i switched the wires in the cafe nest thermostat to summertime cooling mode. today might be seem like it - with temperature in the 50's and overcast - but by next week we'll definitely need with temperature in the 90's.

i went down to trader joe's midmorning to get some bananas and a few other ingredients for the cafe. when i got back, i finished cleaning the remaining two wire shelves in the sliding door fridge. the two topmost shelves are the dirtiest, since there's more moisture on the very top. we tossed out a few more jars, including some ancient kimchi and some yellow ghost pepper hot sauce i made but too afraid to try.

my parents made another scallion bread. i ate three pieces but could've easily eaten the whole thing, especially when right out of the electric baking pan and still hot.

it was busy today, a lot of bento sales, a lot of noodles, and most of all bubble tea. a group of noisy kids took over the cafe in the late afternoon, ordering bubble tea. not just children, but adults enjoy the bubble tea as well. we ended up making as much today as two days combined. we didn't set any records, but easily the most profitable day in 2 weeks. whatever we make tomorrow saturday will just be bonus.

my aunt showed up in the late afternoon. she had some stewed pork on rice before taking home the rest of the scallion bread.

returning home after work, i stopped by observatory hill to admire a tree with white flowers that look like tiny bells. i did some research, it's a carolina silverbell (Halesia carolina), native to the smoky mountains, but hardy to zone 4. the flowers have no fragrance, but tree produces an abundance of blossoms in late spring.

i had one final night of chicken caesar salad for dinner. the romain must be old because it tasted a little bitter. i didn't have any croutons so went across the street to the supermarket to get some.

pistons equalize their series against the cavs, forcing a game 7 in detroit on sunday. spurs and timberwolves play a game 6 tonight, still not over yet, san antonio currently leads by 16 points in the 3rd quarter. i hope that series go to 7 games as well.

i didn't hear jeff upstairs tonight, i'm guessing he went home to california after his weeklong mandatory office visit at his biotech job. i probably won't see him until next month.

it wasn't going to start raining today until after 11am, so i stayed dry this morning when i went to the cafe. i did wear my rain jacket and bring my rain pants.

i made a new batch of boba pearls and a new batch of tea eggs. my mother made some scallion bread with the large package of scallions she got from costco over the weekend. she salted the chopped scallions which gave the bread more flavor. we proofed the dough in the breville oven. the bread came out perfect, we even gave a piece to a curious customer. my mother found a new thing to watch: AI generated chinese dramas. i devoted some time today cleaning the moldy wire shelves of the sliding door fridge. it gave us a chance to toss out some expired foods. jeana's hydrangeas survived their wilting, but one of them was too far gone and all the flowers are shriveled. she was supposed to come by and pick them up but never did.

today ended up being a slow day because of the rain, we made less than our daily average, but not too bad considering the bad weather. i'm actually surprised we got any business at all once the rain started.

the rain had lessened by the time i headed home, but there was still a drizzle. i put on my rain gear, which felt like going underwater. when i got home i had to move the motorcycle because eversource was coming by to do more utility work. i then went to star market to stock up on some polar seltzer on sale.

a fourth butterfly pea had sprouted. i fished out the second seed i planted and put it in its own pot. i also dug through the pot of the last bitter melon seeds that i napkin-germinated. it never sprouted but digging through the soil i found the seedling, still growing underground. i helped it out by partially exposing the seedling.

for dinner i made another chicken caesar salad. it was easier this time around because i'd already cooked the chicken breasts yesterday. i made a massive serving of salad using my largest pyrex bowl. a rare night where there was no basketball. instead i watched some movies on pluto.tv.

on a day where i could afford to sleep late, i still ended up waking around 7:30am. i tried to go back to sleep but couldn't. it was surprisingly dark outside, like maybe it might rain. it did rain a little bit. i went outside to wipe dry my motorcycle before putting on the new cover. i moved out some plants: my three umbrella plants and a plastic tray filled with hyacinth bean and tomato seedlings. after today, night time temperature will hold steady at 50 degrees and above, which means seedlings can begin moving outside.

i also checked my ziploc seeds. no activity on the hot peppers, but another luffa seed sprouted. you can tell when a luffa seed is viable because it first begins to swell, before growing a root. i planted it with the root pointing down. the root will continue to grow downwards, before pushing the seed head out of the soil.

in the late morning i decided to go out and get my mother's prescription before getting some groceries at market basket. it was still raining so i was going to delay the trip, but the doppler radar showed the storm clouds leaving the area, so i went out after all. there was a long wait at the harvard vanguard pharmacy line. i was standing behind a young woman in yoga pants with bad ache who had palpable frustration as people kept cutting in front of her in line, for various reasons.

i made a quick stop at walgreens before heading to market basket. i was getting frozen shrimps and drinks for the cafe. i decided i was going to make chicken caesar salad for dinner, and grabbed some chicken breast and romaine lettuce.

i came home, threw a chicken cordon bleu in the oven, and waited 35 minutes for it to finish baking. earlier i also did a load of laundry, the clothes were finished in the dryer by the time i got back, so i spend some time folding them.

there was no noontime news: every single local channel was broadcasting the catholic funeral of the state trooper who got killed in the wrong way driver crash. after i finished lunch, i pulled the cover off of the motorcycle and rode to the cafe with the supplies.

