at the cafe i cooked 5 cups of rice and transferred the new tea eggs into the slow cooker. my sister started putting out the chairs and tables onto the back deck when she arrived. my 2nd aunt showed up after we opened, her first time working at the cafe since returning from flushing.
wasn't sure what to expect today, with it being busy all week despite figuring people would be gone for the holidays. for the first 3 hours of work it looked like it'd be a slow day. i made a fresh batch of taiwanese paocai: one 3.5 lbs. head of taiwanese cabbage made two containers worth of pickled vegetables. i also cooked some indomie mi goreng for lunch, one of the rare times when i took the initiative to make food for myself. my sister kept wanting to leave because her korean friend's father passed away, already making plans to attend the potential midwestern funeral without even knowing if they'll have one, having never met this father before either.
the calm wouldn't last: around 2pm we got crushed with customers. we made as much in that hour that we might normally make in a day. luckily it was all easy stuff - bento boxes, noodles - the hard part was just remembering all the orders.
i left the cafe by 4:30pm. my mother was waiting for me to bring home noodles she needed to make dinner. my father was in the bedroom sleeping. my father woke up before dinner and told me about a large squash that'd already grown outside. we also inspected our pruned jasmines, an abundance of new growth emerging from the old wood. if this turns out to be a success, we'll prune the remaining potted jasmines in a similar manner, to make them more compact and grow more new shoots with flowers.
we had noodles for dinner. i left around 7:45pm. nearly home, i remembered my sister asking if i could let hailey out, so i turned around and went to her place. while hailey was slow walking into the backyard, i noticed the growth on her back hind quarter, a large unusual lump.
i was surprised that lauryn wasn't home when i got back around 8pm. i figured she was out with her coworker friends. she texted me via whatsapp around 9pm, said she wouldn't be home until after 10pm. i appreciate her letting me know.
i've been watching keri russell's the diplomat on netflix, started watching last night, got sucked into watching 3 episodes. it's a weird series, framed like a political thriller, but more focused on people talking and the relationships between characters. it's essentially diplomacy soap opera, jason bourne it ain't. but for whatever reason i kind of like it, a smart woman getting stuff done. i on episode 7 in this 8-episode first season. netflix has already picked it up for a 2nd season.
around 11pm she sent me another text, said she and her coworkers were singing at a KTV bar in chinatown, and she'd have to take an uber home, and apologized that she wouldn't get back until after midnight. when she finally did get home, she was surprised i was still up (after living here for a month now, she still doesn't know that i sleep really late). she said she didn't think they'd be out so late. originally it was just an invitation for hot pot, followed by KTV singing. the occasion was some astrophysicist had broken up with his girlfriend (more likely dumped) and he was out drowning his sorrows.