to get tired. 6pm is actually midnight paris time, and they'd only been in the US for a little more than a day, so they still might be jetlagged. i rolled the beef into balls, to be smooshed into patties before they go on the grill. i also cut some vegetables for the burgers.

i filled up the chimney starter with briquettes, rolled up a coil of newspaper underneath, and lit the newspaper on fire. we waited for the briquettes to turn white before dumping them into the kettle grill. in the meantime i started bringing out the food one by one. another important thing was turning on the thermacell mosquito mosquito repellent to keep the mosquitoes away. the smoke might already repel them, but another layer of protection isn't a bad idea, especially considering how buggy my backyard gets. they don't get a lot of mosquitoes in french, and in fact, maybe houses don't even how window screens. i don't think either eliza or theo got bit, but a mosquito did bite me early on, but we had zero mosquito issues after that.

i noticed eliza had changed into some sandals. she saw me looking and said it was because of her foot pains. earlier i offered her some korean banana milk, but discovered she's actually mildly allergic to bananas, that they give her an upset stomach (avocados too).

once the briquettes were ready, i dumped them into the grill along with an explosion of flying embers. i decided to grill the sausages first as an appetizer, before grilling the burgers as a main course. i ended up not grilling the hot dogs because we already had italian and chicken sausages. i took out my infrared heat gun to gauge how hot the briquettes were. it actually went off the scale, 950°+. i cooked directly over the briquettes with an open lid, keeping an eye on the food to make sure they didn't burn.

eliza and i tried the aeronaut beer. they were okay, tasted like light beer, nothing to special. the best thing about it was the colorful label. theo also brought up the two types of cape cod potato chips - regular (sea salt) and dark russet. in a blind taste test i couldn't tell the difference, but i'm usually a dark russet man myself. i also brought out some cherries to eat while we waited for the foods to cook.

both eliza and theo seemed to love the italian sausages and chicken sausages. they also loved the burgers. afterwards they brought ingredients to make smores, but the briquettes had already cooled down by then, so i burned some more. while we waited, i bought out my corded lantern light as it was starting to get dark. i don't have a tradition of making smores, but i am familiar with roasting marshmallows. eliza told me graham crackers are hard to find in france, one of the "luxuries" of returning to the US. i couldn't get my marshmallows to toast. they'd turn soft and start slipping from the skewers.

after we filled ourselves with smores, we finally headed back inside. i was happy to bring everything in myself but eliza and theo helped out. eliza even did the dishes, which is usually my thing, but i appreciate the gesture. i gave them a bunch of leftovers, including burgers and sausages, along with some cherries. i offered them both bags of potato chips but theo only took the original because he said i like the dark russet.

eliza and theo left around 10:30pm. they still needed to walk back to shana's place, and had a big day tomorrow having brunch with eliza's dad in harvard square. i gave them both hugs, but when theo was coming in for a hug, he bumped his head on the door frame because it was so dark. fortunately he wasn't concussed. a few minutes after they left, i realized eliza forgot her phone charger. so i got on my bike and went searching for them. luckily they didn't get too far, and i was able to guess what route they'd take. i gave eliza her charger and returned home.

i finally took down my grow closet this morning and put back all my plastic bins. i shut down the grow closet at the end of may, but it took until july to uninstall all the grow lights. i put them in a plastic box and slid it underneath the guest bedroom bed.

around 10:30am i biked down to the community garden to water my plants. molly was there doing the same, wearing a big sun hat. i found out she's originally from maine and leaving today for a week to visit her parents. in my own plot i noticed a few tiny tomatoes and a large female unopened squash flower. while i was leaving i ran into gail, coming to water her plants as well.

i returned home to grab my things and left for belmont. i stopped by the cafe to put away some food. i also made an inventory of what drinks we had so i know what to refill during our supply run. i also watered the outdoor plants (including the garlic chive bed). one of the potted sunflower plant is close to opening.

i got to belmont around 11:03am and went to the backyard to do a survey while my mother made some wonton soup for lunch. the second saw horse plant stand i set up on monday doesn't seem to be getting enough sun sitting so close to the shade of the cherry and plum trees, so i ended up moving the plant stand to a sunnier spot.

after i finished lunch, i was back outside again. my father and i were trying to figure out what additional materials we needed to complete our picnic table refurbish. besides 2-1/2" deck screws, we also need some carriage bolts, and 2 2x4 to serve as bracing for under the tabletop and the seats. esmei made a surprise visit.

my father and i left for the watertown home depot. it was pretty quiet, only a handful of customers. i felt bad for the employees who had to work today, maybe they get paid extra for holiday shifts. i saw bags of royal oak hardwood lump charcoal for sale at $14.97 for a 15.4lbs. bag. i thought about getting some for the possible barbecue with eliza and theo tomorrow, but figured i might be able to score some better prices elsewhere. we found everything we needed, paid up, then loaded up the car. the 2x4 wouldn't fit entirely in the vehicle so we left with parts of it hanging out the back.

