i left the house a bit after 9am. temperature was already in the 60's, i wore a pullover, but took it off when i arrived. i was surprised by how busy haymarket was in the morning, i figured vendors would still be setting up their stalls and customers would be few but the exact opposite was true. you might get better pickings when you come early, but everyone knows the best deals happen near closing time, when sellers are looking to unload their produce at all cost.
i was just there for 15 minutes, mostly to pick up some oranges, which seems like every vendors were selling them in one form or another. i bought 15 maroc oranges for just $3, 2 bags of clementines for $5, and 3 sleeves of garlic for $3.
i left by 9:45am, which seemed still early, and i briefly thought about making a quick trip to nearby chinatown. but it'd take me 25 minutes to ride back home, and i wanted to be at the cafe by 10:30am to prepare before we open at 11am. so really i didn't have that much free time.
i got home by 10:10am, took a quick shower and a change of clothes (sweaty from the ride), then left by 10:25am via car. i got the cafe at 10:30am exactly, saw my sister opening the back door and surprisingly saw my 2nd aunt there as well, one of the rare times when she showed up early.
my sister asked her korean friend to "help" out at the cafe. the only things she knew how to do was ring up customers at the register, give customers their orders, and bring in the dirty dishes. everything else it was my 2nd aunt and i working in the back fulfilling food orders while my sister worked the front making the drinks. my sister's korean friend was basically just here to hang out, and while she and my sister chatted in the front of the cafe, i was slaving away in the back, working non-stop.
i had a feeling it was going to be busy today, with the weather so nice. that's not always the case with nice weather though, sometimes nice weather (especially when it falls on a long weekend) makes people leave town for vacations. but we were already passed noontime and still only had a handful of customers, making think my prognostication was off. but then it got busy, and it didn't stop until almost 2pm. and even then, we still kept getting a steady stream of customers.
i made black noodles twice because we sold so much; cooked 6 cups of rice, and when that ran out, made another 3 cups; sliced yellow pickled daikons; shredded seaweed for miso soup and ramen; cooked another 30 batch of tea eggs (after i already made a batch yesterday); continuously washed incoming dishes; made 4 containers of ice (i started the machine remotely around 10am). that's on top of fulfilling all incoming food orders.
my sister yelled at my aunt and i again because there was a mix up with the food orders around the busiest part of lunch time. either her korean friend put in the wrong order, or the customer forgot what they ordered and took something they shouldn't have. we ended up making a noodle order that appeared on the order ticket but the customer swear they didn't order it. in the end my 2nd aunt and i split it for lunch, during a brief period when we weren't working. but of course we got the blame from my sister, who never thinks it's the customer or her fault. i think i should be the one to inherit the cafe, because my sister knows nothing about the logistics of running such a business, and she's also a terrible boss that nobody would ever want to work for, and would run the the cafe to the ground. i'm only working at the cafe for my parents.
one thing we noticed was most of our customers were asian. that's how we usually gauge the authenticity of a chinese restaurant, by how many chinese customers they actually have. are we in that prestigious category now? my sister said the chinese restaurant nearby only had non-asian customers.
my sister's korean friend left around 3pm. i think my sister's godmother is way more helpful when she volunteers at the cafe, plus there's no language barrier, and everyone knows each other.
we finally closed by 4pm. i called my parents (now in austria, 10pm). they were already in bed. their tour group ended early today, leaving everyone with time to find dinner. so my parents returned to their hotel and had instant noodles. my father was surprised that they didn't see any farms driving through the germany and austrian countryside, nothing but grass.
after cleaning up, i drove (4:30pm) my 2nd aunt home before heading to my parents' place, which i haven't visited since monday. all that rain we got this past week has really jumpstarted the plants, and suddenly all the trees seem to have leafed out.
i was in belmont to do a little bit of gardening. the thing i noticed immediately was the fragrance of lilac in the air. we had nearly zero lilacs last season, but this spring they put on a show. i moved out all the jasmine plants from the basement. the weather is finally warm enough that they can live outside now. i watered them, using the water to rinse off any mealybugs i saw. after that i moved out all the seedlings. i'll probably plant them on monday.
i was only in belmont for an hour, before i drove to home depot to return some unused sink plugs and to get a few things. i wanted to get taller u-posts for my community garden, but the tallest one they had was 6ft, so i'll need to order them online (free shipping). i also wanted to get some soil for the community garden. while browsing the selection, i was corralled by an indian man into helping him load 3 bags of heavy organic soil into his shopping cart. when i needed to do the same myself, he was already gone. i ended up getting the soil, 2 cu.ft. a bag for $10, i bought 2 bags.
loaded up in the car, i returned to cambridge. passing by what da chick, i decided to stop and get some thai chicken rice takeout. i used cash to pay and i think i emptied their register of money because nearly all customers simply pay with credit card. it only took a few minutes before my order was ready.
since there was still daylight (6:30pm), i thought about stopping by the community garden to drop off the soil. but i still have sunday and monday to do that, and i didn't want my food to get cold, so i headed home. once again i lucked out and found a parking spot. i won't be so lucky next week when there's street sweeping, finding a parking spot will be a blood sport. but i'm planning on getting my motorcycle out of the garage tomorrow, and it's easier finding parking for a bike.
i wasted no time digging into my thai chicken rice. i got the crispy spicy chicken, forgetting that it didn't come with the special hot sauce that i liked so much, instead it just came with traditional thai chili sauce (which is still good). every bit was so good, and i washed it down with some woodchuck bellini. a fitting reward for 4 days of hard work at the cafe, from getting serious motion sickness going to logan airport, to making a sausage supply run (and grilling all said sausages), to this morning's haymarket visit and surviving a busy day.
i didn't realize there was an NBA this afternoon, between the knicks and the heat (game 3). miami beat new york, 105-86. later in the evening there was a second game, between the warriors and lakers. los angeles were lethargic in the first quarter but still kept it within striking distance. however in the 2nd quarter they went off, scoring 36-18. lakers continued their dominance in the second half, 27-20 in the 3rd, 41-29 in the 4th (by then already garbage time). the final score was 127-97.
i drank another woodchuck hard cider, this time pearsecco, which i've had before. i'm drinking them like they're flavored seltzer, forgetting that they actually contain alcohol. i felt buzzed afterwards, which made me sleepy as i dozed off intermittently on the couch while watching the warriors-lakers game. during halftime i finally got up to take a shower and came back to watch the rest of the game.
the upstairs tenants didn't move in today. i wonder if they changed their schedule? if that's the case, i wish my upstairs neighbors would let me know, giving me time to fix the loose front steps.
even though i have sunday and monday off, it's still going to be a busy next-2-days. i have tons of gardening work, from my community garden to the belmont garden. it's also my scheduled 2-hour work day at the community garden. plus renee's birthday party is tomorrow afternoon. i might also need to visit chinatown on monday, our tea egg spices are running out, just 2-1/2 boxes left.