i got out of bed around 9am and got ready to leave for the cafe. since steady rainstorms are forecasted for the afternoon and into the evening, i opted to walk down to the cafe. i picked up a wooden stool somebody had left on the curb before getting to the cafe at 10:30am. before i could even start cooking the rice, i heard voices from the parking lot and saw both my parents showing up.
i'm always looking for signs to see if a work day will be busy. today we had an online order made an hour before we even opened. that was followed by a phone order that was also made before we opened. these signs indicated to me that today would be a busy day despite the impending stormy weather. we ended up getting half a dozen orders before even lunchtime, mostly bentos, like people were ordering the stuff in volumes. it was a bit hectic, but my 2nd aunt showed up for work soon afterwards and was able to help: my father working out front making the drinks while the rest of us three fulfilled the incoming orders.
then during lunchtime we got another half dozen orders, to the point that we started getting worried, as we weren't expecting such volume. we ran out of tea eggs and luckily i was making a fresh batch (should've made them yesterday) but tea eggs need a few days of simmering for best flavor. my father cooked another batch of rice with the new zojirushi cooker as my mother only cooked 4 cups and we were soon running out.
thankfully by 1pm the crush of orders stopped coming. my father figured out what was happening: apparently there's a taiwanese boston facebook group, and somebody had written a good review of the cafe in the most recent post. that drove a bunch of taiwanese customers within the vicinity to all order within the same period. every one of these customers were new, folks we'd never seen before, coming to try out our taiwanese food.
there was a brief period of torrent downpour around 2pm (i'd already moved in the chairs and table and closed the patio umbrella) but the weather was dry for much of the day. hot and humid yes (i was already sweat-soaked by the time i walked to the cafe), but not as much rain as i'd thought, which caused my mother to make fun of me for being so worried about the weather.
i had some spanakopita for lunch, along with some leftover pork and radish soup. i ended up making two batches of tea eggs, i'd never done that before, but given how fast they were selling (not only with each bento boxes, but people were buying them individually), it was safer to make more today and be ready for next week. besides, the longer the eggs steep in the tea brine, the more flavors they absorb. my father spent some time later in the afternoon organizing all the boxes of take-out containers in the basement. my parents had already started harvesting bitter melons from the backyard, bringing two with them for my 2nd aunt to take home.
i didn't even realize it was closing time, the day went by so fast. we closed soon afterwards, and got to belmont by 4:30pm. there was still no rain but the sky looked threatening. when my father and i stepped out to inspect the garden, that's when large raindrops started to fall and we quickly raced back inside.
i did go out later on my own with an umbrella. the jasmines are blooming non-stop, especially the two large potted ones my father pruned back severely about a month ago. not only has it grown back, but now they're covered in fragrant white flowers, one arabian jasmine, one belle-of-india jasmine. my father pruned the other belle-of-india last weekend, hopefully it too will be flourishing soon. the gardenia also - despite heavy pruning last week - have already sprouted numerous new leaf buds. we will try again to get it to flower despite the high degree of difficulty. we had zero gardenia flowers this season, every single flower bud either fell off on its own once it brought the plant outside or squirrels stole the buds thinking they're fruits.
besides bitter melons, some of the buttercup squashes are ready to harvest too. no point keeping them on the vine if they're fully ripe, and taking them off might actually be good for the plant since they wouldn't be in danger of one of the squash dropping and tearing down the other vines in the process. this will be the earliest we've ever harvested buttercup squash, it usually doesn't happen until late summer at best, and typically not until the fall.
after dinner i helped my father search for a spice grinder. the one they currently use to make sichuan peppercorn powder is a chinese grinder that we got back in may 2021, just two years ago. my father said it doesn't work as well anymore, and he'd like to find one that's stainless steel, with a cover that the spice dust won't get all over, and if possible, easier to clean. i never liked that grinder, ever since i found out it was zero safety features. yes, the blades will totally spin regardless if you have the cover on or not, for those who like their grinders super dangerous. the cuisinart SG-10 spice grinder ($40-45) looks to be the golden standard for spice grinding. we also checked out larger grinders, for making curry powders, obviously a big hit in india, where most of the videos were saw were made for.
my father gave me a ride back to cambridge around 7:30pm. the streets and sidewalks were dry enough that you wouldn't even think it was pouring rain just an hour ago. a bit after i got home though, after a shower and settled down in the living room, that's when the rain picked up again. it clattered so loudly against the side of my air conditioner i could hardly hear the tv. after the rain finally passed by us, the temperature dropped down into the 60's. we're in store for some dry cooler weather for the next few days.