this morning was the only day this week that i had some time to work on my community garden plot. after a shower (happy to report the drain was working after yesterday's clog destroyer treatment), i went down to the garden at 10am with two more milk crates strapped to the back of my bike. i was expecting to see a lot of gardeners but the place was empty when i arrived. the whole time i was there i saw a few gardeners, but nobody i knew.

after i finished with plot organizing, i start digging up clumps of garden soil so i could sift through the dirt and toss out any weeds. i thought i could make good progress today, but even after 2 hours, i barely made a dent. this is on-going work that will take multiple back-breaking visits armed with a shovel and a lot of squatting. the primary reason is to dig up my garlic chives - which have grown too close to together - and separate them before planting them back. i left with two more bags of garlic chives. i didn't have time to replant them, so half will go back into the plot, with the other half i'll gift to others.

i didn't finish until after noontime. i could've worked some more, but i needed a break, and i needed to go to my parents' place. i returned home, called my mother to let her know i was coming, soaked the garlic chives in some water, then took the motorcycle to my parents' place. i stopped midway at the cafe to put away the tea eggs and rice. i didn't get to belmont until 12:45pm.

my father was outside in the backyard burning wood in the firepit. he'd just mowed the backyard (at the rate the grasses are growing, we basically have to mow every weekend). he pulled up some radishes from RB0. tiny red radishes we saw last weekend have grown bigger, from dimes to quarters in diameter. my father made a quick marinated salad out of them. you don't often see radish leaves at the super markets, but they're surprisingly delicious, juicy and crunchy, i'd say better than the radishes themselves.

i had some scallion pancake with egg rollup with some pork floss for lunch, then some mung bean soup, before going outside.

we made two more fence panels for RB0. afterwards i was up on a ladder scrubbing the scales off the cherry plum with a brush and a bowl of water. the horticulture oil treatment i made on wednesday didn't seem to have any effect on reducing the scales. at least the duct tape i put around the trunk managed to trap some ants. what i didn't realize was crushed scales stain. afterwards my t-shirt and jeans were spotted with dark red stains that made me look like i'd been in an accident. the stains looked pretty deep, i wonder if they'll come out in the wash.

it looked like it might rain. since the mower was still out, i pushed it out to quickly mow the front lawn. i dumped the grass clippings into the compost bin, along with a barrel of dried shredded leaves we'd saved over the winter.

the strawberry i got from the plant swap that i planted in the upside down soda bottle container has started to produce fruits. i totally forgot about the flowers i saw last week. they weren't just for show, apparently they were pollinated and now we might get edible strawberries for the first time in a long time. as for our other hanging strawberry planter from last season, it's doing well but so far hasn't produced any flowers yet. most of the altruist daffodils have finished their bloom. last weekend i saw a few sun disc daffodils, but today they were all in bloom. i kind of like that they don't all bloom at the same time. i wonder if this is natural or just a coincidence? while doing some weeding, i also saw a red eye daffodil. it's one of the ones i tried to force indoors but they never bloomed so i replanted them underneath the redbud tree. as for the ones i planted back in november along with the hyacinths, not one of them have emerged.

my father figured out we can revive our old wooden picnic table, something i've mentioned to him before. we just need a few pieces of replacement wood. the wooden legs themselves are still in perfect shape, which is surprising since the rest of the table has mostly rotted away. i think that's because only the leg pieces are pressure treated wood.

close to 6pm was time for grilling. we got to use the new water-activated steam cleaning grill brush ($16). it's basically a stainless steel pot scrubber with a sponge in the middle mounted on a handle. you wet the sponge and use the scrubber to clean the hot grill surface, which creates steam that better clean the grills. it's not a gimmick, it actually worked to remove the carbon deposit, revealing the shiny stainless steel hidden underneath.

we were grilling some of the swordfish i got on friday from haymarket. after wiping dry with paper towels, i coated two fillets with cajun spices on both sides. my father grilled the swordfish about 5 minutes per side. we used a meat thermometer to take temperature. we took the fish off the grill when it reached 150 degrees. we also grilled a package of italian sausages.

i was kind of disappointed with the swordfish. it was grilled to perfect, but i found it to be really bland and boring, despite the cajun spices. if anything, i wished i'd added even more spices. next time we might try a blackened cajun swordfish using the griddle to get that nice sear. i'm already researching some recipes on youtube. i was hoping we might introduce some grilled swordfish at the next barbecue, but what we've experienced so far, it's just too bland.

after dinner i returned home. the next door neighbor was mowing his lawn and asked if we needed our adjoining lawn section mowed as well (we said no). he asked us for some advice about his grass. he's got the worst lawn in the neighborhood, neglected, weedy. he has some bare patches and asked if he could plant grass seeds now. it's a little late in the season, once it gets hot the grass won't grow anymore, but it's worth a try. it's not so much just adding grass seeds, but also the daily watering for weeks until they fill out.

street cleaning tomorrow so there was no place to park other than 2 blocks away. first thing i did when i got home was stain treating my t-shirt and jeans. i immediately soaked the t-shirt in some oxi-clean and hot water, but i felt like maybe that was a mistake because the stains didn't really disappear. i had better luck with my jeans, where i just sprayed it with stain remover and scrubbed with some water until the stain was gone or faded. i tried the stain remover on my t-shirt but the stains seemed to have already set. i left it to soak in a combination of oxi-clean and laundry detergent for a few hours before washing it with a load of laundry.

it's been weeks since i last did laundry, so i ended up doing two loads. i couldn't completely remove the stains from the t-shirt but at the very least they were faded.

i went to the cambridge spring community bike ride this morning. the theme this year was cambridge dog parks. i got dressed in a pair of jeans and a white polo shirt. i got my trek allant from the basement. i only ride that bike about once a year, and usually for the community bike ride. i've probably only riden it about a dozen times since i got it, so no wonder it's in near pristine shape. not a trace of rust on the chain or the gears, just some scratches on the frame from when the bike accidentally toppled over one time while parked. the only thing i had to do was inflate the tires and find a combination bike lock. while i was at it i also oiled the chain.

i got to the cambridge public library around 9:45am. i went to the folding table and picked up some freebies: a set of brooklyn bicycle rechargeable led bike lights (retails for $25), a translucent blue cambridge-branded water bottle, and some snacks. the turnout wasn't as large as in past rides, maybe because of the iffy weather and the possibility of torrential showers. from a distance i saw some horse chestnut trees and i went to get some photos. they bloom in may and the tall conical white flowers are unmistakeable. when i got back to the gathering, i spotted renee and called her name. so at least i knew one person there. a pro-bike advocate flagged me down to let me know about the on-going drama over returning garden street to two-way traffic and resistance over adding new bike lanes on broadway street. i politely listened just so i could get some free reflective ankle straps, but i'm actually secretly for all the things she was against.