from the cafe i went directly to greater boston motorsports in arlington heights to get my motorcycle inspected. the rain had finally stopped, the roads were already dry from the rolling traffic. unlike cars, motorcycles need to be inspected every year. because i'd already replaced the front tire last year, there was nothing wrong with the bike. the store owner actually came out to do the inspection, checked the tires for cracks, made sure the lights and horn worked, and that was it. i paid $15 for the inspection sticker.

i went to belmont. the motorcycle tires seemed flat because i had a hard time rolling them. i couldn't find the digital tire pressure gauge so could only use the manual gauge on the air compressor which said 30 psi for my front tire and 40 psi for the rear tire. i ended up not inflating either of them, will wait until i can get a more accurate reading with the digital gauge. i also looked underneath the motorcycle to see what kind of oil filter i had. the honda shadow uses a spin-on filter, but sometimes it has a built-in wrench off nut. the filter on the bike did not have his nut, which meant it needed a special tool to remove it. i don't remember installing a nutless filter, so i wonder if this was installed about 3 years ago when i had my motorcycle totally services when i had the rear tire replaced. anyway, i searched the garage for the special oil filter tool but couldn't find it. i did find another replacement air filter, but when i looked inside i saw it was used. eventually i did find the tool, so i can probably change the oil this weekend.

i had big plans of going to home depot to buy some EMT conduits, but it was already almost 3pm, not enough time. instead i stayed at my parents' place and did some yard work. i did some light weeding in RB0, before moving onto RB2 and redistributing the swiss chard seedlings 6" apart from one another. afterwards i watered the backyard using rain barrel water.

while watering the eastern perennial bed (lily of the valley field), i came across 2 mourning dove chicks huddled on the ground. these may be fledglings as they look pretty mature. hopefully they'll leave soon. i also saw a dead robin by the grape trellis. it doesn't seem to be a window strike. i'm hoping maybe a scavenger will take it otherwise i'll need to bury it. finally, i didn't see any mature rabbits, but i saw at least one bunny running around the backyard. rabbits have already eaten a patch of violets, as well as the milkweed seedlings i saw between RB1 and RB2 a few weeks ago.

i left belmont by 4pm, headed straight home. a moving van has reserved three parking spots in front of my house, so i wanted to get home early enough that i could still find a good parking for my motorcycle. i put the cover on it as soon as i got back since it's going to rain all of tomorrow and most of friday as well.

i decided to do some work in my own garden plot. i wanted to bring all my milk crates but i could only carry 3 on the back of my bicycle. i did some weeding, pulled up some grass, but the plot needs more work. looks like i'll be here saturday after work. i was about to leave when i bumped into ginny. she started talking and i got caught up in her conversational web for the next half hour. she didn't something weird though: she ask to borrow my digging spade, but after she was done, instead of putting the tool back, she just handed it to me, instead of putting it back herself.

i didn't get back home until 5:30pm.

i played some cyberpunk, looking for the iconic tech sniper rifle breakthrough. it was hiding in one of the few places in night city where i haven't visited yet, close to the piez diner. this weapon is special in its ability to strike at targets through walls.

i started making dinner around 8pm. i've made chicken caesar salad many times in the past (last time was this past february), but needed a refresher, particularly how to cook the chicken. i found some useful tips from sam the cooking guy, who has a chicken caesar salad of his own where he makes his own croutons and dressing. i wasn't as ambitious, instead using readymade croutons and dressing. but i did learn to beat/tenderize the large chicken breasts inside of a ziploc bag tossed with some olive oil. this recipe also allowed me to use my foreman smokeless grill ("smokeless" since it still smokes), a kitchen appliance i was keen to buy but later regretted my decision and now it sits in my kitchen unused. the only time i've ever used it was to cook bacon, and i did it outside on my backyard deck, so bacon grease smoke won't fill the inside of my house.

i cooked the two chicken breasts one at a time at 450 degrees for 8 minutes, after sprinkling both sides with some sea salt and fresh ground pepper. using a digital meat thermometer, the inside temperature was close to 200 degrees when it just needed to be 165 degrees, so for the second piece i only grilled it for 6 minutes. i opened the window and used a fan to blow out the smoke, fortunately it wasn't too cold outside (close to 60 degrees) so i wasn't freezing.

for the salad, besides chopped romaine, i also added some onion for some spicy sweetness. into the bowl were the croutons, parmesan cheese, and the dressing.

the salad was good, although the leafy parts of the romaine was harder to chew. the chicken was cooked to perfection, tender, juicy, with just the right amount of seasoning. maybe i should look into more recipes that call for the smokeless grill.

i watched the cavaliers-pistons game. detroit should've won, but the cavs made a successful push in the 4th inning to regain the lead, only for the pistons to come back. it wasn't enough however and the game ended in a tie, so we went into overtime. the cavs essentially stole the game from the pistons, winning 117-113. now the series go back to cleveland on friday, if cavs win they advance to face off against the knicks. the way new york is playing, neither the cavs or the pistons can defeat them.

i took the motorcycle to work this morning because i planned on going to belmont later in the evening to help my father move out all the garden refuse including a dozen bundles of pruned branches.