once we got home we realized our mistake: we got treated 2x4-10ft ($8.38 each) instead of 2x4-8ft. not even sure they made 2x4-8ft. my father busted out the old table saw that we inherited from mr.huang. it's so old there are no safety features - just a 8-1/4" spinning out from a table. it did have a rip fence, so we were able to use that to guide our cuts. after cutting the 2x4 into 4 26" long segments (under table braces), we had to modify two of those segments from 2x4 to 2x3, so the carriage bolts can fit. that involved rip cutting, which is something the table saw excels at. except there was something wrong with this table saw. the saw kept jamming, and when it wasn't jamming, it'd start burning the wood. maybe the 2x4 was just too dense, but the table saw was having a lot of issues trying to rip cut them. it even completely stopped a few times (overheating) and we had to wait and reset the machine. after much hardship, we finally managed to make 2 2x3 boards. the two remaining 2x4 segments we adjusted the table saw to 45° and made bevel cuts on each end. that also took a while, and wood burned something fierce, leaving black scorch marks on the ends.

my aunt and matthew showed up around 4:30pm. my father invited them to come over first and check out our garden before leaving together for my sister's godmother's place in central square to watch the 4th of july fireworks. we finally left close to 6pm.

my sister was already at her godmother's apartment. we found a great parking spot right across the street from the building, while my aunt and matthew found a parking a few blocks away. they heightened security for the building, so now a volunteer doorman has to tap you in for the elevator to work. our doorman forgot, so we stood in the elevator punching the buttons while nothing happened. eventually the doorman tapped his card and granted us access upstairs.

inside the apartment food was already waiting for us. the fireworks wouldn't start until another 4 hours, so we had some time to kill.

after i finished eating, i helped my sister's godmother install some streaming apps onto her new toshiba HDTV in the living room. we first had to sign into her amazon account to access the app store. i didn't realize she already had an account until i tried to sign her up and amazon told me the phone number was already in use. i then downloaded a file browsing app. the first one required money to unlock basic functions, but the second file browser i downloaded worked. then i had to unlock the permission on her fire TV to allow 3rd party installations. finally i was able to install the streaming apps. my aunt wondered if i could install the same apps on her home tv, but the tv either has to be an android tv or attached to an android tv box.

i spoke with matthew about my recent e-bike research. apparently he's tested out some e-bikes as well, including the velotric T1. unfortunately even the large size was still too small for him.

WHDH channel 7 was the exclusive local broadcaster of the 4th of july boston celebration and fireworks. there were performances by leann rimes, leslie odom jr, and bell div devoe. a trio of their more photogenic new anchors were presenters: adam williams, jadiann thompson, and amaka ubaka.

the fireworks normally start at 10:30pm, but it was my sister's godmother would told us about the schedule change: tonight's fireworks would be about an hour earlier, starting at 9:40pm instead. my aunt was very happy about this change, since it meant she could get home early.

the WHDH broadcast was apparently on a delay because the fireworks started a few minutes before it did on tv. this year's fireworks was the best it's been in the past few years. rainy foggy weather plagued a few 4th of july, and the on last year nearly didn't go off so the organizers launched their smaller backup fireworks instead. the fireworks seemed so large, like they were launched nearby instead of on the charles river more than a mile away. the show was supposed to be 20 minutes, but around the 15 minute it stopped for a minute, causing everyone to think maybe that was the finale. but it restarted again, displaying for a few more minutes before finally ending.

last year was a nightmare trying to get home. our strategy this year was to leave as quickly as possible, to beat the flood of people walking home from the river. we also avoided memorial drive, which everyone seems to go to avoid city track but end up creating more traffic along the river. instead we drove west (away from boston) in the direction of harvard square, to get back to belmont. there was hardly any traffic. there were more cyclists heading home after the fireworks than there were cars.

once we got to belmont (10:30pm), i went into the backyard to check on the jasmines. a bunch of them flowered, but not as much as i'd hoped. these night-time flowering plants go unnoticed since we hardly ever come out in the backyard after dark.

i rode home with barely any traffic. a lot of my neighbors were away and there were plenty of empty parking spots. after a shower i did some cleaning, but it was getting late, so i decided to wake up a little early tomorrow and continue cleaning.

i forgot to pick up my prescription yesterday so this morning i headed to walgreens. the pharmacy is supposed to be opened by 9am, but it didn't open until nearly 10 minutes later, with 3 customers (including myself) already waiting in line. afterwards i went to market basket to pick up a few things for my mother before arriving at the cafe by 9:30am.

