we started assembly the order around 11am. i thought it was early, but my parents said from past experiences, the drivers for these big orders always arrive early, like they want to make sure they pick up the order so they can get the big tip. sure enough, the driver showed up around 11:30am. she ended up going back outside and waiting in the order. my father actually went out and gave her the order, at least 4 bags worth of food.
with that we were done. basically anything else we make today would be bonus. the thing with grubhub or ubereats deliveries is that it doesn't show up on our square transactions, which is usually how we gauge how much business we made. as far as square was concerned, we hardly made anything this morning.
i was busy doing my own thing. the big order depleted our supply of tea eggs, so i had to make a fresh batch. i simmered it for 2 hours (usually just one) so the flavor has more time to get inside the eggs, so they can be served immediately if need be (though a few days of soaking in the refrigerated tea egg brine always increase the flavor).
i tried some of the new hot sauce i bought: 湘汝辣椒醬 ($4.99 c-mart). i got it because it looked similar to the huy fong garlic chili sauce we used to get but now can't find anywhere. i know from living in china and studying food menus that 湘 (xiang) means hunanese, who are famous for their spicy cuisine. i noticed the sauce was sort of watery, which made me think it was vinegar-based, like indonesian sambal oelek hot sauce. but the liquid is actually chili oil, and the sauce itself was actually pretty hot. i gave some to my mother to try, she didn't complain, which means it wasn't too bad. in fact, it's actually pretty good, very savory, with a surprisingly hint of sweetness. it was so hot that my mother and i wondered if they actually used red habanero peppers to make the sauce. she made some leftover xuelihong noodles for lunch and we both added a large dollop of this hunanese hot sauce.
i made fresh batches of taiwanese paocai, which were all used up. i brought 3 taiwanese cabbage from chinatown yesterday, of varying weights: 5 lbs, 4.8 lbs., and 2.8 lbs. the smallest size was for my mother for stirfry cooking, while the other two were for making paocai. originally i was going to cut up both cabbages, but reducing both would take up too much space. so instead i just used the largest one, maybe i'll cut up the other one friday or saturday. my mother used the madolin to julienne a carrot. it took her less than a minute, much easier than handcutting. this time around i used a small salad spinner to dry the reduced cabbage before adding to the sugar & vinegar solution. that did remove some of the water, but only on the surface; water inside the cabbage pieces still required hand-squeezing to wring out. from 5 lbs. of cabbage i ended up with 3 32 oz. plastic containers of taiwanese paocai, which should last us for 2 weeks.
i used up the two hand-rolled tea egg spice packets i made last week. instead of making a single 10g bags at a time, i decided to go bigger, and make 100g of spice and divide it up into 10 separate bags. one problem was the spice grinder can only fit 70g of spice. so i ended up grinding the spices individually before mixing them all together. as someone who loves smelling things, it was actually pretty fine. a lot of the spices are fragrant as-is, but once you pulverize them to chunks and powder, they smell even more pungent. it smells like being inside a chinese medicine shop. i ended up with 10x 10g packets, enough to last me for a few weeks. it's also good to use up all our old spices so we can get fresh ones.
i received an e-mail from pet supplies plus with a receipt from their nashua store. it was nearly $100 worth of dog supplies. that made me wonder if during my sister's unexplained absence, she didn't go up to new hampshire and get another dog? it'd be within the realm of possibilities, but kind of a dick move, because it would mean we would end up having to take care of her dog sooner or later, just like what happened when she initially got hailey. let's just hope it's my wild imagination at work, and she didn't go out and do something very irresponsible.
i left around 5pm. not only was it hot today, but humid as well. no wonder no customers elected to sit outside, but ate inside with air conditioning instead. it's the kind of weather that feels like walking into a soupy wall of hot air. i don't mind it that much, but it is uncomfortable. made worse by the fact that i uninstalled my air conditioner a few weeks ago, figuring i wouldn't need it anymore!
i finished watching the barbie movie (a korean-subtitled web version was floating around on the internet). it does something unique: making fun of barbie at the same time celebrating her, all done in a campy and creative way. truly a movie for everyone, from barbie haters to barbie lovers. it kind of reminds me of the brady bunch movie, which did the same thing of making fun but also reveling.
for dinner i made another burrito bowl. the only thing i heated was the rice (was too hard and dried otherwise), everything else i served cold. burrito bowls are one of the best kind of food for hot days, since it's easy to prepare (especially with leftovers) and you can eat it cold.
after dinner, i disassembled the watermelon i bought yesterday. tonight was the perfect time to do it since i could throw out the peels afterwards for trash pickup tomorrow morning. i ate a bowl of watermelon while watching another episode of one piece on netflix.