the bike ride promptly left at 10am. because this is an official city sponsored ride, we had a police escort, both motorcycle and bicycle cops. i rode with renee for much of it. it was essentially follow-the-leader. i couldn't tell you where we went, and vague recollection of the stops. yes we visited parks, but dog parks? i didn't see a single dog in any of those parks, the only ones i saw were the ones on the ride: a bernese mountain dog in a carrier and a small dog in a bike basket.

we made it to magazine beach, where i clamped my gopro on the handlebar so i could get some timewarp footage for posterity. a speaker was talking about the park but i couldn't hear him. i was more interested in a pair of birdwatchers off in the distance, with a telescope set up. from there we headed towards harvard square via memorial drive. next it was brattle street, where i took a detour and left for the cafe, getting there right when we opened at 11am on saturdays.

my sister delivered a BLT sandwich and a soft pretzel. i ate half the sandwich - also had some guacamole on it was well - plus most of the pretzel.

today was the busiest day this week, which says a lot considering saturdays we're only opened half day. the weather looked like it might rain at any moment (for the most part it was dry, it did shower briefly in the afternoon before the sun came back out), but that didn't keep the customers away. my mother sold some knitted/crocheted handicrafts, and a chinese lady came in and ordered 20 zongzi for duanwu festival at the end of the month. my mother's side hustles netted us a third of our profit today.

after work i rode the trek allant home. that bike is so nice, with working shifters, but in reverse order than what i'm used to on my usual bike. with it's bigger wheels (27") and lighter frame overall, riding uphill is effortless. i stashed the bike in the basement when i got back, to be taken out again next year. instead i switched to my trek utility bike and went to market basket to get a few things.

this time of the year is also when students are moving and a lot of stuff get thrown out. i always find some treasures. today i came across a bicycle rear rack (ibera brand). even though there were plenty of parking spots at market basket, the bike rack was completely filled. i had to tether my bike to the rack using a braided cable. i was in search of cajun spices and chicken marinade. i also grabbed another frozen bag of wings, one of my mother's favorites. while looking for hot sauces, i pulled a bottle from a bottle shelf with another bottle attached to it via a loose label. the second bottle clattered to the floor and shattered. i immediately went in search of an employee to report the breakage. i ended up going to the help desk, and seconds later an employee with a mop bucket showed up.

i noticed a foul odor going into the alleyway. it smelled like something died. originally i thought it came from our trash, but when i checked the bins, they were all empty and odor-free. i discovered the smell was coming from underneath margot's front steps (not solid, but a wooden lattice barrier). i think an animal (if i had to guess probably a rat) died inside and rotted away. the fact that there were also a bunch of flies was further evidence.

i finished my rewatch of rogue one. like many fans of andor, watching rogue one fells very different. one on thing, andor seems like the main character, not jyn erso. and having been so fully grounded in reality, seeing darth vader for the first time almost felt strange, like he was something supernatural and out of place. rogue one is also one of the few movies where even though everyone dies at the end, it's still a hopeful message. now that andor is over, i feel kind of lost. what am i supposed to watch now? i have been occasionally watching the animated star trek: lower deck before bed, it's actually pretty good. there's also the second season of poker face.

i ate the other half of the BLT as an early dinner soon after getting home. later in the evening i went to star market to get some klondike bars on sale as i had a hankering for ice cream. there was also a sale on gold nugget oranges: 99¢/lbs. i ended up leaving with 5 lbs. worth (the maximum), about a dozen oranges. these are almost haymarket prices.

the bathtub has been slow draining for months now. i didn't bother to take care of it because standing in water when i showered was a big problem. finally i got some liquid plumbr clog destroyer. in hindsight i wondered if i should've gotten drain-o instead: clog destroyer is for clogs, but what i have is a slow drain. i tried it anyway, poured down half a container (16 oz.). unfortunately i forgot about it until hours later. you're also supposed to rinse with hot water. i normally like to use boiling water, so i boiled a kettle's worth, but once again, promptly forgot about it. luckily the water was still hot as i poured it down the drain. i finally rinsed with normal hot water. it seemed okay, but i won't know for sure until i take a shower.

it wasn't until 10pm when i finally stumbled into the kitchen to make my hot sauce from the hot peppers i got from haymarket yesterday. i was using the recipe from the last time i made garlic chili oil hot sauce back in november. i made about a jar that time, and only now are we almost finished with it. it's the go-to hot sauce at the cafe whenever a customer requests something spicier than sriracha. when have even spicier hot sauces - habanero & ghost peppers - but that's more like a joke sauce. the chili oil hot sauce i make is more appetizing, just the right amount of spiciness.

i used the ratio of 3:1:1 for anaheim peppers, thai chili peppers, and garlic. i wasn't sure how much oil to add, and originally i was going to match the weight of anaheim peppers, but smartly scaled back the amount to something less. as for the remaining ingredients, i bumped up each one by an additional tablespoon.

a pound of anaheim peppers is 453g. but after chopping off the stems, i was left with 429g. i used that amount as the base to figure out how much thai chili peppers and garlic. the thai chili i simply pulled off the stems, no cutting required. i remembered to wear gloves this time, so my hands didn't hurt after handling hot peppers. after i processed all of them, i added the canola oil to a large stainless steel pan on medium heat. once the oil came to temperature, i added the peppers and garlic and simmered them for 20 minutes. i was stirring constantly, to prevent the peppers/garlic from burning at the bottom of the pan. i could tell it was almost done because the oil changed color from yellow to red. i reduced it so there wasn't that much oil left. however, once i added the additional ingredients - particularly the peppercorn oil and baijiu - it added liquids back into the sauce so i ended up with a lot more oil than expected.

i gave it a taste test - spicy, salty, sweet, savory - and called it finished. using a canning funnel, i scooped the hot sauce into 3 empty sesame paste jars. i filled up about 2-1/2 jars. my mother will be the final judge as to whether this batch is good or not. if i can continue to find hot peppers at haymarket, i can continue my hot sauce experience. i'm not very happy with how oily it is, next less use less oil (although too little and the peppers/garlic will scorch). i also don't feel i processed the ingredients long enough. i want the peppers and garlic so chopped up so they have the consistency of puree.

i tried one of the gold nuggets. it was okay, but i've had so many different oranges the past few weeks, i'm a little jaded at the moment.

i didn't finish the hot sauce until after 11:30pm, just in time to catch the season finale of saturday night live with scarlett johansson.