today was a strange day. since we're closed tomorrow (friday, 4th of july) and the day after, it felt more like a friday or saturday. we were busiest between 11am-1pm. salt & pepper chicken was the most popular item, we sold half a dozen. dan dan noodles was nearly equally as popular and i ended up making 3 batches of black soy noodles (though the last batch went unused).

i was telling my father about the e-bike research i did yesterday. between the velotric T1 ST plus and the aventon 500.3, he thinks i should get the aventon because of its bigger battery and you can ride in throttle (pedal-free) mode. i did some math, i'd end paying $478.75 out of pocket on top of the e-bike voucher if i selected the 500.3 - that includes taxes ($93.75), rechargeable battery fee ($15, some random landry's bikes charge), and fenders ($70). on other hand if i went with the T1 ST plus, i'd only pay an additional $282 - since i can get it during august's tax-free weekend and the only extra is the voucher difference and fenders. i'd be happy with the velotric despite not having trottle capacity, but a part of me might want the additional power of a bigger battery, and can see the advantage of a throttle boost.

i ended up calling landry's boston in the early afternoon, asked them to ship one of their aventon 500.3 step-through regular model to the boston store so i can test ride it. the sales rep told me it'd get there either monday or tuesday. since monday was the last day of the july 4th aventon sale, i asked her what'd happen to the discount. she told me not to worry about it, that the sales price will stay even after the promotion as they try to liquidate their older 500.3 stock.

maybe they'll sell out their 500.3 before i have a chance to buy. maybe the price will go up again. if that's the case, my alternative e-bike with throttle would be the velotric breeze 1. that bike sells for $1800, so i'd end up paying $770 if i buy during tax-free weekend. the breeze and 500.3 are very similar, especially in looks. the breeze is newer, has a more powerful motor, slightly bigger battery, slightly longer range, slightly lighter. the breeze is also more expensive.

either way, by the first week of august i should be riding an e-bike.

	velotric T1 ST plus	velotric breeze 1	aventon 500.3
price	$1400	$1800	$1500
top speed	28mph	28mph	28mph
motor	350W, Peak 600W, 40Nm	750W, 65Nm	500w, 864w peak, 60Nm
battery	36V, 9.8Ah (352.8Wh) (non-removable)	48V, 13.4Ah (627Wh), IPX7	48V, 12.8Ah (614Wh)
charger	36V, 2A	48V, 3A	48V, 3A
display	1.8" color	3.5" color	color
pedal assist	3 Modes x 5 PAS Levels (2.9mph walk mode)	3 Modes x 5 PAS Levels	4 levels
range	70 miles	70 miles (55 miles throttle)	60 miles
payload	330 lbs.	330 lbs.	300 lbs.
weight	39 lbs.	48 lbs.	54 lbs.
freewheel	shimano 8-speed	8-speed	shimano 8-speed
tires	KENDA 700×40c eBike puncture resistant tires	KENDA 27.5x2.2" Ebike puncture-resistant tires	27.5 x 2.1 Puncture Resistant, Reflective Sidewalls
extras	n/a	integrated turn signal lights	integrated turn signal lights
fenders	$82	$70	$70

the house passed trump's bill today. there's not much to say about it other than more people will suffer with these new laws in place. here in MA we're mostly insulated, but i feel bad for anyone about to lose their benefits. i just don't understand how the republican party - cloaked in ultra-conservative christianity - can be so cruel.

in the late afternoon i noticed the weather warning: a severe thunderstorm was heading towards boston, arriving around 7:30pm. the doppler radar showed it was veering south, but if we can get any bit of rain that'd be a good thing.

my parents made jiucai hezi (韭菜盒子) with the garlic chive my mother harvested from my sister's front yard. they added too much oil to the dough so it wouldn't seal together and several of the pastries broke open as i was helping pan-fry them. my mother sent me home with half a dozen. the next door bakery closed early today, all the employees left by 5pm. that was a smart move, as we hardly got any customers in the final few hours we were opened.

the sky was ominous as i rode home. there was still about an hour before it was supposed to rain, but i could already feel some drops. from mass ave i saw a churn of mammatus clouds. i came home and waited for the rain...that never happened. providence and parts of connecticut were hardest hit, while we got some angry clouds.

i ate 3 jiucai hezi for dinner. i watched miller's crossing (1990). i must've seen this supposed cinematic classic before but can't remember anything from the movie.

i left the house around 9:30am this morning, came back an hour later after my run. i went by the community garden, but i saw gail there, and i wasn't in any mood to chat, so i went home instead. not that my plants needed watering since it rained last night.

i took a quick shower when i got home, changed into some dry clothes, then went out again, this time to the porter square star market to get some cheap fried chicken. the stuff is terrible, but it's one of my guilty pleasures whenever i see it on sale. i also got some star market brand 13-gallon trash bags as i ran out last night. i got a box of 80, which will last me 1-1/2 years.

