i am concerned about the rising brine level in my 2 quart curtido jar. i thought i had plenty of head room, but overnight, the cabbage juice has come up to the neck of the jar. there's about another centimeter of space before it hits the airlock spout. all this liquid is a good thing because i was worried that there wasn't enough fluid coverage and that my cabbage leaf block would eventually get moldy. but now it seems i have too much. i wonder if i should open the jar and press the solids back down, maybe letting some of that trapped carbon dioxide escape. but as a rule, never open the fermenting jar, especially in the first few days, and it's only day 2.

as my trek utility bike is currently in the shop (my kitchen) awaiting final repairs, i rode my fast fuji to belmont. temperature was in the upper 30's, with the usual dearth of sunday traffic. my mother fried up some peking ravioli for lunch. i brought a small pint jar of kimchi for my mother to try. she thought it was pretty good, not too salty, not too sour. "i could eat the whole jar in one sitting," she said. if there was anything i could improve, maybe there was too much ginger, add more garlic next time, and process them even more into a paste.

i was in the backyard refilling the globe seed feeder and attaching the hard faucet cover i bought yesterday from the everett home depot.

i'm disappointed to report that the 2nd stepper motor i bought to fix the broken foscam web camera did not work either. it looks similar, but still different. for one thing, the connectors still don't match. the wire bundles are also slightly shorter in the new motor (i don't think it'd matter though). and finally, the spinning axle is longer on the new motor. at this point i've pretty much given up on trying to fix the foscam. it still works, but as a stationary web cam, since it can't pan left-right (but can still tilt up-down). maybe one day i might come across a free broken foscam and scrounge out the stepper motor for replacement part. i ended up reassembling the camera so at the very least it can be used.

i screened two episode of emerald city for my mother, with english and traditional chinese subtitles. i also replayed the first episode of taboo now that i have chinese subtitles for that episode as well.

the whole day was waiting for the start of the packers-cowboys game at 4:30pm. as my father came home early, we had an early dinner as well. i left at the start of the 2nd half, figuring green bay was going to win the game since they were so dominant. when i got home the packers were up by 2 touchdowns. the game got exciting in the final minutes however, when dallas came back to tie the game. the two teams traded field goal kicks until green bay made the last kick to win the game, 34-31.

the packers-cowboys game was followed immediately by the steelers-chiefs game. that turn out to be a close game as well, as the two teams battled. i don't think pittsburgh even had a touchdown the entire game. steelers won, 18-16, to face the patriots next sunday.

the brine level in the curtido jar continued to rise, now above the neck. there's about half a centimeter of space before it reached the spout now. i tried shaking the jar in the hopes of dislodging any trapped gases, maybe it helped a little, but overflow may be imminent. that's why this morning i already put the jar in a dish just in case. before i went to bed, the brine level was even higher, almost touching the spout by now. i managed to lower the level a bit but tapping the bottom of the jar to force the bubbles to escape to the surface.

i watched the HBO premiere of the young pope from bed before going to sleep. i don't know if the series is any good, but it's definitely mesmerising in its beauty and performance.