i left the house at 8:30am this morning for haymarket. temperature was already in the mid-60's and slightly humid, so i just wore a t-shirt. there was a convoy of bikes heading down to inman, but once i branched off onto cambridge street, i was pretty much on my own.

my main reason for going down to haymarket was to buy some swordfish steaks from the fishmongers. i see them all the time but i've never bought anything from them. i even brought a large cardboard box strapped to the back of my bike to make it easier to transport the fish. but the fish would have to wait as i made my rounds looking for produce and fruits to buy first. i found a vendor selling israeli orri oranges. i bought a dozen for $4, but in hindsight i should've just bought everything. i also got some generic small mandarins at $2 for 8, i bought 16. another vendor had cara cara oranges, i bought 6 for $2. i got 3 bags of baby cucumbers from the italian vendor ($3) and 4 heads of garlic for $1. someone was selling red hot peppers: i bought a pound of anaheim peppers ($2) and half a pound of thai chili peppers ($2). i'm going to turn them into a new batch of hot chili oil sauce.

eventually i made my way back to the fishmongers. i know very little about fish, could even identify swordfish, i just knew it had white flesh. and old grizzled man sat in the back, while two younger college aged kids worked the customers. they pointed me to the swordfish, at just $4/lbs. that's an insane bargain, as swordfish typically sells for between $10-30lbs. i told them i wanted to buy 3 steaks. they asked which ones, i asked them to pick for me. 3 steaks ended up weighing 4-1/2 lbs so that came out to $17. they put the swordfish in a plastic bag, then put that in another plastic bag (i always wondered how they packaged up the smelly product). i asked if i could take photos of the other fishes. they had tuna (also $4/lbs.), salmon, kingfish, and a few others they told me about but i forgot the names.

the back of my bike was so heavy, the rear wheel wobbled and for a while i thought i got another flat tire. i stopped to squeeze the rear tire and it felt solid so i continued on my way. i left haymarket at 9:20am and made it to the cafe by 9:50am.

my father thought the swordfish was a little over ripened and wanted to salt it before freezing it for storage. i read that salting the fish ruins it so instead he rinsed the swordfish with some cooking wine. the fish was very thick - 2-1/2 inches in certain sections. so my father decided to slice them in half crosswise. 3 steaks became 6 steaks. we put a piece in the fridge to grill today, while the rest we wrapped up individually in plastic wrap before freezing them.

orri oranges were very good. the shape reminds me of meat buns, and the skin is very thin so you don't end up paying for rinds you can eat. the small mandarins were okay, but more sour. the cara cara oranges were sweetest, but with no sour note, they almost don't taste like oranges. i love all the different varieties of oranges. unlike apples - which mostly all have the same shape and size but just differentiated by their colors - oranges are the exact opposite. oranges are all orange in color, and differentiated by shapes and sizes.

business today wasn't bad. we had slow stretches, but still busy throughout the day. once again, lunchtime wasn't that busy, we only got busy after 1pm into 2pm, and then a smaller spike towards evening. we didn't beat last friday's profit, but we're already ahead on earning for this week. if we make the same tomorrow as we did last saturday, it'll be one of the most profitable weeks in months.

my father finally turned on the air conditioner today when it nearly approached 80 degrees. it wasn't so much the temperature as it was the humidity. immediately the front of the cafe felt cool and dry (temperature set to 77 degrees) while the back kitchen seemed hot.

i made banchan with some leftover bean sprouts. my mother yelled at me for not making them earlier and allowing the sprouts to go bad, but she ended up eating all of it. with the leftover sauce we marinated some cucumber slices to make some cucumber banchan. that ended up inspiring my mother to make another batch of cucumbers - this time reducing them first in salt & sugar - before adding them to a gochujang-sesame oil-rice vinegar sauce. i found her creation to be too sweet; i like my banchan salty and spicy. the cucumbers we left to pickle in the leftover bean sprout sauce tasted better.

i made a new batch of tea eggs when the eggs in the slow cooker dwindled down to just 8 and i started to reheat the backup batch of 30 tea eggs from the fridge. two of the eggs split open from the boiling cycle so my mother took them to eat since they couldn't be sold. i also made a new batch of boba pearls once we started using our last batch. seems like every day we get several large groups of school kids coming in to buy boba tea. i really should learn how to properly made them so i could help out, but it's usually just my parents taking these orders while i hide in the kitchen.

close to closing time by father finally grilled one of the swordfish steaks. because he was just doing it on the induction cooktop, it took several iterations before he managed to cook it all the way through and wasn't pink in the center. he seasoned it with just salt and pepper. the swordfish was very tender, but doesn't offer too much flavors. it's more of a neutral protein, and it's what you add through spices and marinade that adds the flavors. the texture reminded me more of chicken than fish, while my father says it kind of tastes like tofu. i think it'll work better on the barbecue grill. i'm going to hunt for some cajun spices over the weekend to make some cajun blackened swordfish.

i returned home. i rinsed the hot peppers and left them outside to air dry. i'll make my hot sauce tomorrow. after watching (through the living room window) various neighbors go about their business, i took a shower and got ready for the celtics-knicks game 6 at 8pm.

if the NBA is truly rigged, then you'd see boston get favorable whistles tonight, as the NBA loves nothing more than game 7. the celtics had nothing tonight. first quarter was still competitive, but starting in the 2nd quarter, new york continued to build on their lead exponentially, leading at one point my 41 points. i never game up hope, thought (wishfully) the celtics could come back and shock madison square garden. but the team seems broken at this point. goes to show you just how critical jayson tatum is to the team, without him the celtics had no chance of advancing (some would argue even with him on the roster it was tough against a resurgent knicks that defied what their regular season matchup records would indicate). i still believe boston is the better team, but new york is hungrier. the camera kept showing all the celebrities celebrating the knicks victory and seemingly gloating over the celtics lost (i'm looking at you chalamet, lenny kravitz, ben stiller, jon stewart). i never hated new york city more than i do tonight, they could all die for all i care. as i rule i usually root for the team that beats my team, but i'm making an exception this time: i'll be cheering for the pacers to annihilate the knicks in the eastern conference finals.

i wasn't very hungry so for dinner i made a simple tonkotsu ramen. nothing special, just the sauce packet and an egg, i didn't even have any scallions in the house.

my original plan was to wake up early this morning - 7am - to do some gardening in my community plot before my father came to pick me up around 9am. but when i woke and checked the weather, i was surprised it was raining. not just raining but pouring rain. there would be no gardening today. i went back to sleep.