i returned home and ate half the fried chicken while watching the news. i like all pieces except the breast. it's just basically a chunk of dense white meat, no flavor, hard to digest. if there's an option to not get any breast pieces i would happily take it.

i gave myself until 1pm before i went out for the main event of the day, which was to visit 3 nearby bike stores to shop for an e-bike. first stop was casa bikes in kendall square. it was hard to find because it was hidden behind all the ongoing kendall square construction. the people there were super helpful, let me take out a few bikes for a test ride. seems like all the e-bikes within my price range were velotric brands, which i'd never heard of before, but their bikes looked cool. the first one i tried was the velotric breeze 1 - priced at $1800. it's a step-through model, and comes in two sizes (i picked the smaller one in lilac). it weighs 48lbs, which is light for e-bikes. all they asked of me before the test ride was i leave my id and phone and had my own helmet.

so i'd never been on an e-bike before, so i wasn't sure what to expect. this one has a torque sensor, which is a newer and better sensor compared to the old cadence sensor. cadence sensor counts the pedal frequency to adjust the bike speed. torque sensor uses the actual torque for speed adjustment, which is more natural. i was a bit surprised the moment i started pedalling, not use to the bike lurching on me. there were 5 speed levels, i lowered it down to level 1, which was plenty enough speed assist on flat ground. it really did feel like biking on steroids. this bike supposedly has a top speed of 28mph, but going at just 15mph was plenty fast for me. the helpful color LCD screen told me my speed. after a while i got used to going fast. i tried the throttle lever, which accelerates the bike without pedalling. that was a weird sensation, traveling on the bike without pedalling. it felt like cheating. just for kicks, i tried riding the bike with pedal assist turned off. it felt like a regular bicycle. it's nice to know even if run out of battery, you can still use the bike. i've also never been on a bike with disc brakes. stopping was so nice, complete stop, doesn't continue moving like with side brakes.

i returned to the store where they allowed me to try a different bike - the velotric T1 ST plus ($1400) - after another customer came back with it after a lengthy test ride. this one was orange. it wasn't a step-through model, but the top tube was sloped so even a shorter ride could comfortably ride it. the T1 ST plus looked like a regular bike. it only weighs 39 lbs., even lighter than the breeze 1. the battery is hidden inside the frame, and not designed to be removed. another thing it doesn't have is throttle control, so it's all pedal assist via torque sensor. this bike rides just as smoothly as the other one.

riding a regular bike after being on an e-bike felt so slow. it's really true what they say: once you go e-bike, you can't go bike to a regular bike.

next i went to cambridge bicycle by MIT. i've passed by the place a bunch of times but never been inside. they sold velotric as well, which is there lower end model. i saw the velotric breeze 1 i was riding earlier ($1800 as well), in a light blue and white. they had a velotric discovery 1 in yellow which i didn't remember seeing at casa bikes - this one was just $1300. then they had their pricier bikes - all $2000+ - with mid-drive. i asked the sales guy if the tariff was affecting them. he said not as much as he thought; price has gone up a little bit, but the administration is so wishy washy with it's tariff policies, one moment we have tariffs, another moment we don't.

finally i went to landry's bicycles on commonwealth avenue in the BU area across the street from the star market. i meandered my way through cambridgeport until i crossed the BU bridge. it was a slight uphill climb, and i kept thinking how much easier it'd be if i had an e-bike. plus it was really hot and humid (temperature today hit the 80's), like riding in a oven. landry's was on the other side of the street so i had to do a u-turn across the green line tracks to get there.

two sales girls greeted me when i came in. they must be new, because they barely knew anything about the e-bikes, so i played along, pretending i knew very little myself. they had a bunch of trek e-bikes which were thousands of dollars, but their cheaper models all seem to be avento brand, which is a brand i'm familiar with, and a brand i originally wanted to buy until i learned i couldn't use the e-bike voucher for online sales. i'd seen aventons before out in the wild, like the avento soltera 2.5 (they had a light blue model). there was also a sale on aventon bikes for the 4th of july weekend: $500 off level 2, $400 aventure 2, and $300 off pace 500.3. a level 2 would be $1400 with the sale. unfortunately they didn't have any step-through models. i didn't really like the frame-integrated battery compartment, thought it looked really bulky. it's true aventon e-bikes have more power, but that results in a bigger heavier battery. the soltera 2.5 was just $1200, but that's more of a road bike, and i wanted a cruiser/commuter bike. i didn't know much about the 500.3 but really like it's design when i saw it in person. with the sale the 500.3 is $1500 - more than the level 2. it doesn't even come with fenders or a rear rack, unlike the level 2. the level 2 also had front fork shocks. but if i had to pick an aventon e-bike, i'd go with the 500.3. i also like that it has a removable battery. the 500.3 weighs 52 lbs.

