so the big event of the day was the 40 bento delivery in the early evening. but we had to get through the day first. it ended up being busy, but nobody noticed because everyone was planning for tonight. just as i thought, i ended up cooking another batch of tea eggs, for a total of 90+ tea eggs. 40 of which would be used up for the big order, while another dozen were served during the day. my mother also got some frozen egg tarts from costco which she cooked in the oven but i didn't get to eat one until later in the afternoon because i was so busy. i also had one of the meat buns my 2nd aunt bought from chinatown.
i brought my springform cake pan because i thought i could make a japanese cheesecake at the cafe, but i couldn't find a water bath container that would fit the cake pan and the oven. i also brought the hot sauce i made last night. i kept asking my mother if she wanted to try it but she said no. my father tried a small amount though, could feel his mouth stinging.
i went to my sister's place in the afternoon to check up on esmei. i took her outside to play fetch and chase her around the backyard a bit before finally convincing her to come back inside the house.
i asked a customer to be quiet today. actually, it was his children, who were shouting for nearly an hour. the cafe is not a day care for children, especially those who don't have an inside voice. even after i spoke with the father, his kids were still loud. i was almost tempted to ask them to leave. even worse are adults who talk too loudly.
after we closed at 4pm we started preparing the big order. i thought the delivery was at 6:30pm but they changed it to 5:30pm. we had already started cooking the rice using our two 10-cups rice cookers. we had a third rice cooker but decided not to use it as it has a tendency to scorch the rice. after cooking 9 cups of rice, we kept it warm in an instant pot, before cooking another 9-cups and 8-cups.
i brought up the long folding table from the basement. we started assembly the bento, cold vegetables first. my 2nd aunt was tasked with peeling 40 tea eggs. she did a good job, but there were a few that looked a bit ragged. we put the peeled tea eggs back in the brine to keep them warm but that turned out to be a mistake because the brine ended up staining the eggs making them darker. as we got closer to delivery time, we started adding the rice and the entree. my father scooped the rice, my mother did the cutting, i added the tea eggs, and my sister and 2nd aunt labeled the bento and put them into bags, 8 total.
we finished assembling the order at 5:30pm. i went with my parents to drop off the order, which at a harvard building on garden street. my father drove, my mother was the money person, and i was there to help with the delivery. my mother called them to let them know we were coming. we saw a bunch of young taiwanese kids in a student lounge who came out to pick up the bags. at least one of them has eaten at the cafe before, but none of them have ever tried the bento. hopefully they like it and become future customers.
back at the cafe, we had leftover braised pork with rice. my parents ended up giving my 2nd aunt a ride home while i biked back to my place.
the IST final was tonight, between the lakers and pacers. i was rooting for indiana. los angeles lead throughout the game, though the pacers tied it a few times. the lakers just couldn't pull away until in the final quarter, when the pacers were shooting desperation threes while the lakers pulled away to take the inaugural IST trophy. lakers get $500K per player/coach, while the pacers get $200K. weird thing is - and i didn't know this - any stats from tonight don't count as part of the regular season. it's as if this game never existed in the record books.