my father was still coming to get me because he needed to pick up his prescription. when he showed up i saw him outside fixing the passenger side mirror. apparently he hit a truck on his way here. the housing seemed okay, but the mirror was detached, and whatever bracket held the mirror in place had snapped off. he was ready to go back to the cafe, forgetting the whole reason why he came out, which was to pick up his drugs. so we went to the vanguard pharmacy and while he waited outside in the car i went inside to get his prescription. we made it back to the cafe around 9:20am.

i also came with my tire fixing tools and spare tires and inner tubes. in the late morning when there seemed to be a lull in the rain, i grabbed the opportunity to fix the flat tire. first i had to take off the rear wheel. i thought i needed an adjustable wrench, but all i needed was a 15mm socket wrench. removing the old tire and tube was easy too, it was already coming off anyway. the new tire was all coiled up (versus arriving flat like all my previous replacement tires), and still seemed misshapen even after i unfurled it. i semi-inflated the new inner tube, put it inside the new tire, and put it on the wheel rim. it was easy for the most part, except the final section which required some tire levers to push it completely inside the rim. i installed the wheel back on the bike before inflating the tire to 80psi. all of this took just 15 minutes, probably even faster if i wasn't distracted with work stuff.

business today was weird. we barely had any customers around our normally busy lunchtime. maybe it was the weather, maybe something else was happening and we weren't privy too, but it had the makings of a slow work day. but starting at 3pm we started getting busy, and then by 4pm it got really busy. so busy that i cooked some more rice because we were afraid we'd run out. then by 5pm we had zero customers again.

my sister went out and brought back some soft pretzels. not the kind she used to get, some different kind from another bakery. we didn't have any yellow mustard but did have some french's spicy brown mustard which i used to eat the pretzels.

after we closed it was the moment of truth: i rode home with the new tire. it performed perfectly, no issues. if i have time this weekend i'll replace the front tire as well. i also have my old tire, would be nice to know how i got the flat. i got the bike fixed just in time because i plan on going into boston again tomorrow, to haymarket again.

i moved out some luffas and bitter melons. the air outside felt very warm and humid. tomorrow looks to be a warm day, with temperature nearly in the 80's. the 10-day forecast looks like rain every single day except for monday.

i rewatched the series finale of andor before preparing dinner: another bento my mother prepared for me. leftover rice, some chicken stirfry, some yellow daikon radishes. i ate while watching the thunder-nuggets game. denver is down 1-3 and i found myself actually rooting for them. as of this writing now sure who will win but denver is currently leading with 9 points midway in the 4th quarter. maybe with that series continuing, some of that magic will rub off on the celtics as they hope to win again tomorrow night game 6.

i woke up at my usual time this morning - 8am - but instead of getting ready to go to the cafe, to went to chinatown instead. after inflating both my tires, i left around 8:40am. first i made a detour to harvard vanguard to pick up prescriptions for my parents. my mother's was ready, but my father's wouldn't be set until this afternoon. i was already starting to warm up so i stripped down to my t-shirt and continued to boston. i finally got to chinatown around 9:15am.

i went to c-mart first, where the chestnut cookies we give to customers who tip were slightly cheaper. i did notice all the cookies were about to expire in 2 more months though. i also bought some baby bokchoi on sale ($1.99/lbs) and some taiwanese melons ($2.99/lbs).

i then went to ming's market to buy the rest of the stuff on my grocery list, as they typically have the cheaper prices. i got chinese celery ($1.99/lbs), longhorn peppers ($1.69/lbs), carrots (99¢/lbs), baby cucumbers ($1.79/lbs), and napa cabbage (99¢/lbs). they also had chestnut cookies which don't expire until november so i got another pack. finally i came across ugly fruit oranges. that's not their real name (i think they're actually gold nugget oranges) but that's what my family calls them, and apparently that's what the store calls them as well, "ugli tangerine." they were selling for just $1.49/lbs, i bought 3 lbs. worth.

i spent some time organizing all my groceries in my rear bike baskets before finally leaving chinatown around 9:50am. the ride back took more than half an hour, but the weather was nice, and even though i didn't take any medication or nasal spray, my allergy wasn't really acting up. i finally made it to the cafe by 10:30am.

were we outside on the patio deck with esmei when sheila one of the hairdressers came by. "do you guys like fish?" she asked. she ended up giving us a vacuumed sealed package of black cod she caught on her annual ocean fishing expedition off the coast of alaska. she said she was moving and was cleaning out stuff from her house.

we tried the ugli tangerines which were really sweet but a little dry. my mother sliced one of the taiwanese melons - they were crunchy and sweet, but about $1.50 per melon the size of a baseball, they were a bit on the pricey side. they taste similar to green honeydew melon, it's probably cheaper buying one of those than these smaller taiwanese variety. i did however save the seeds, i'll try growing some of my own if the seeds are viable. my parents fried some homemade dumplings for breakfast and i ate a bunch before it started to get busy.

it wasn't as busy as yesterday but it was close. a more rounded selection today, a little bit of everything, with nothing standing out. no minced pork bentos today, which seem to alternate in popularity. i did finally make a new batch of tea eggs, the first new batch this week. i typically make tea eggs twice a week, and when it gets really busy, three times (like what happened last week).

was all set to go home after work when i discovered the rear tire on my bike had gone flat. my parents hadn't left yet and they offered me a ride home as i locked up the bike. i'm come back tomorrow with new replacement tire and tube, i should have it fixed in minutes. the tubes and tires i bought months ago, just never got around to replacing them. ironically, it's my front tire that has more cracks in it, the back tire seems to be in better shape. since i'm just replacing the tire and tube, the fix will go a lot quicker compared to if i had to track down where the leak is. i'm just lucky it didn't happen while i was in chinatown, that would've been a very long walk back.

i watered my seedlings, both indoor and outdoor. some nigella i planted in starter cell containers have germinated, so i moved them underneath the closet grow lights. i'll probably move out more seedlings tomorrow, give them a chance to get used to outdoor conditions before transplanting.

i took a quick shower before settling down to watch the knicks-celtics game (5). this was an elimination game for boston, lose and the season is over. they didn't have tatum, who was still recovering from his achilles tendon surgery yesterday. but boston still had plenty of good players. would the celtics go down like the cavaliers, losing in a gentleman's sweep? i'm happy to report history did not repeat itself. the first half was close, something like 10 lead changes. for some reason porzingis had zero offense, even missing his free throws. the team played better when kornet subbed in. in the second half it was all celtics. this was the game all boston fans were waiting for. celtics kept building on their lead, knowing that even up 20 points was nothing for the knicks, who came back multiple times down that much to beat the celtics. boston pushed the lead to 28 points with just minutes left in the game before we could collectively sigh and realize the celtics had survived, 102-127. derrick white was lead scorer for the celtics with 34 points. jaylen brown led with 12 assists, while kornet had 9 rebounds and 7 blocks. game 6 is friday night. if celtics win that game, then all bets are off. i just hope porzingis can finally snap out of his funk.