so after visiting 3 bike stores, which e-bike do i want? if i'm trying to save some money, i'd pick the velotric T1 ST plus for $1400. that means i only need to pay $200 out of pocket to cover the total cost. if i can hold out and wait 5 more weeks, i might be able to buy it during the tax free weekend and save $87.50 (provided the price still stands). that money saved would be enough to buy a pair of velotric fenders. i also like that it's light, so i can easily move it in and out of my basement storage. the unserviceable battery doesn't concern me that much. that it doesn't have as much power as the batteries on an aventon e-bike is a bit concerning, but i'm not looking to go super fast. no front shocks is not a problem, i think they just add more to the overall weight. i ride on the streets exclusively, i don't do any trial riding, so i can go without shocks. the only thing i'd miss is the throttle, but i think pedal assist is more than enough, especially with torque sensor. if i want throttle, then the aventon 500.3 for $1500 would be my choice. that means i'd have to buy it this weekend to get the sale price, so that means i'd have to pay taxes, $93.75, nearly $100 extra, on top of the $300 i need to pay above the $1200 voucher. the 500.3 also needs fenders, so that's another $70. all so i can get throttle control. regardless, buying any e-bike in store is more expensive. both aventon and velotric are doing online promotions where they might throw in a rear rack or offer additional incentives. of course none of that applies when purchasing in store.

i went to the star market to pick up some lamb loin chops. eliza and theo might visit this saturday and there's a chance we might do a cookout. i was also thirsty and got a bottle of nantucket nectars drink. from there i cut through koreatown to get back to my house via harvard square. i got home by 3pm.

i had the AC on intermittently throughout the day. as soon as i felt cold i'd turn it off, only to turn it back on an hour later when the house got hot again. i went again to the nearby star market to pick up some snacks and a watermelon.

i finished watching marvel's thunderbolts today. i wasn't expecting a superhero action movie to tackle such topics as bipolarism and depression, but here we are. having said that, the movie was surprisingly good and funny. i might watch it a second time.

my mother called me close to closing time, said my sister's godmother wanted to go back to taipei next month for 2 weeks, and asked me to help her buy her roundtrip plane ticket via japan airline. i ended up spending nearly an hour trying to buy these tickets because her godmother insisted on using her taiwan credit card. it required authentication because the bank thought it might be a fraud, and i was afraid the ticket reservation would get cancelled because we waited so long. the purchase finally went through when we switched to a US credit card.

for dinner i finished the rest of my fried chicken. i did not eat the breast portion.

i spent the rest of the night researching e-bikes.

i slept comfortably last night after i cracked open the window for the very first time this season to allow some cool breeze into the bedroom. woke up a little early this morning so i could go water my plants at the community garden. plants are all doing well, they seem to be getting bigger every time i visit.

my mother called me this morning asking me to pick up their prescriptions from the harvard vanguard office. parked outside was a yellow aventon soltera.2 e-bike. it looked pretty nice, you almost couldn't tell it was an e-bike because the frame was so thin. something to consider if i can't get an aventon step-through level 2 e-bike.

despite the errands, i made it to the cafe by 9am. today was a hot day, with temperature in the 90's. we didn't bother setting up the patio furniture since we figured nobody would be crazy enough to sit outside in the furnace. it was also windy, so we couldn't open the umbrella anyway.

a weird thing happened starting this morning: we started getting ubereats orders. typically that a sign we'll be busy, if customers are already ordering takeouts in the morning. usually we just get a handful of ubereats orders, but today they kept on coming non-stop. these were big orders too, a lot of bento boxes. by the end of the day, we made more on ubereats than our traditional point-of-sale orders (in-person pickups). i even asked a customer picking up our last ubereats order, if there was some kind of promotional thing happening today. he said if there was, he wasn't aware of it. let's just hope it's a fluke. ubereats orders are nerve-wrecking because there's a delivery component, and occasionally the driver shows up early and we're not done making the order yet. ubereats also notoriously gives us the least amount of time to fulfill an order (square givs us 15 minutes, ubereats usually only offers 7-8 minutes), and makes it difficult to change it, almost shaming you if you do change the prep time.

trump's bill passed the senate this afternoon. 3 republicans voted no, so vance came in as the tie-breaker. now the bill goes back to the house for changes. there's been grumblings about different republican factions unhappy with the senate version of the bill (which adds even more money to the deficit), but republican house representatives are notoriously cowardly, and will bend over backwards for trump to get it passed by the 4th of july deadline. my only hope is with enough americans suffering, they'll register their unhappiness at the ballot box. but the cult of trump seems to defy logic, as people readily vote against their best interest. plus conservative media can always blame it on the democrats.

during a lull in the afternoon i rode down to trader joe's to get some supplies. we ran out of baby cucumbers, and i also got some scallions and green bananas. the weather outside was downright sultry. i was half pedalling, half panting, as i made my way down to fresh pond. maybe because it was so hot, but i had a craving for ice cream, though i reconsidered since the ice cream would be melted by the time i made it back to the cafe.