our neighbor jeana dropped off three potted hydrangea last week, told my father to take care of them while she went on vacation. i watered them over the weekend but i didn't realize just how dehydrated they were in their tiny pots. so when i checked on them today, all three plants had wilted. we left them soaking in buckets of water outside all day. 2 plants came back to life, but the third plant still looks wilted and might be dead.

in the mid-morning i went to trader joe's to get a few things (cucumbers, edamame, milk). riding the motorcycle meant i didn't mind going the longer way. i packed the items securely in my saddlebags.

my father made a new batch of beef noodle soup. seems like every other week we need to make a new batch, one of our most popular items. he actually stewed the broth over the weekend at home, a mixture of various bones (beef, pork, chicken).

it was starting to look like a slow day. but we got a spike in customers less than 30 minutes before closing. i was already cleaning up, preparing to leave, when customers started showing up and making orders. one group was a noisy asian family with young children who left a mess after they finished eating. i could do with less of these type of customers. there was another group that came in late, ordered, and ate while we waited for them to leave. so a slow tuesday ended up being not so bad.

after work i followed my parents back to belmont. my father and i moved all the garden refuse out onto the curb. i think i pulled a muscle in my chest hauling some of the large bundles of branches. after we finished, i returned to cambridge.

my father found a bike lock key. turns out it's the key for my old onguard u-lock. i lost the key for it last year, it fell off my keychain. i still have another backup key, but i was afraid if i ever lost that key as well, there'd be no way for me to unlock the u-lock. so i retired that lock. he found it in the car, it must've snapped off my keychain.

i came home with some leftover beef noodle soup for dinner, which i ate after i took a shower. i watched the timberwolves-spurs game, san antonio won 97-126, now lead the series 3-2, while the thunder - who swept the lakers yesterday - await the winners of this series.

andrew called me tonight. we were supposed to meet up tomorrow, but he had to reschedule for next wednesday. that'll give me time tomorrow to pick up a prescription for my mother, do some grocery shopping, maybe go for a run, get the motorcycle inspected, and do some gardening both in my community garden plot and in belmont, before it rains on thursday. heck, i might even go to home depot and get some 3/4" EMT conduits. so a busy day regardless.

a quick check of my grow closet this morning revealed that okras are starting to form their first real leaf. kind of exciting, i'm entirely unfamiliar with growing okra, so everything's new to me. the leaves are surprisingly hairy for some reason.

my parents came to pick me up around 10am. i could see on the gps they had to make a detour on linnaean because of road construction then took an illegal left turn on mass ave because the city got of the raised islands and replaced them with painted lines.

today's supply run would take us to everett, first to costco, then to restaurant depot, before going to broadway plaza in malden for some lunch buffet at flaming grill before doing some final shopping at the 99 asian supermarket.

we saw the tipico truck at costco. they had a much of world cup merchandise geared towards kids. are american children really into euro soccer players? costco didn't have the 30-tray of eggs, only the 24 in plastic containers. we ended up getting 8 packages (almost 200 eggs!) which we'll use up in about 2 weeks.

my father brought our 12v fridge/freezer for the very first time. we originally got it for supply runs, but waited all this time before we finally used it in an outdoor excursion. it performed well, kept some of our food cold at 32 degrees exactly. we ran it off of the little aolithium LiFePO4 29Ah portable battery station.

originally we were going to go to total wine & beer next door to look for the turkish beer my father had in istanbul. but it was already 11:15am and we were running late so we skipped that stop. instead we went to restaurant depot to get some straws. thankfully it wasn't too busy, we didn't have to wait long in the checkout line.

next we crisscrossed everett and went to broadway plaza in malden. it was already close to noontime, so we decided to hit the flaming grill buffet. monday through thursday between 11am to 3:30pm, lunchtime buffet is only $14, which is a pretty good deal. just ask for water when they ask you if you want anything to drink, because drinks cost extra (even tea). any other time, the buffet is $20-21/person, which is still a good deal. we were here back in early march, so we knew what to expect. what's good to eat, what's bad, and what will fill you up quickly that you can't eat another bite.

in my first outing, i came back with two plates: a few pieces of sushi (they're so pretty and irresistible, but the rice is pretty filling), a piece of fried chicken, some french fries, coconut shrimp, general tso chicken, fried white fish (with tartar sauce), lychees, mango jello cubes, and a cup of hot & sour soup. it was good, but i could already feel myself slowing down from all that food, all that starch, all that fried oil, all that protein. all i want to do after eating a buffet is to lie down and go into a food coma.

in my second outing, i only came back with a single plate: salted fried fish, another piece of fried chicken, fried shrimp, one mussel, more general tso chicken, stirfry beef, a chocolate cake that tasted sort of like tiramisu, and an egg tart. for my third and final outing, i just grabbed an orange cream popsicle. actually, it was just an orange popsicle, sugar free no less. flaming grill has a large selection of frozen treats, but none of them are that good.

we finished eating by 12:45pm. my mother left early to go check out the dollar store next door. we found her inside, there wasn't anything she wanted, so we left empty-handed.

