after clipping some digital coupons online, i went to star market this morning to take advantage of the st.patrick's day sales. some people might consider this holiday a time for celebrating irish culture, or for drinking, but for me, it's all about the irish food ingredients: corned beef, cabbage, carrots, onions, potatoes - they're heavily discounted. my local star market had a bunch of corned beef, but more than half of them were the flat cut variety, which wasn't on sale. fortunately the point cut variety was on sale, which is tastier cut (more fat). i noticed the portions were smaller than in years past, but i picked the 2 largest ones i could find, 4lbs. and 3 lbs. i also grabbed 2 green cabbages, a bag of carrots, and a bag of onions. i was tempted to get some potatoes as well but i typically use russet, and i don't think the on sale white potatoes are the same.

i also took care of my kimchi, with a few jars leaking again today. the vegetables are fermenting so much, it's pushing out the liquids. i used a spoon to push everything back down, and i could see all the carbonation bubbles, which is a good sign. i tightened the jars, washed off the smelly kimchi juice, and packed up 4 in a box, leaving just one for myself.

i left for the cafe around 11:15am. i called my mother to confirm my sister really wasn't coming to work today. she told me my 2nd aunt would be here, but she normally doesn't arrive until the afternoon, no help when the cafe typically gets busy around lunchtime.

my parents brought in another magnetic knife holder that i purchased, to replace the original one mounted on the fridge that doesn't have good magnets. it uses discrete circle magnets instead of a solid core of magnets, so knives and tools can only stick to the holder on a diagonal. it's a terrible design and i think i paid the most for that crappy thing, which i should've returned in hindsight. anyway, i replaced it with a better one (rymmzone brand), and relegated the bad one to our basement upright freezers, for the few knives we keep there for opening boxes.

my mother tried some of the kimchi, said it was okay. she said she'd give one jar to my aunt, another to my 2nd aunt, and one to my sister's godmother, leaving just one jar for themselves.

i confirmed that the commercial cafe faucet is indeed a T&S brass. the stem cartridge - at least the cold faucet from what i can read - is 263L. that particular model number is obsolete, but all the new stem cartridges will still fit. i also took a better measurement of the bonnet nut, instead of just using my fingers as a guide. i found a pair of tongue & groove pliers; when opened to its maximum jaw size, it's about the diameter of the bonnet nut. that size looks to be around 1-3/8", which just happens to correspond to the largest jaw size of a 7-1/4" knipex pliers wrench.

it got really busy between 11am and 12pm. my aunt also happened to stop by during that time. it was just a quick series of orders: online, walk-ins, phone. we ran out of tea eggs and had to start using the new batch which my mother only started making this morning so they were a bit bland. we were also worried about running out of rice (even though my mother cooked 6 cups), so my mother cooked another 4 cups with a second rice cooker. my parents could've fulfilled the orders on their own, but it's a lot easier (and stress-free) with some additional help.

after that intense burst of orders, business quickly slowed down. 30 minutes later we got a few more orders, but nothing like what happened in the late morning. my 2nd aunt didn't get to the cafe until around 2pm. i managed to heat up some more spanakopita in the oven. my father was busy making scallion buns using the steamer, trying to figure out why the dough failed to rise. a bit of drama in the afternoon when a mother with her child spilled a whole container of smoothie on the floor. to her credit, she volunteered to clean it up, and seems like she's had a lot of practice, because she used the paper towels to soak up the liquids instead of just wiping it around the floor. afterwards my mother used a mop to clean up any additional mess. spills involving children happen so often, that if it was my cafe, i would ban small children outright from eating there.

i finally left by 3:15pm. originally i thought maybe i could take a short trip down to chinatown/haymarket, but i didn't need anything, and it was getting late anyway. when i got back home, i oiled my bike chain as it was making a grinding sound. while trying to adjust the rear derailleur (which hasn't worked for about a year), i might've damaged something in the trigger adjuster. now that the weather is warming up, i can work in the backyard, completely service the drain train on my bike. i managed to get the chain stuck in the middle cogs both front and back, which is the ideal position if you can only choose one gear. i've been riding in "hard" gear for over a year, so now riding in this middle gear feels weird, like the chain is too loose.

i biked to market basket to get some additional ingredients for making reuben sandwiches (that's how we eat our corned beef). i bumped into my 2nd uncle, who was casually shopping. i think if i don't say hi to him, he probably wouldn't even recognize me. he said some religious thing back to me, i didn't understand what it was, but i told to take it easy and left. coming back, i picked up a large brownie pan on the sidewalk. i couldn't find out the brand, but it's well made, very heavy. unfortunately there are some deep scratches on the non-stick surface, like somebody tried to cut something with a knife. i don't think i'd use it for baking, but we could always use a throwaway pan for making oil changes, or a water bath for my flan.

i had some leftover greek pasta salad we bought last weekend, along with a scallion bun.

for dinner i made some luxury korean ramen. this time i added some homemade kimchi as well, just to make it even more korean. i hadn't had korean ramen in a while, forgot how easily it is for me to slip into a food coma afterwards.