the smaller of my two CO2 checker was showing blue, meaning the CO2 level in the aquarium was low. i adjusted the needle valve so the bubble counter showed a slightly faster one bubble per every 2 seconds rate. i noticed another pennywort rhizome today, underneath the large anubias driftwood. i'd thought it was anubias roots until i took a closer look and saw a small pennywort leaf stalk forming.
i left by 11:30am, but spent another 10 minutes getting gasoline for the motorcycle before finally arriving at the cafe. both my 2nd aunt and my godmother showed up at the cafe. they were there during a busy stretch: while my 2nd aunt could help out, the only thing my godmother could do was wash some dishes.
my father brought out the deep fryer and fried a fresh batch of salt & pepper chicken, tonkatsu pork, and some tofu. the tofu we were trying to recreate a stinkless fried tofu. he double and triple fried it, which ended up making the tofu a bit tough. next time we should fry larger pieces of tofu. i paired the fried tofu with some hot sauce and taiwanese paocai for some taiwanese stinky tofu nostalgia.
i left the cafe by 2:40pm to run errands. i went to the watertown home depot to get some caulk for my bathroom and to buy a light switch box to replace the manual outdoor lights timer. i got a squeezable tube of silicone caulk instead of the hard tube even though the hard tube was more economical; the problem with those hard tubes is by the time i need to use it again, the caulk is all dried up inside. the squeeze tube is just easier to work with. as for the light switch, originally i was going to get a light switch box. then i came across something called a handy box, which looks like a better fit.
afterwards i went in search of wood material for my adjustable cafe shelving project. earlier this morning i bought a shelf pin jig that was on sale ($28, the 2nd amazon prime day). they had pine boards, poplar boards, common boards, and plywood. common boards look to be the cheapest, but they're made from pine, which is a soft wood, so i don't know how durable they'll be. but the adjustable shelving i'm thinking about building won't hold very much weight anyway, so it might be safe.
i left home depot and went to belmont. i relocated a few more foxgloves to the grapevine bed before tilling raised bed 1 and 2. i then planted an assortment of seeds: arugula (left RB2), leftover mustard seed pops (right RB2), a mix of red mustard and cilantro (back of RB1 and RB2), and some daikon radishes (front of RB1 and RB2). i then watered the raised beds followed by the rest of the garden, including the transplanted foxgloves and the transplanted hollyhocks from yesterday.
i left belmont by 4:30pm and returned to the cafe. there was traffic, so i parked 2 blocks away, in a spot that gave me options as to how i'd get back home. my mother was missing, gone to visit my sister and see esmei. so i went over as well. my mother said esmei heard the sounds of a passing fire engine siren and didn't like it and started barking, the first time she heard her bark. i returned to the cafe with my mother, who packed me some rice with a piece of tonkatsu. i left by 5pm.
my CO2 checkers were both green - good CO2 level. i still have 180psi of CO2 left in the tank, probably good for another month before i need to refill it.
i fell asleep on the couch around 7pm, waking up at 8pm. i headed to the kitchen to reheat the food my mother had prepared for me, but i ended up working on my hot sauce with the red long horned peppers i got from chinatown on friday.
i brought out my heavy duty cuisinart DLC-7 super pro food processor. i chopped up the peppers, then added a tablespoon of salt, a teaspoon of brown sugar, a splash of chinese baijiu, a clove of peeled garlic, and half a teaspoon of citric acid. i didn't need to add the brown sugar, as some of the peppers had a sweet taste (while others were spicy). i processed all the ingredients a few times, until it became a sauce consistency. i've made hot sauce like this before, but using red habanero peppers, which taste like habanero hot sauce, which is okay, but sometimes i just want regular hot sauce. the final result was okay, a little watery. i read some hot sauces add corn starch to thicken the sauce, but i didn't do that. it can't compare to commercial hot sauces (which i think are better tasting), but i'll leave it at the cafe for those times when customers request a dash of hot sauce. i think they'll appreciate our homemade cafe special hot sauce.
finally around 9:30pm i heated up my dinner. i made my own tonkatsu sauce following the recipe i perfected back in march. the sauce was a little runny, i might add an extra tablespoon of ketchup next time to thicken it up more. midway while reheating my food, i took out the trash. when i saw nobody else had their trash out, i then remembered it was columbus day yesterday, so trash day will be delayed a day.