when i got to the cafe, my father was busy frying salt & pepper chicken, while my mother was roasting charsiu pork in the air fryer. since yesterday was busy, my mother expected today to be the same, so she cooked additional cups of rice just in case.
it was pretty slow all the way until 1pm, when it started to get busy. fortunately it was a lot of prepared stuff (like noodles and bentos), and we could fulfill them pretty quickly. my aunt showed up around that time, normally she visits on fridays, but because she might be busy, she decided to come today. she had a charsiu bento which we stuffed with extra everything because she said she might take it home but ended up finding the whole thing at the cafe.
after my mother started using the 2nd batch of tea eggs i made on saturday, i made another new batch, so they can steep in tea brine for a few days for more flavor. i also ended up making a new batch of taiwanese paocai, since my mother had two taiwanese cabbage in the fridge. i used 1-1/2, which worked out to 4-1/2 lbs., though portion wise i counted it as 4 lbs: 4 tbsp of salt to brine, 2 cups of sugar, 2 cups of white vinegar. instead of cutting the carrots with the mandolin, my mother cut them by hand (the carrots were a little soft anyway, so they wouldn't work well in the mandolin). my godmother showed up around that time and was able to see me make the paocai, which she already made herself following my recipe. 4-1/2 lbs. of cabbage ended up giving me 3 plastic quart containers of paocai.
another thing i made today was the secret sesame peanut sauce for the noodles. the portions are pretty simple so i didn't bother writing them down. it just takes a lot of stirring, and pouring the sauce into the squirt bottles can be pretty messy.
i left a bit before 5pm, taking home with me a box of wasabi noodles that a customer returned because she said it was too spicy (my mother made her some new noodles with less wasabi). since i didn't have lunch, i ate the noodles as soon as i got home. no joke, they were indeed super spicy, every bite tear-inducing sinus-clearing wasabi flavored.
lauryn came home at 6pm. she told me she'd be moving out friday night (4th), after my sister told her she might be able to give her a ride to move her suitcase. all this i already knew, having spoken with my mother. she didn't cook tonight, just had a yogurt. as for me, after the wasabi noodles, i wasn't really hungry, so that turned out to be my dinner as well.