after the first quarter, i ran into the kitchen to reheat the bento my mother made for me: cauliflower, tofu, tomatoes, some japanese pickled radish, and a leftover piece of lamb chop.

after the game i watched episode 10 of andor. spoilers! the show wasn't messing around. first scene had luthen execute lonni. as if that was shocking enough, the second scene featured dedra meero paying a surprise friendly visit to luthen's antique shop. at first you think she doesn't suspect him and was just there by coincidence, but then she takes out the imperial starpath unit. oh snap. this show is not playing! i then went to bed early, but actually watched the last two before sleeping. the amount of time kleya appears on screen, the showed should be renamed kleya. not sure what elizabeth dulau is doing next, but andor gave her the spotlight and she killed it. we finally saw K-2SO - fan favorite droid from rogue one - in action. honestly, i could watch a whole series where it was just andor and K-2SO (and melshi as support) going on adventures. maybe an animated series since it can't be cheap doing the SFX for K-2SO. but after the series ended, it made me want to rewatch rogue one - although i've actually already started rewatching it a week ago. the show ended with a B2EMO cameo as well as bix, holding what appears to be andor's child! so a hopeful ending.

i woke up at 7am this morning so i could go to belmont and do some gardening before work. i was going to take the bike, but made the sudden realization that it'd be much faster if i went via motorcycle instead.

when i arrived in belmont around 7:45am, my parents were still asleep. first thing i did was spray the cherry plum tree with horticulture oil. i looked at the instructions last night, decided to mix 4 tbsp of oil (2 oz.) with 1 gallon of water. the oil came with a handy measuring cup. i decided to spray today because it was the most optimal day: dry, no wind, and not expected to rain for at least 24 hours. beginning on wednesday night, we get chances of spot showers that goes into thursday, and then friday and saturday looks to be rainy with possibility of thunderstorms.

i climbed a ladder to get as high as possible. the more i sprayed the more i was sickened to see how serious the scale infestation was. this must've been going on for several years already, and i'm only now noticing it. midway through spraying my father came out to water some plants. not only did i spray, but i also did some more pruning of dead branches and branches that were growing at awkward angles. i did the best i could with the horticulture oil, not sure if i managed to cover all parts of the tree. of course this would've been a lot easier to do in late winter early spring, when the tree hadn't leafed out yet. all i can do now is monitor the infestation, continue to apply the horticulture oil if i don't see any improvements. another thing i did was to wrap outward-facing duct tape around the truck of the tree. i did it with both the cherry plum and the kwanzan cherry. this is prevent ants from crawling up the trees. ants will protect and farm the scales, chasing off predatory insects. by keep ants off the trees, beneficial insects like ladybugs can establish a colony and eat the scales.

i planted the solomon seals. some i put with the hostas and ferns along the eastern bed near the entrance gate to the backyard. the others i planted in the southwestern bed, between the small kwanzan cherry and the fence.

another thing i did was put some chicken wire fencing underneath the gap of one of the fences in RB0, to keep rabbits from getting to the radishes. so far this spring rabbits have stayed away from our backyard, or at least i haven't seen any rabbit signs. plants that rabbits normally defoliate - like violets - are abundant in the backyard. i think it's only a matter of time though. once they start breeding, and bunnies become adult rabbits, i expect to find them in the backyard again. in the meantime, if we can plug any holes in the fences, that might be a good start.

my parents left for work before 9am. i stuck around a bit longer, watering the plants in the grow room. these are mainly orchids, pennyworts, pileas, rubber plant, and tradescantias.

i rode to the cafe, arriving around 9:30am, after about 2 hours of early morning yard work.

in the mid-morning - before the customers started showing up - my father and i climbed up to the roof again to replace the HVAC filters. going up the ladder, i gouged a small piece of flesh from my forearm from a sharp exposed corner. having never replaced the filters before, it took us a while to figure out how to open the panel. when we finally did, the old filters were casually arranged inside. the top two filters - 15x20" - didn't look all that dirty. the larger bottom filter - 14x25" - was much dirtier. we've still yet to turn on the AC (even all though the wiring are in place for cooling), but we feel better now that we have clean filters. the ones that my father got are MERV 7. the manual said we can go up to MERV 8 but no higher than that.

maybe because of the nice weather, but today was a very busy day. we never got slammed, but there was just a steady stream of customers coming in, as well as online orders. mostly easy stuff, a lot of bento boxes. and orders with multiple items, which means we make more per customer. today was one of the top five busiest days of the past 3 months.

i didn't make any tea eggs today (made a fresh batch saturday), but did make some boba pearls. i also cooked dumpings several times as they sold out, as well as a new batch of black soy noodles. in the mid-afternoon my father heated up some leftover beef noodle soup (with plenty of tendons and unwanted beef chunks) and we all had that for lunch. later i went over to my sister's place to help her piece together another dog tent for esmei, this one with an elevated platform that she intends to leave outside. esmei wanted to play tug, but when she got tired, she just fell to her side outside in the sun and went to sleep.

i got in touch with my upstairs neighbor jeff. apparently he arrived just last night. i told him i'd drop off some housewarming beverages after he told me he likes IPA beers.

my father's replacement driver license and health insurance card arrived yesterday. the only thing that's missing now was his MBTA senior discount card, which i helped him order a new replacement. the criteria involves sending them a photo of your driver license and a passport quality photo. they used to print your photo on card, but for security reasons, they now just keep your photo in their database.

i left the cafe at 6:30pm. my parents were still there making chinese dumplings. also a customer came in right around 6:30pm and my father said it was okay for him to eat here. that's another pet peeve of mine, customers who show up at closing time and want to dine in. my father never tells them we're closing and that they can only get takeout, but always allow them to eat here.

i didn't go home but instead went to my 2nd aunt's apartment. my 2nd uncle is home alone while my aunt is on vacation in california. she tried calling the home phone a few times but my uncle never answered. my father actually went there sunday as a welfare check; he said my 2nd uncle was fine, but the phone wasn't working. so i went there today to fix the phone. it's an internet phone, so i basically fixed it by replugging it back in. that's all it took.

when i did get home, i bumped into jeff while i was taking out the trash cans. he told me he just spent a week on vacation in hawaii, before coming back to boston. i went to the liquor store around the corner and get him some IPA beers plus some woodchuck amber hard cider for myself. i was just going to leave them on his back porch but he heard me coming and thanked me for the beverages.