our last stop was the 99 asian supermarket. not to be confused with ranch 99 asian supermarket in quincy, which is part of a supermarket chain. this particular asian supermarket doesn't have the best prices, but does have a large selection. i was surprised by how many southeast asian brands it carries, including a bunch of filipino ingredients i'd never seen anywhere else. my asian supermarket of choice is still ming's market, only because they're inexpensive, but their selection is terrible.

we left close to 1:30pm. we returned to cambridge via route 99. it was the most direct route, but not the fastest. google maps recommended some other routes, but my father wanted to go the most direct way, no chance of getting lost, didn't have to rely on google maps to help us navigate.

we skirted by tufts university (tents on the sports field for graduation), cut through davis square to get to the cafe. my mother was very quiet on the ride back, because she wanted to use the bathroom. while she did that, my father and i unloaded supplies from the car. we saw my sister taking esmei out for an adventure.

we returned to belmont around 2:30pm. there was still 81% charge on the portable power supply powering the 12v freezer set to 32 degrees. the freezer works but it'd be better if it was even bigger. the one that we have (euhomy, purchased july 2023 for $220) is 55L (59qt). it'd also be nice if it can refrigerate and freeze at the same time. right now it's one or the other, though one part of the unit is slightly warmer (the part that sits above the compressor), so you could get away with a split combo in a pinch (for short duration).

my father helped me lower the motorcycle off the jack and pull it out of the garage. it didn't start at first, but after a half dozen failed starts, it finally roared to life. i parked it out on the curb. the kickstand feels a little tight, but it's much straighter than the old kickstand, so when i park the motorcycle doesn't look like it's leaning so much it's about to topple over. the straight kickstand also doesn't hit the back of my left leg when i ride.

we turned off the gas valve on our 2-stroke snowblower and ran the carburetor until it ran dry and the engine sputtered to a stop. this is the same step i make store my motorcycle for the winter. we're just doing the reverse with the snowblower. there's still some gasoline in the fuel tank, i'm getting a siphon pump so i can extract the fuel and either save it or throw it out.

my father started mowing the lawn. he got midway through the backyard before he got tired and i told him he could go back inside to rest. i finished mowing the lawn, dumping the grass clippings in our compost bin mixed with shredded leaves we saved from last autumn. earlier i shoveled out all the remaining finished compost so we can eventually use them in the garden. it's crazy how fast the grassing is growing the past few weeks. we've been mowing every single weekend, and the grass keeps on growing back like nothing happened. the cool weather and the bit of rain is the ideal condition for grass growing.

i mixed a half gallon solution of fungicide: 1/2 tbsp immunox with 0.75 tbsp of captan powder. this was for the grapevines, to help prevent several diseases. has this actually worked? who knows, the grapes continue to rot before they ripen. last season we basically neglected our grapes despite investing in bird netting to keep critters from stealing our grapes. i'll keep on spraying this season, but if it still doesn't work, i'll look into investing in something more effective. the grapevines are also amazing in how vigorous they regrow. my father pruned a lot of branches this season, but all the remaining branches are resprouting. i think next season we might even try an even more drastic pruning, leave just a few main branches, and then let them grow back. this how professional vineyards do it, and i also believe drastic pruning gets rid of diseased branches from last season.

finally i watered the plants in the grow room. i only watered the orchids and pennyworts. i didn't see fungus gnats the past two weekends, and didn't see any this weekend as well. so i feel like i've finally eradicated the fungus gnats. unfortunately the weather is turning warmer now, and soon the grow room will be emptied. all that work to get rid of fungus gnats for naught!

we saw on the news about the shooter on memorial drive near river street. feels like the doings of a crazy person. if he really wanted to kill people, there are several close targets with a lot more potential victims. we watched the reddit video where the police actually shot the shooter in the leg before he fell over and surrendered, throwing away his gun.

my mother told us she wasn't making dinner, and instructed us to finish the leftover barbecue from yesterday. i enjoy the wings and some lefover pineapple, but found the lamb chops too bland.

i went home around 7pm. it was my first motorcycle ride of the season. i was afraid i'd forget and accidentally ride in the bike lane, or worse, forget to obey traffic rules. but i never get confused what i'm riding on. a motorcycle feels different than an ebike than a bicycle. for speed, for raw power, you can't beat a motorcycle, an ebike can never compare. each ride has its pros and cons. i get a lot more respect on a motorcycle (or is it fear?) than i do riding an ebike.

jeff finally showed up around 10pm. he thanked me for the beer i left him on his backyard deck. he was so quiet arriving, i actually didn't hear him until i heard some soft footsteps from upstairs. this is his 4th season renting from my upstairs neighbors.

i went to star market across the street to get some corn ($2.99/5 ears) and asparagus ($2.99/lbs) on sale. since today was going to a warm day (70's), i put out my umbrella plants and a bunch of hyacinth bean seedlings that don't fit in the grow closet anymore. i dropped off jeff's IPA beers on the upstairs deck before leaving around 11am.

i was almost at the cafe when my mother called and said she wanted to go see the lilacs at the arnold arboretum. i know today's mother's day, and that there's a big mother's day arboretum lilac event, that's why today is probably the worst day to go, since it's going to be mobbed with people. we can go another time, when it's not crazy crowded. anyway, i stopped by the cafe to put away the tea eggs before continuing to belmont.