i saw esmei today, the first time since the "incident" on sunday when she stole a raw steak from the kitchen counter. she was in the car enjoying the blast of air conditioning right to her face.

my father brought his corded 7-1/4" circular saw to the cafe today. he wanted to cut some 2x8-16ft planks in the basement to use in our outdoor picnic table rehabilitation. he wanted to use the untreated boards for the seats, and use the treated 2x6 boards for the tabletop. but i did some math and it made more sense for the 2x8's to be tabletop planks, because we'd only need 4 pieces instead of 5. if we did that, then we have all the wood boards we need to rebuild the table. in the early evening i went with him down to the basement to cut the 2x8's to size. we ended up with 4 6ft planks.

we were hoping it'd rain all day but it didn't. we need to the rain to replenish our rain barrels, which are currently near empty, as it's been weeks since we've had any substantial rain. when i checked the weather again in the evening, it said it'd start raining around 7pm, with an 80-90% probability which is pretty high.

i quickly hurried home to await the rain. the sky was a mess of different clouds, like the weather couldn't decide what it wanted to be. it might've started raining earlier, but i only knew about it when i saw flashes of lightning around 8pm. it then rained steadily for the next few hours. hopefully that's enough to fill our rain barrels. slow rain is best, fast rain the catch barrels overflow and doesn't have time to circulate the rain to the storage barrels.

for dinner i had a piece of leftover grilled corn from yesterday, and a square slice of spicy pizza my sister bought but couldn't eat because it was too spicy for her.

i showed up in belmont around 10am for a needham restaurant depot supply run. my mother opted to stay home while my father and i headed out. i was expecting the place to be crowded with restaurants getting ready for the 4th of july weekend, but the depot was unusually quiet. we came here to buy a case of boneless chicken thighs, but ended up buying two cases as they were having a sale. we also got some linguine noodles and pineapple juice.

we arrived at the cafe by 11:30am to drop off the supplies. while my father sorted the chicken thighs and put them into boxes to freeze for storage, i was outside watering the plants. we left by noontime.

we took a detour to the mt.auburn star market to get some produce on sale: bags of cherry, watermelons (2), and half a dozen ears of corn. when we returned to belmont my mother made wonton soup for lunch.

in the early afternoon my father and i went out again to home depot to get some lumber. we needed treated 2x8-8ft planks (3) for rebuilding some raised beds, but in the meantime they can be used as platforms for our sawhorse plant tables. we were also searching for 2x6 boards to restore our old falling part picnic table. we needed them to be 6ft in length, they sold 2x6-12ft pressure treated boards for $12.98 each. we bought 3 and had one of the employees cut them in half for us with the machine. we also got a pair of basement window well covers to replace our broken ones. our honda element is just long enough to put an 8ft board on top of two folded down seats on the passenger side. i squatted in the empty space behind the driver's seat, holding onto to the grab handles.

i wasn't planning on assembly the picnic table - for one thing we didn't have enough 6ft wood planks - but my father ended up getting a headstart, reassembling the two leg pieces. he managed to rebuild one of them, but the other one was a no-go as one of the leftover leg support plank had rotted enough that it needed replacing. plus some of the carriage bolts were bent and broken and needed replacing.

later my father remarked that we'll probably spent about $100 in material cost alone repairing the picnic table. buying a new one - with all the wood pieces cut to size with support hardware included - is only just $129. if this picnic table breaks apart again (which doubt, since we're using all pressure treated wood), it'd be easier just to get the picnic table kit.

while my father was doing that, i mowed the front and back lawn. i even took apart the saw horse table so i could mow underneath. here's hoping we can get some rain tomorrow to water the grass. afterwards i put back the saw horse table and assembled a second one to hold more plants, including two grow bags - one with a overwintering long horn pepper, the other a leftover tomato seedling. while rearranging the potted jasmines, i noticed just how well they've been doing: all new healthy green leaves with plenty of flower buds. too bad jasmines only flower at night, i rarely get to see them when they're in full bloom. our sweet basil have grown a batch of new leaves. it really is true, the more you pick them, the faster they grow. means more caprese salad for my mother.

close to 6pm my father started grilling again. today we were having grilled corn with some hot dogs and hot italian sausages. i did the thing were i stuck a skewer inside the hot dog and spiral cut them. these are oscar meyer beef hot dogs, they used to be much larger, but the ones i bought almost have the thin diameter of vienna sausages. seems like hot dogs are not immune to shrinkflation.

my mother said the corn was okay, but not as flavorful as yesterday's corn, where it was a combination of charsiu and korean barbecue sauce. she said the spiral cut hot dogs had a smoked flavor. but her favorite were the hot italian sausages, not only spicy, but they also had fennel as well (we bought those at aldi's a while ago).