pacers eliminated the no.1 seeded cavaliers tonight. for some reason the pacers are cavalier kryptonite. i could be wrong, but i seem to recall indiana had a winning record over cleveland in the regular season. cavs led in the first half (as much as 19 points), but pacers continued chipping away at that lead, until midway in the third quarter pacers took the lead and never gave it back. it seemed inevitable after cavs lost game 4 to be down 1-3. i feel like history will repeat itself with the celtics tomorrow night. i so very much want the celtics to win the series, but being down 1-3 is not just a fluke, says something about the celtics, says something about the knicks. even if boston win tomorrow night, they're only delaying the inevitable. even if by some miracle the celtics win the series, without tatum they can't go much farther. speaking of which, it was confirmed that tatum did indeed rupture his achilles tendon. celtics front office didn't even announce the news by late afternoon, by which time tatum had already had surgery to repair the tendon. they say the sooner the tendon is repaired (less than 24 hours), the greater chance of recovery. with tatum in recovery for the next year, it's going to be a painful period for the celtics. the team is already too expensive, the front office will definitely be trading some players. the boston celtics will not look the same as they do right now, which is sad.

i cooked some ricotta cavatelli pasta for dinner. i didn't think a pound of frozen pasta was a lot until they finished cooking and i had a huge bowl. not even sure how much calories i consumed, must be in the thousands. so much for losing weight! at the very least i was very full after that pasta meal, wasn't in the mood to do any snacking (not that i could anyway, no snacks in the house, that's one way to prevent snacking).

we need some asian supplies so i'm riding down to chinatown tomorrow morning to get some stuff. maybe help me work off all these calories!

i moved all my houseplants outside again this morning, now that sub-50 degrees nights are a thing of the past. i also added two more trays of seedlings: kabocha squashes and a mix of luffas and bitter melons. they should be ready for transplanting in another week or two.

i went to the community garden, bringing with me 3 more milk crates to use as grow bag bases. my garden neighbor gene was there working on his plot. i noticed he haphazardly tossed a shovel into my garden. gene was also the one who dug up a bunch of my plants one season, including a monkshood, because he got confused where the borderline was. i was there to do some weeding, i noticed a lot of grass in my plot. the strategy was to dup up clumps of garden soil, shake off all the excess dirt, throw away all the grass, and replant the plants i wanted to keep. i ended up with a bunch of extra garlic chives, which i kept (to grow elsewhere). there was also plenty of sedum which i put back into the soil. i worked until noontime before i left.

after i got home, i changed to my motorcycle and left for my parents' place. my mother was about to go with my sister and esmei to winchester fells. i quickly ate some leftover barbecue before joining them.

it's been a while since we went to winchester fells, not since hailey was still alive. my sister used to go all the time, but only recently has she taken esmei, now that she's better trained and can go off-leash and return on command (most of the time). going in late spring affords you the privilege of seeing something ephemeral in our new england woods: ladyslipper orchids! we were still maybe a few weeks early before they all bloom, but we saw plenty of ladyslipper leaves and we did encounter a few in bloom.

esmei loves exploring the woods. when she sees other people she pays them no mind, unless they have a dog, and then she wants to play. a lot of people who saw her thought she was a puppy because of her size. she's not skittish with strangers and will allow them to pet her but shows no emotions. unlike hailey who has a herding instinct and will make sure everyone in the group is together, esmei could care less if the humans in her party got lost. the only person she listens to is my sister, who bribes her obedience with treats. esmei will basically follow anyone if she thinks they have food for her. she's prone to running off and doing her own thing. a few times my sister zapped her with the remote shock collar, but esmei barely noticed the pain.

entering the woods we saw a bunch of jack-in-the-pulpits. the forest floor was littered with canadian mayflowers. they do resemble ladyslipper leaves, except mayflower leaves are shiny while ladyslippers are fuzzy. i saw some shady overgrowth plants that i thought were ginseng (which i knew was impossible) but turned out to be wild sarsaparilla, not to be confused with true sarsaparilla. i found some pipsissewa AKA umbrellate wintergreen. i only identified it through google lens, and i'd never seen it before. it didn't have any flowers but the long glossy are distinctive. we also saw some robin's plantain, which i got confused with rattlesnake plantain, but rattlesnake plantain's leaves are fuzzy and its flowers are tiny orchids. robin's plantain is related to hawkweed, and its flowers are yellow. near the mouth of a brook that emptied into the winchester town reservoir were some yellow water buttercups which i originally thought were carnivorous bladderworts. the yellow flowers have a waxy texture that makes them look plastic. close by was some white bog violet, a new one for me (identified via google lens as well) - thought they were just regular violets except the leaves were different. next to that was some highbush bluberry flowers being pollinated by a large carpenter bee that attracted esmei's attention.

besides plants, there wasn't much additional wildlife. i found a male juvenal's duskywing butterfly (a type of skipper), identified by the median spots on the forewings and two spots on the hindwings. as far as butterflies go they're kind of nondescript and only a real insect fan would get excited about them. i was hoping to run into some snakes but maybe it's still too cold for snakes or maybe they were just hiding. i did see a turtle sunning itself on a rock in the reservoir, next to a common female merganser and a male mallard.

the crazy storms we had a few weeks back toppled a few trees in the fells. it's nature's way of making way for new trees. most of the trees that fell, you could see they were hollow on the inside and were probably due to fall eventually. we had to scramble over a few down trees, while esmei happily ran across the horizontal trunks.

we left winchester fells by 3:30pm. my mother wanted to visit an ocean state job lot store, but i wanted to get home quick because i was feeling car sick and needed to use the bathroom. driving back, there was already traffic going outbound from boston (luckily we were going inbound so no traffic).

my father home alone had already moved back out all the houseplants including the wintering hot peppers and osmanthus cuttings. he trimmed some garlic chives and planted them in a long pot with some leftover fertilizer of unknown NPK content. unfortunately we don't have a lot of space for garlic chives. we used to have a garlic chive patch near the southwestern corner of the yard, but ever since we planted a hawthorn and transplanted a kwanzan cherry we bought online, that corner is now completely shady. we may plant them in the elevated long rectangular plants we have behind the raised beds up against the sunroom. those planters are often neglected, but garlic chives are perfect because they thrive on neglect, as long as they get watered periodically and have plenty of sun to grow.