when i got to my parents' place, my mother already decided she didn't want to go to the arboretum anymore, even though both my 2nd aunt and my sister's godmother were going today (independently, through different groups). instead my mother vacuumed the house and mopped the kitchen floor, before heating up some jiucai hezi for lunch.

my father and i moved all the foxgloves to a sawhorse table in between the maple tree and japanese maple, where it got enough dappled sunlight to keep the plants having. we used the newly found wheelbarrow to move some of the plants. after not seeing any rabbits for a few weeks, we suddenly saw a bunch of rabbits. two adults and at least one bunny. bunny makes me think there's a nest somewhere in the yard. one adult jumped onto the raspberry planter then hopped over the fence. another rabbit roamed around the yard hiding. i found the hole where it dug into our yard from a neighboring yard. our backyard lilac had blossomed, it now fills the entire backyard with its scent. a good year for lilacs, but after they finish flowering, we plan on cutting the bush lower to the ground because the flowers are too high to fully admire.

after lunch, we all took a walk down to the newly rebuilt belmont public library. along the way we admired various flowering plants and trees, including lilacs (didn't even need to go to the arboretum to see our fair share) and pink flowering dogwood. seems like every other house we saw had a dogwood, made my mother wonder why we didn't have one. we saw a huge gingko tree on the corner of school and oak street, must be 100 years old at least.

i loved the old belmont public library. in the days before the internet, this was where i hung out the most. i knew the place so well, i could recreate it entirely in my mind. the card catalog, the mimeograph machines, the magazine stacks, the copy machine, the phone booth, the upstairs collection of fiction novels. this new library? it's entirely different. i can understand why they needed to rebuild, but i still miss that old library. although to be honest, i probably hadn't set foot inside the belmont library in probably over 20+ years. the last i was there, i think i was still living at home with my parents, and i went to renew my library card. which was a long time ago.

this new library is spacious, and built in that modern open floor plan style that's so popular with libraries these days (very similar to the cambridge public library). yes they still have books, but they also have plenty of movies and television shows on dvd's and blu-ray. there's also audio books, and you can check out e-books online. you can also borrow board games, including puzzles, and even records. there are also large conference rooms you can rent, small study rooms, and rooms where they can classes for adults and children. there's a separate section for children, and another separate section for teens. there are even books in different languages, from chinese to japanese to korean to hebrew. upstairs on the second floor is a balcony where you can read outside while looking out onto underwood pool. outside the library, they reworked the little forested area which a stream that feeds into claypit pond.

the library was budgeted for $35 million but the final cost was $40 million, with the difference made up by private donations. everywhere are little plaques with names of people who donated money, including a wall with hundreds of names when you come in from the parking lot. the library only just opened in january, so it's only been 5 months.

my father signed up for a new library card with his driver license. my mother didn't bring hers so she wasn't able to get a card. i live in cambridge, so i don't know if i can get a belmont library card anymore. my parents ended up checking out 3 chinese language books. we also found a snack vending machine on the first floor. my mother selected a coffee for $1. it vended out an empty cup with a sugar packet and a creamer inside. when then used the coffee machine to brew a coffee. what we got was just hot water. that's when we realized you're supposed to buy the coffee/tea separately, for $2 more. so we did that and my mother was able to get her coffee.

when then sat outside for my mother to finish her drink before walking back home. this whole excursion took us over 2 hours.

i went to the garage to attach the kickstand to the motorcycle now that i brought some grease for the screw bolt. i couldn't get the screw to fit in place, because i'd already attached the spring to the kickstand. i had to get my father to help me, he'd pull out the kickstand until the holes aligned, while i tried to quickly attach the screw. it finally worked, i tightened everything down with a socket and a flat wrench. afterwards i sprayed the chain with wax lubricant.

my parents made chinese dumplings in the late afternoon, even though we were going to have a barbecue later. dumplings by themselves would've been enough for dinner.

we started the barbecue around 6pm. we first grilled some corn and chicken wings. wings were cooked at 350 degrees 6 minutes per side, coating with sweet thai chili sauce after each turn, continuing cooking until the desired crispiness reached. that was followed by some pineapples on skewers and asparagus shoots. we took the asparagus off the grill when they looked cooked, and put the corn back onto the grill after removing the husks. we then coated the corn in korean barbecue sauce. with everything off the grill, my father gave it a quick cleaning before turning up the heat to 500-550 degrees. we cooked the lamb loin chops - which i'd salted earlier this morning along with the wings and kept them in the fridge - after i coated both sides with cumin powder. 3 minutes per side, checking at the midway point to make sure any flare ups aren't burning the lamb to char. we continued grilling until the internal temperature reach 130 degrees, which in our case required an additional 3 minutes of high temperature grilling.

