we weren't sure if it'd be busy today because of the rainy weather. sometimes rain keeps customers away, while other times it might compel them to get some comfort takeout food. there was already two uber eats order this morning before i arrived, a chicken bento and a beef noodle soup.
it got busy around lunchtime, and we faced a situation when we were almost out of char siu pork, which for some reason was the most popular item on the menu today. followed closely by beef noodle soup. beef noodle soup i can understand - when the weather turns cold people have a craving for that kind of umami comfort food. but char siu? that was a mystery. i had my eye on the clock, waiting for it to be less busy so i could run down to market basket to get more pork.
my aunt showed up in the early afternoon. she left with some braised eggs and beef shank, as well as some scallion bread.
i left for market basket a bit before 2pm. besides the pork (they'd just restocked, so i got some good portions), i also got some milk, bean sprouts, scallions, and some all spice. plus i bought some chips and a few honey crisp apples.
i got back to the cafe by 2:30pm. my father was impressed with the pork selection, with its fine marbling. my father cut the pork them my parents left it in some char siu marinade overnight, to be cooked tomorrow morning. fortunately we still had enough to last us until the end of the day. my father cooked the leftover pork skin to make some homemade pork rings.
i made another batch of tea eggs, after we already started using the batch i made just yesterday. we must've gone through 20 eggs today. in a single day we can easily go through a batch of 30 eggs. i have to start figuring out a way to not only make more but storing more as well (which may mean another crock-pot upgrade).
besides char siu, we were also running low on salt and pepper chicken. when casey showed up later in the afternoon with her two grandsons, they ate the last of our chicken bento, so we were forced to fry more. this gave us a chance to use our t-fal deep fryer for the second time this week.
the more we use the deep fryer, the more we prefer it over our old method of cooking in a pot on the induction stove. the old way was messy and smelly and you always had to keep on eye on it. with our new deep fryer, all we have to worry about is the time. it maintains our set temperature, and there's less smell because it doesn't overheat the oil or burn the fallen crumbs. it's easy to use, and we can deep fry at a moment's notice. the only thing is the cleaning, but the autofiltration already makes cleaning that much easier versus traditional frying.
my father topped off the used oil with some fresh oil, to keep the level between the max and min lines. after cooking the chicken, my father fried some pork cutlets, which i breaded in the japanese style of flour-egg wash-panko crumbs. he was going to just single fry them, but after seeing the results of a double fry, he double fried the rest of the cutlets. casey saw what we were doing and bought two cutlets on the spot, making sure we gave her some tonkatsu sauce. the fried cutlet was juicy and delicious, but it needs to be eaten fresh, as the crust turns a little hard after it gets cold.
around 6pm i turned the knob on the deep fryer to filtration. the oil temperature was around 180 degrees, which was cool enough for the filtration to begin immediately, as we watched it quickly drain, leaving behind a layer of leftover crumbs and some oil too low to be filtered. i wanted to clean but it was close to closing time so my father said to leave it for tomorrow.
i ended up staying at the cafe until closing. even if i wanted to leave, it was raining all afternoon into the evening. good thing i stayed, because around 5pm we hit another busy stretch.
it was almost 7pm by the time i got back home. the rain had stopped for the time being, but the streets were wet and my bike seat was soaked (nothing that a plastic bag can't fix). my rear light also ran out of battery, but i had reflectors on my fender and messenger bag, so hopefully cars behind could still see me.
i had another temu package and an amazon delivery on my doorstep. the amazon purchase was a pair of fancy colgate plague pro-release toothpaste ($6.50/tube). as for the temu stuff, it included another CO2 checker with CO2 indicator fluid, as well as a new alarm clock to replace the one in my bathroom that keeps on stopping every so often.
i didn't have dinner until 9pm, reheated some leftover pork and egg that my mother gave me, along with some pickled mustard green.