after dinner i returned to cambridge. i stopped by the cafe to bring out the trash bins. the bakery boss already helped us take out or compost bin, but i pushed out the two full recycle bins.

nothing good on television. late night talk shows are all on repeats for the 4th of july week. luke kornet signed a 4-year deal with the spurs for $41 million. sucks to see him gone, but good for him for getting a lucrative contract, he deserves it. al horford might be gone as well, rumor has it that the golden state warriors are looking to secure his services. it'd be nice if he can stay, but other teams can offer him more money than the celtics are willing to pay, with boston in a rebuilding year next season.

after seeing so many mosquitoes inside the house last night, i was super paranoid tonight. i kept glancing at the ceiling, looking for mosquitoes. sure enough i didn't see one there, but saw one flying near me. i slapped it with my two hands but it disappeared. hopefully i managed to kill it, otherwise it'll probably eat me alive while i sleep tonight.

before i even took my morning shower, i went outside to water my front and backyard, which looked a little bit dry. i swept the back and sidewalk before giving the ground a good soaking. i went down to the basement and got the retrospec beaumont and took a test ride down to the community garden. shifting and brakes still felt a little stiff, probably needs more lubricating oil in the cable housing (or even better, replace the housing and cable). changing the gears didn't feel smooth, the chain could still be a little gummed up, or the indexing just needs to be adjusted. i also didn't like the placement of the handlebars, they felt awkward. later i looked up product photos of the bike and the handlebars need to be rotated forward. the bigger 700c wheels did feel nice though, faster with each pedal.

once again i was the only person in the garden. my grow bag vegetables are all doing very well. even though i planted my tomatoes late, i want to say i may have the healthiest tomato plants, with thick central stems and symmetrical branching. i see a lot of other gardeners don't probably prune their tomatoes, let it grow bushy with multiple main trunks instead of a central stem. the one advantage of an early start is some of them already have tomato fruits. david has some particularly nice looking tomatoes, starting to turn red, he may be harvesting them the first week of july. my squash plant is taking off, 1-1/2 feet long, with more than 20 leaves, only minimal signs of cucumber beetle damage, and i even saw some female flowers. the only thing not going well in my garden is rabbits seemed to have eaten all my planted nigellas, as well as a few ground-planted snapdragons. i had a feeling that might happen so it wasn't a surprise. while i was leaving i saw maureen pulling up to the curb. i waved hello and quickly left.

after a shower, i went out again, to star market, to grab some corn (3 for $1) and some cherries ($1.97/lbs.). i packed up the corn and rode to the cafe to put away some food and to water the plants and the garlic chive bed. only then did i finally arrive in belmont around 11:40am.

while my mother was making wonton soup for lunch, i was taking a quick survey of the backyard. seems like after 2 days of nice 70's weather, the heat is back, with today being in the 80's. the tomatoes and squashes here are not as big as the ones in my garden. but i did plant mine a little earlier while those in these raised beds where planted at least a week later. i noticed the zucchini seeds i planted in RB3 had sprouted.

after i finished my wonton soup, my father and i went back outside to do some yard work. i brought out the thermacell portable mosquito repeller. there was already a blue repellent wafer inside the device, but when i turned it on, there was no smoke. so i inserted 2 chinese knockoff wafers, which are half the size of a standard wafer, but fits perfectly inside the repellent. after about a minute i saw smoke, so i knew it was working. the old wafer probably dried up. good thing i bought 100 replacement wafers from aliexpress last year for just a few dollars. my father sprayed himself with off clean feel picardin (20%) spray, which works just as well.

i helped my father pound 2 u-posts into RB3 so he can hang wire fencing for the luffa gourds to eventually climb on. we also restrung the solar-powered hanging edison lights.

my sister showed up with esmei around 5pm. i put the dry salt brining wings on top of the stove so she wouldn't get to them. unfortunately i made the mistake of seasoning the two steaks on the kitchen counter because i thought she was outside. and i let her back inside i forgot the steaks were on the counter, i figured my sister was looking after her, or maybe they were about to leave. so when i went back inside the house, i noticed immediately one of the steaks was gone.

it took me a few seconds to process what happened and i started screaming. i saw esmei eating the missing steak by the doorway. as angry as i was, i couldn't help admire how stealthy she was with her theft, didn't even pull down the whole tray, just took a single raw steak while nobody was watching.

when my sister went to grab the steak, esmei let out an uncharacteristic loud angry growl, i'd never heard her so vicious before. my sister managed to retrieve the steak, partially eaten (about a quarter missing). normally we'd just throw away dog-chewed food, but we're talking about a new york sirloin strip steak here! so i gave it a rinse in the sink and reseasoned it. it's going to get grilled at 500 degrees anyway, any dog germs will all be seared off. my sister took esmei home, taking zero responsibility for not looking after her dog, even blaming us for putting food where esmei could get to it, and said esmei could've choked on the bone.