the asparagus wasn't properly cooked, so my mother threw it into the air fryer for additional minutes. they came out a little dry, i think next time they just need more time on the grill. the pineapples were a surprise. andrew left them at my house, so they're 3 weeks old, but they tasted sweet enough when i cut them into cubes. grilling them made them even sweeter, almost like candy. the only thing missing was the smokey taste which you can only get with charcoal, but definitely cooking skewered pineapples again for our next barbecue. the wings were cooked perfect, maybe a little charred. i ate them with nashville hot sauce, which is my go-to wings sauce these days. the lamb was cooked perfectly, but once again, it found it kind of bland, wasn't salty enough, even though i thought i over-salted. i think it's because they're much thicker pieces, harder for the salt to fully penetrate. next time, even more salt! i ate while drinking some of our homemade makgeolli with unknown alcohol content, but my guess is 20%. glad i wasn't riding the motorcycle because i'd probably get into an accident.

i'd earlier locked the ebike outside with a u-lock tethered to a security cable, with another chain lock looped to the back wheel. it was already 8pm by the time i left, so i also turned on my wheel lights, the ones i replaced a few weeks ago. no sign of jeff when i got back home.

the knicks sweep the sixers, 144-114. the evening game was between the spurs and timberwolves. wembanyama got ejected early in the second half after purposely elbowing naz reid in the throat. i wouldn't be surprised if he gets suspended the next game. even with him out, the spurs were still leading. it wasn't until midway in the 4th quarter that the momentum changed and minnesota took the lead and never game it up, final score 109-114. seies tied 2-2. i still think the spurs are the only team that can defeat the thunder. but i'd like to see san antonio go to 7 games in their current series, really earn their stripes. the eventual spurs-thunders western conference finals will probably be the actual finals, since i don't see any eastern teams beating either of those teams.

the rain had temporarily stopped by the time left for the cafe mid-morning. i wore my rain jacket and packed my rain pants for the journey home. my parents were busy making jiucai hezi (韭菜盒子 chive box) with the garlic chives my mother harvested from our parking lot garden. unfortunately it started getting right when we opened up, and there was barely any countertop space to assemble all the incoming orders. we were busy for the first 3 hours, then there was a lull, before one final burst.

a customer came in with a large order, but made so many demands we messed up the order a few times. for one thing, no plastic containers, because his wife was nursing and wants to avoid all plastics. instead of ordering straight off the menu, he wanted to pick and choose. finally, he wanted to haggle on the price, and made a stink because he said we charged him an extra $2. customers like that i hope he never comes back. but it did contribute to our total which was the daily average for the third day in a row.

i had time to clean one of the wire shelves from the sliding door refrigerator. it involved emptying the shelf first, then sliding it out of the cabinet. there was some mold on the shelf that i washed off and dried before reinstalling. i need to do this to half a dozen more shelves.

it was raining by closing time. i changed into my full rain gear. i also mounted the insta360 camera to the handlebar. when i got home, i saw the gutter facing renee's alleyway was still leaking. i wrote to my upstairs neighbors asking if they already paid the gutter guys. he said just half, but they never said when they'd be back to finish the repairs. my gut feeling is they won't be back ever, and we got fleeced for work that should've only cost a few hundred dollars at most, not the $1300 we paid.

somerville porchfest was today. i couldn't go because i had to work, but there was still time to catch a bit since it doesn't end until 6pm. there were crowds of people just walking around the street visiting the various musical porch venues. i had no place in mind, just went riding in the rain with my insta360 camera. i went as far as up prospect hill before coming back via the market basket shortcut. the rain was still starting to come down as i headed home, glad i got back before i became completely soaked.

i checked my ziploc seeds. no activity with my peppers, but two new luffa i started on 4/29 had sprouted. these are homegrown 2025 seeds. it's more proof that they're viable, but still difficult to sprout, and not a high germination rate. i actually have way too much luffa seedlings at this point, more than any other plants. i made a new batch of Bti-spiked water (1 tsp of gnatrol to 2 gallons of water). checking my seedlings, one more butterfly pea had sprouted, while the seedling with the broken root has also survived and sprouted. so now i have three butterfly pea seedlings.

i noticed that bike that got ran over by the UPS truck last week had returned. it looked the same as before, so it was probably just the front wheel that got damaged. the owner didn't seem to see the notice i posted on sign, asking him to contact me because i have video of the crash.

i went to grab some beer for jeff as a welcome back present when he returns to the upstairs condo tomorrow. i heated up the last of my risotto for dinner (i gave a portion to my parents this morning). the only NBA tonight was game 3 thunder-lakers. los angeles just couldn't keep up with the OKC onslaught, especially when one of their star players luka doncic is still sitting out due to injury. thunder won 131-108, taking the series to 3-0, essentially a death knell to the lakers' season.

i bumped into paul as he was preparing to head out to the island this morning. i went to my nearby star market to look for lamb loin chops on sale. when they didn't have any, i went down to the porter square store instead. i also picked up some 1L bottled seltzer on sale as well, before heading to the cafe.

in the morning we continued to restock. i made two new batches of dark soy noodles while my father made a new batch of sesame peanut sauce. we ran the ice machine in the basement for two cycles, made 10 boxes of ice. my mother roasted some salmon and marinated some pickled cucumbers.

we got a spike during lunchtime when someone from the astrophysics department called to order 5 beef noodle soup. all of them except one wanted extra noodles. i had to boil the noodles on 3 induction cooktops. other than that it was a mellow friday. by day's end we made our daily average, not including the handful of delivery orders and cash purchases.