we pruned the big kwanzan cherry and the krauter vesuvius purple leaf plum. an errant wisteria had grown up against the fence onto one of the cherry branches, choking it to death. fortunately it was a branch overhanging into our backyard neighbor's property so we decided to cut it off. all day long i was waiting for my horticultural oil to arrive so i could spray the cherry plum. it actually did arrive around 4pm but the delivery person put in the mail box so i decided see it until it was too late to spray. it wouldn't have been a good day anyway because it was so windy. i'm going to come back this weekend in the afternoon when the cafe isn't busy to do some spraying.

i planted the strawberry i got from the plant swap into an upside down 2 liter plastic soda bottle that i made some drainage and hanging holes. the funny this is we have plenty of hanging pots that i don't need to do this, but i've seen it done elsewhere and always thought it was cool and wanted to grow my own strawberry from a hanging soda bottle container.

we didn't have time to make more raised bed fencing for RB0. instead we used the 4 that we did have to make a small enclosure (though a rabbit could easily sneak underneath to eat the radish leaves). as for the seedlings outside of the fenced area, we used some wire fencing loops to protect them until we can finally make more raised bed fencing.

we didn't fire up the grill today to cook the extra lamb chops nor the italian sausages. we'll put them in the freezer and save them for next weekend. instead we just ate leftover barbecue from yesterday, which we still have plenty of: chicken wings, drumsticks, ribs. there was also plenty of leftover pasta salad.

i went home around 7pm. after a quick shower (wash off the stink from hiking in the woods), i settled in to watch game 4 of the celtics-knicks series. celtics ended up losing 113-121. boston led for the first 3 quarters, but lost the most important 4th quarter. to make matters worse, jayson tatum suffered a non-contact injury with just minutes left in the game. he had to be carried off the court, and a hallway camera caught him being escorted away in a wheelchair, his face buried in his hands. the celtics were already unraveling, but the shocking lost of tatum sent them spiraling. just like the cavaliers, the celtics are now down 1-3 in the series. as for tatum's injury, nobody wants to say it, but it looks like an achilles rupture, which means he won't be available to play next season as he rehabilitates.

i didn't think jeff moved in yet because the lights were out upstairs when i returned home, but later in the evening - around 10pm - i started hearing noises upstairs even though i never heard anyone go up. did he already move in? but why were the lights off? maybe he took a nap so he could watch the timberwolves-warriors series. golden state about to lose, down 1-3. in other NBA news, the dallas mavericks won the NBA draft lottery. they only had a 1.8% odds of getting the number one pick. looks like cooper flagg is going to dallas!

my father came by this morning to pick up the pasta salad, the barbecue meats, and some plants for belmont. while he continued home, i rode to the cafe to put away the tea eggs and leftover rice, before heading to belmont as well. it was so warm, i took off my jacket, but i did feel a little chilly on the motorcycle. i caught my parents before they left for costco to get a few more things for our afternoon mother's day barbecue (including the ribs).

my father had mowed the backyard earlier, but i mowed the front lawn. i was tasked with cleaning up the house, particularly the sunroom. some stuff went to the garage, while others went down to the basement. decluttering was top priority, and i went whether the mess took me, whether that's the sunroom, the backyard, the living room, or the basement. my parents already came back while i was rearranging the basement grow room. my mother said costco wasn't surprisingly not very busy.

i continued cleaning. i vacuumed the house. i trimmed some hedges in the front yard. i moved all the osmanthus cuttings outside. i hung up the ratcheting hooks from the maple tree. my father helped me move the tiered plant stand to an area near the perennial bed behind the garage.

even though the guests weren't due to arrive until 4pm, my father started grilling around 2pm. i was in the front yard at the time and could smell the aroma of memphis ribs getting cooked. i thought it was too early, but with so many meats that need to be grilled, there wasn't time to wait for everyone to arrive first.

my sister's godmother was the first time arrive, she came on her own via MBTA. she brought korean popsicles and a glutinous rice cake she'd made. my aunt and matthew showed up around 4pm bringing with them beers. we all started eating before my sister finally arrived with esmei close to 5pm. my sister brought marinated beef. despite the warm weather, it was actually kind of breezy today, and underneath the shade of the maple tree, it can be a little chilly.

besides the ribs, we also grilled two variety of chicken - wings and large drumsticks. later we grilled some cumin-coated lamb chops as well. the thicker pieces were a little rare, but the smaller one that i had was cooked to medium. in between eating i also took matthew on a tour of our backyard, including our secret basement grow room where it was a showcase of orchids.

my sister found a tick on esmei's head that she removed with a pair of tweezers. i noticed a scale infestation on our cherry plum. before matthew and my aunt left, i gave him a bag of lily-of-the-valley to plant in his own backyard. my sister gave her godmother a ride home. once everyone was gone, we continued cleaning outside, clearing the table. i moved all our outdoor plants to either the basement or the sunroom as the temperature tonight is supposed to drop into the lower 40's. i also finally turned off the furnace, which was basically switching the power off.

i didn't get back home until 8pm. i moved all the plants from my backyard porch inside the house to prevent any frost damage. i looked up how to treat scale insect infestation and the common way seems to be spraying with horticultural oil. nothing seemed to be available at home depot (at least nothing in stock), so i ended up ordering 16 oz. of bonide all seasons concentrated horticultural oil for $14 due to arrive tomorrow (hopefully by the afternoon so i can spray).

i watched game 4 between the cavaliers and pacers. cleveland dominated indiana last game, putting the series at 1-2. tonight was another must-win, as very few teams ever come back from a 1-3 deficit. in the first quarter the pacers pushed their lead to nearly 20 points. by the second quarter the wheels came off for the cavaliers, as the pacers had a 41 point lead going into halftime. it was a lead they would not give up. end of the third quarter, the lead had dropped to 35 points. by the end of the game, the deficit was 20 points. to make matters worse, donovan mitchell didn't play in the second half due to some unspecified injury. pacers win 109-129. this game is also interesting in that the celtics seem to be mirroring the cavaliers. both top seeded teams started their 2nd round series being down 0-2, and both teams dominated in game 3. would boston continue to echo cleveland, get demolished by the knicks tomorrow night? i guess we're find out in less than 24 hours.

it was cold enough inside the house (63 degrees) this morning that my heat kicked on. i forgot i didn't turn it off yet for the season. the heat hasn't been on for weeks. it may however kick on again tomorrow night - when temperature is supposed to dip down to 44 degrees - but after that night time temperatures will be in the 50-60's for the foreseeable future.

inspecting my grow closet this morning, i noticed a pepper seedling had popped up in a pot that already had a bitter melon seedling. that's because it's a reused pot. i'll need to transplant the pepper at some point. my transplanted snapdragons are also growing, but they probably need to be transplanted outdoor at some point before they get any bigger. while watering the seedlings i spotted a fungus gnat. so far this growing season, i haven't had any gnats in my grow closet until today. it's good thing i'm close to moving everything outside. in the meantime i put up a yellow sticky trap in hopes of capturing some adults.