with dog gone we could grill in peace. my father started with some corn. i gave him the wrong marinade, and he'd already done two passes with charsiu pork sauce instead of korean barbecue sauce. after that we cooked the tiny wings at around 350 degrees. 6 minutes on one side, flip over, coat with thai sweet chili sauce while the other side is cooking, grill for another 3 minutes, flip to coat the other side, flip again to grill for another minutes until the wings have a nice char. finally we grilled the steaks. we turned the heat up to 500 degrees. 3 minutes per side, rotate midway, take a temperature reading after 6 minutes. the temperature fluctuated anywhere from 120 degrees to 145 degrees so we took it off the grill and let it sit for 10 minutes.

while my father was grilling, i also had some time to plant the leftover squash plants into RB1 and RB2. i feel like not all the squash will survive long enough to produce mature squashes, so the more plants we have, the greater the odds of that happening. growing squash has become a very labor intensive activity. a host of insects pray on squashes, from squash vine borers, to squash bugs, to cucumber beetles. even though i try, i can't catch them all.

i ended up eating the esmei steak. if nobody told me, i wouldn't have guess a dog had chewed up a quarter of the steak earlier. it was medium-well done at the tips, but rare-medium in the center. the grilled corn was very flavorful today, and the secret is because my father had swabbed it twice with the diluted charsiu sauce before switching to the korean barbecue sauce. that could be a new secret in getting tastier grilled corn. the wings were also cooked to perfection, at least according to my mother. she likes them with a good amount of char, i was afraid they might be too burnt.

i returned home after dinner. maybe because a lot of people are gone for the 4th of july holiday (if they take 4 days off they can have a 9 day vacation that straddles two weekends), but there was plenty of parking when i got back.

after using the bathroom and taking a shower, i settled down to watch the 2nd episode of apple tv's new show, smoke starring taron egerton and jurnee smollett. i'll then probably go to bed early tonight, watch a few more episodes of star trek: lower decks (already on season 5 the final season) before going to sleep. meeting up with my father tomorrow to do an everett restaurant depot supply run.

while using my laptop in the living room, i saw what looked to be a mosquito trying to land on my finger. i swatted at it and it immediately disappeared. the thing with mosquito is if one gets inside the house, you have to kill it otherwise it'll bite you while you're asleep. how did it even get inside? most likely from the small gaps around the perimeter of my AC. i ended up putting more blue tape around the perimeter as a temporary measure to keep bugs from getting inside. i know a thing or two about mosquitoes, and i know they like to hide on the walls. so i turned on the ceiling light in my living room, and sure enough, there were 4-5 mosquitoes on the ceiling! it's a miracle i hadn't been bitten yet. instead of swatting them - too high anyway - i grabbed my vacuum and sucked them off the ceiling. one managed to escape, i went around the room looking for it, until i saw it on my venetian blinds. it was no match for the vacuum.

i woke up around 7:50am to go running. the weather was in the upper 60's, overcast, with a bit of fog that added some undefined moisture to the air. i left the house by 8:30am. raindrops clouded up my glasses. not good weather to be outside, but perfect for a run. i noticed at least 4 runners going by me checking their watch as i approached. was that some kind of involuntary signal, like fixing your hair? i was going to stop at the garden to water my plants but since it rained a little bit, i came straight back home, the whole run took just an hour.

i quickly showered and changed clothes before leaving for the cafe by 10am. i had a feeling my father might show up early to deep fry a new batch of salt & pepper chicken. sure enough when i arrived, he was already more than halfway done. i spent the time before we open cleaning the ove and the work table.

my father brought some salted duck eggs that'd be marinating for the past 6 weeks. they tasted just like salted duck eggs, but he said maybe they were a little too salty because he marinated them for too long.

my sister brought esmei over to the cafe today. my father and i left her unleashed on the back patio to see what she would do when we pretended to close the door. she could care less, spent it watching the traffic, wasn't the least bit worried that her humans had disappeared on her. also when esmei was in the car, i tried to touch her paws and she pulled them away.

we didn't make much today, but still enough to put us over and beat the profit for june of last year. it's the first time this year that we've managed to exceded the profit of the same month last year. today was also the last work day of june. there are 2 more days left but they fall on days when we're not opened.

my father gave my 2nd aunt a ride home while i biked back to my place. originally i was going to spend some time cleaning up the house, but i ended up lounging around on the couch, watching tv and youtube. i even managed to fall asleep briefly. i wasn't very hungry - having snacked on some mixed nuts and then later blue cheese & crackers - so i didn't have dinner until 10pm, finished up the last of my pesto with whole wheat pasta. i used a lot of smoked ham this time, plus i added capers. the final dish was way too salty, even for me.