i heated up some italian sausages i bought on wednesday, had some for lunch in the early afternoon. my mother's new ipad case arrived. it featured a clear soft TPU back cover which the photo in the ad showed it was tinted pink but the actual material was just clear.

my aunt showed up in the late afternoon. she had some rice noodles and took home some frozen dumplings. we were talking about travel time from boston to flushing, and a customer overheard our conversation and said it takes at least 4 hours. weird thing was, we were speaking in chinese, and he made no indication he could speak mandarin, yet he understood our conversation.

typically the end of friday we don't have too many customers. the people who did come were mostly ordering drinks, either boba tea or coffee. not too many food orders.

when i returned home after work, i spent some time tuning up my bicycle. there was an awful grinding sound coming from the rear brakes. the pads had been worn down to bare metal. i replaced them with new pads. i also adjusted the front brakes, greased the chain and gave the frame a quick wipe down.

in my grow closet, another butterfly pea was sprouting, but when i checked, the sprout had broken in half. further investigation revealed it was actually the root. why it was growing upside is a mystery. as for the other pots, none of the peas have sprouted yet. the instruction said it might take anywhere for 12-21 days for germination. i added an additional seed into each pot.

i didn't start making dinner until 8:30pm. i was making risotto. it took a while, and i didn't eat until 9:30pm. i added the entire 1 lbs. bag of frozen broccoli (heated in the microwave). i also used up a very old leftover bottle of white wine, now looking more dark than white, but still smelled like wine (as opposed to vinegar). the risotto was hearty, i had a big bowl while watching game 3 of the knicks-sixers series. this was a must-win for philly, as no NBA team has ever come back from an 0-3 deficit. sixers started strong, but by the start of the 2nd quarter the wheels were coming off and the knicks led and never relinquished that lead, winning 108-94.

because i took that long nap, i couldn't fall asleep last night. i tried watching the latest episodes of margo's got money troubles and widow's bay, but realized neither of those two new shows are very good.

i checked on my grow closet before leaving for work. two of my six butterfly peas have sprouted. i removed their plastic film cover. i didn't see any fungus gnats. could they have all died from my gnatrol watering?

my mother's usb-c splitter to audio jack/power jack cable arrived today. she can watch her ipad with her wired earbuds and charge the tablet at the same time. i also made some more adjustments to her new ipad. i disabled keycode lock. i made it so the screen never goes dark. i also added all her e-mail accounts. she wasn't planning on it, but she ended up buying a case for the ipad; not so much to protect the tablet, but for the built-in ipad stand.

we had a huge spike in business during lunchtime but after 1pm we barely had any customers until after 3pm. we made our daily average, not including the handful of ubereats and grubhub orders. every sale today was small, a bento here, a noodle dish there. we didn't get any big orders until close to closing time, when we got a big ubereats order.

my sister showed up with esmei in the early afternoon. she texted me late last night around 1:30am, saying she was taking esmei to the emergency room because her dog had an ear infection. that little stint cost her $400. like she couldn't wait until morning and make a normal appointment with the vet. esmei seemed fine, but laid down on the cafe floor and didn't want to leave.

my mother fried some firm tofu in the afternoon and we made faux stinky tofu, with a layer of taiwanese paocai and some homemade hot sauce.

i told my father that 3/4" EMT conduits are nearly 1" in diameter, so they're suitable for our garden trellis projects. we tried to figure out how many connectors we needed. if we were to buy them from maker pipe, it's cost a fortune. amazon sells something similar, but they're actually 1" connectors with plastic shims for 3/4" conduits. not the most elegant solution, but so much cheaper, so we'll probably go that route. just getting the conduits themselves will easily cost us close to $200 in materials alone. but it's fun designing the trellises, like lego for adults.

it was cold enough after work that i put on my hooded sweatshirt. when i got home, i found paul outside strapping down the cedar fencing to the top of their car. they're leaving for the vineyard tomorrow, gone for the summer. i didn't bother bringing up the fact that i paid 40% of that fencing, so part of it is mine.

i came home with some leftover bento my mother packed for me. some sichuan peppercorn shredded chicken and some wood ear mushroom stirfry with cabbage. i ate after a shower. i also checked my grow closet. the fungus gnats were back, flying around my head while i watered the plants. no additional seeds (luffas and hot peppers) had germinated yet in the wet paper napkins.

even though technically it was my day off, i still had to work today, because my father was going to some award ceremony around lunchtime with my sister. but i didn't have to go in until 11am, so i could sleep in a bit. i ended up getting a good 8-1/2 hours of sleep, went to bed in the guest bedroom at 1am, woke up 9:30am.

i had a few morning options - get groceries, work the garden - but decided to take the ebike to belmont. reason? there was no garden refuse pickup today. i checked the schedule, and sure enough, it was last week (why does everything happen last week?). when my father called me yesterday asking why nobody put out their trash, he never mentioned garden refuse, so i thought he just meant trash. if he'd just said garden refuse, i could've double checked and found out we were off by a week. so he ended up hauling over a dozen bundles of pruned branches out onto the curb, as well as several bins of garden refuse including composting grass clippings. they ended up being the only one throwing out garden refuse. anyway, i went to belmont to haul everything back inside until next week. i set up the sawhorse folding tables so i wouldn't have to stack the bundles on the ground (not enough space anyway).