the rain that fell overnight was slowing down this morning, but it was still wet outside, so i donned on my rain gear, knowing i wouldn't be wearing it when i returned home. coming onto rc kelley street, the road was blocked by a wall of pedestrians. apparently they were attending a historical lecture. it sounded interesting, and i wanted to listen in, but i also had to get to work, so i walked my bike onto the sidewalk to get by them before continuing on my way.

i made a new batch of tea egg spices, 20 packets. we got a few orders midway through and i had to stop what i was doing to fulfill the orders. i also made a new batch of tea eggs. not that we were in any danger of running out today, but tea eggs taste better the longer they steep in the tea brine, so this new batch will be perfect come next week.

one of our regulars - little moustache ("小鬍子") - came to eat on thursday and came back again today despite the rainy weather. he bought his girlfriend, they both ordered bentos, they finished everything.

even though we didn't make our daily average, we still made some profit despite the bad weather. the rain didn't stop until almost 2pm. by the time we closed a 4pm, the sun was coming out. my aunt invited my parents out for some korean barbecue in honor of mother's day. i was invited too but declined the invitation because i had to get home to watch the celtics game which started at 3:30pm. i also convinced my mother to have a mother's day barbecue tomorrow because of the nice weather.

i bumped into leon when i got home. we chatted briefly about the celtics, both not believing that boston is down 0-2. i turned on the tv when i got inside. the celtics were up 15 points, and were playing much better than the previous two games. the game was very similar to the cleveland game last night. knicks never led, celtics had a 31 point lead at point. final score 115-93. payton pritchard had the most points for the celtics with 23.

during halftime i transplanted that stray pepper seedling i saw in my bitter melon pot.

originally i wanted to catch some somerville porchfest action, but that was before i realized the celtics were playing. the game ended at 6pm, which was also the time when porchfest finished. i biked to market basket afterwards to get some barbecue ingredients. i passed plenty of people leaving porchfest, all of them young.

when i came home i started making my pasta salad. i haven't made it since may 2023. due to shrinkflation, the box of tri-color rotini was only 12 oz., not 16 oz., so i had to get a second box to make up the difference.

i'm not sure how i came across this pasta salad recipe but it's really good. besides the pasta and not counting the dressing, there are 8 other ingredients. i also really like how colorful the salad is. tri-color rotini is key. recipe calls for a cup of black olives but i accidentally only bought about half a cup's worth. for ham i had 10 oz. of frozen smoked ham in the freezer that i thawed and then chopped into cubes. because my mother loves arugula, i added 2 cups worth of arugula. the next time i make this salad, i want to try adding some anchovies to the dressing for even more flavor.

after i finished tossing the salad, i put it in the refrigerator to chill. it was already after 8pm. too lazy to reheated my leftover pizza, i just ate it cold with an orange seltzer.

i walked to star market this morning to get some lamb chops and asparagus on sale, before returning home and biking to the cafe for work. i didn't bring my bag because i knew it'd be raining when i come back home later. i did bring my rain jacket and rain pants and wore my rain boots.

with the rain coming in today, i figured it'd be a slow day. but the rain didn't start falling until almost 2pm, so it was dry enough during lunchtime that we got busy. even after it started raining, we continued to get customers, so it's not always true that bad weather means no business.

my father's replacement costco card arrived at the cafe today, while his bank cards came yesterday. he now has most of the cards he lost, the only thing missing is a replacement driver license. i need the new license so i could get a replacement MBTA senior pass card. it's still a mystery where his wallet went. my personal theory is he accidentally knocked it into the trash can. i also think it'll just show up one day, in some place nobody bothered checking.

i had some ham-daikon-seaweed soup mixed with rice for lunch, along with some steamed white fish my father had made. later we tried some french flan my sister bought from costco yesterday: it tasted good, but the flan consistency was a little too hard, like maybe they added gelatin. to get to the caramel layer on the bottom, you basically had to mash up the flan.

my father went to home depot yesterday to get the properly sized filters for our rooftop HVAC. unfortunately we didn't have time to install them, and then it started raining. contractors for the next door bakery came today to continue working on interior renovations, so the sound of hammering and drilling filled the entire day.

when my parents went to my godmother's place on wednesday for dinner, she gave them a large potted parlor palm (chamaedorea). it was doing fine at her apartment, but just one day in our care and the palm looks dead. the problem is parlor palms are shade loving plants, and we left it outside in the sun. to make matters worse, temperature last night dropped into the upper 40's, and this tropical plant did not like that. we've since moved it indoors, hopefully it can recover.

a girl actually returned her beef noodle soup order today, said the noodles weren't cooked. this has never happened before. we cook the noodles the same way every single time for the same length of time. we recooked her noodles and gave back her order. she finished everything and said it was delicious, but we hope she never comes back. picky eaters are the worst customers.

in the late afternoon i assisted my father in deep frying a new batch of salt & pepper chicken. the past few times we did it, we closed the kitchen door to keep the oil smell from getting to the rest of the cafe. we thought we did a pretty good job, but when my sister stopped by, she immediately complained about the oil smell.

it was pouring rain when i left for home. not the worst rainstorm i've biked in, but definitely not pleasant. my rain gear kept me dry though, but it was cumbersome and i couldn't easily turn back to see traffic behind me, so i just took it on faith that cars wouldn't hit me. nobody was upstairs when i got home, so it looks like jeff hasn't moved in it. i went to my backyard porch to empty the flooded seedling tray. i also readjusted the gutter downspout extender in the front yard so it'd flow out onto the sidewalk instead of back into the garden.

my parents went to trader joe's after work to get a few things for the cafe tomorrow (baby cucumbers, scallions). my mother called me to let me know she found a purple mini tote bag, the only one she was missing to complete her set.

tufts students rumeysa ozturk was finally released from a louisiana detention center today after she was abducted by masked ICE agents more than 6 weeks ago and moved out of state before the local courts could stop them. i hope she can go back to her normal life after being a political pawn in trump's reign of cruelty.

for dinner i heated a supreme pizza in the oven. i ate while watching the cavalirs-pacers game. this was a must-win game 3 for cleveland, since no NBA team has ever come back from being down 0-3. cavaliers lead the entire time in a statement game. win game 4 and they tie the series, making it into a best out of 3 series. this is the blueprint the celtics are hoping to achieve to get into the conference finals. we'll find out tomorrow night.