checking out the backyard, all the altruit daffodils bloomed last week. now the sun disc daffodils are blooming, including the ones i planted in the southern border. still no red eye daffodils though, they're the prettiest in my opinion. if i were to get more this fall, i'll make sure to include those.

it was another windy day. the wind was stripping all the pink petals off of the kwanzan cherry tree, leaving a blanket of pink on the ground below. the falling petals look awfully pretty - like pink snow - especially if you shoot them in slow motion video. i watered the basils and swiss chards before i left.

i arrived at the cafe around 11am. i ended up working for the next 3 hours, my father didn't get back until after 2pm. it wasn't too busy today, but later after i left, they had an evening spike and we ended up making about the same as yesterday, above our daily average. there was free food at the award ceremony, my father brought back sandwiches from high rise, i managed to take one home for lunch along with a bag of chips. my 2nd aunt also gave me some shengjianbao (生煎包) she bought from chinatown which i'll have for dinner.

even if i wasn't working, i would've ended up at the cafe anyway because my mother's new ipad A16 arrived early this morning. that amazon delivers in the middle of the night is crazy. it kind of makes sense though, less traffic, more relaxed schedule. i set up the new ipad. so of course the old ipad starting working again, but as soon as my mother turned off the screen, it went black again and didn't come back. the A16 is bigger than her old ipad air 3, 11" vs. 10.5" with a smaller bezel. the A16 is slighter thick (7mm vs 6.1mm) but it's barely noticeable. i've downloaded all the necessary apps (chrome, brave, google photos, google maps) so my mother can start watching her shows. i've yet to activate her mailboxes, and need to connect her line account. this new ipad doesn't have an audio jack, so my mother couldn't use her wired earbuds. she has a pair of wireless but they're old and been dropped so many times, she should get new ones. the ipad also doesn't have a stand, so she used a egg crate tray to temporarily hold her tablet.

i stopped at the house to drop off my food before continuing on the ebike to market basket. i was getting a few things for the cafe (milk, oatmilk). my original plan was also to make risotto for dinner (bringing out all my classic recipes), but because i had all those leftover food, i was all set for food. nevertheless, i still got the ingredients, in case i wanted to make it over the next few days.

i finally came home by 3pm. it was supposed to rain today, and the sky was overcast. it stayed dry for the most part, but i felt some drops on my way home. i ate the high rise sandwich. it was something chicken (or turkey) with a heep of avocado spread. the bread was of course very good (they are after all a bread making company). it reminded me of a chacarero sandwich, just super bland. i was tempted to add some salt or drizzle a bit of hot sauce for flavor, but was too lazy (and too hungry) and just finished the sandwich. afterwards i dug up the second box of thai flavored chicken feet i got from hong kong eatery last saturday and snacked on them while watching some youtube videos.

it started to rain, but was a gentle light drizzle, the kind that just slowly dampened the outside. would there even be enough to fill the rain barrels? but it was going to rain like this evening later this evening, so hopefully we'll get some beneficial rain. the boston is actually in a semi-drought again, we're 6 inches shy of average rain fall. that's weird considering we got so much snow this winter. but winter snow and spring rain are two separate things apparently.

lounging on the couch around 4:30pm, i ended up falling asleep while watching a momento easter eggs video. my little nap last nearly 5 hours, i didn't wake up until 9:20pm. a part of me was thinking, "maybe i could continue sleeping, wake up tomorrow morning," but i woke up with the obligation to eat some dinner even though i wasn't very hungry. if a day off is about resting, then maximizing on sleep is probably the best thing you can do. i felt really rested afterwards, like all my internal battery has been recharged. i heated up the shengjianbao in a pan, added some water to steam them. they looked good, but the dough was too thick, not like authentic shengjianbao.

i got an amazon package delivered to my doorstep this afternoon. a package of gardening gloves (10 pairs) and a pair of canon 80D batteries. i charged them up. i popped one into my camera. unlike the wasabi power batteries i bought back in 2012, this one actually has a canon chip, so the camera was able to recognize it as one of its own, versus the wasabi battery, which the camera always asks me if i'm using an authentic battery and warns me to use at my own risk. has it really been that long since i bought rechargeable canon camera batteries? maybe that's why i don't get as many shots as i used to before the juice runs out. a single battery, i used to be able to take thousands of photos, even though technically they're only good for about 800 shots. these new batteries didn't come with a protective cover though, but i ordered some from aliexpress a few days ago.

two more NBA games. i caught the end of the sixers-knicks. this game was much more competitive. sixers led for much of the game, but always within single digits, and the knicks were always within striking distance. that's why in the second half of the 4th quarter, they took over, grabbed the lead, and ended up winning a game where it looked like the sixers might take it. i'll tip my hat to new york, the knicks are legit this year. they've got all the pieces to make a deep run in the playoffs. makes me even more thankful the celtics are not playing them, sparing boston the humiliation. i'm rooting for the pistons to win the east though. as for the finals, kind of cheering for the lakers because marcus smart is on the team. i'm rooting against the thunder in the west, so pretty much any team but them. i barely watched the wolves-spurs game before turning off the tv. spurs won (or will win, game not over yet), evening the series 1-1.