i tried waking up early to go run this friday morning but just couldn't do it. better luck tomorrow. instead i woke up as late as i could (8:30am) then left the house by 9am. i went to my nearby beacon street star market to grab some boneless chicken thighs on sale but they had none. i then biked over to the porter square star market. for some reason they renovated their meat department so now it's no longer at the far end of the store but center back instead. they had the boneless thighs i was looking for.

when i got to the cafe, i saw my father picking up some trash that was left in the parking lot. when i tossed the empty package envelopes into the trash, my father told me to save them. turns out they were left behind by package thieves, the addresses of nearby neighbors. i didn't know whether we should notify the neighbors. in the end i called the police who sent a cop over to take a statement. the officer said there was nothing he could do. unless the neighbors filed a police report about actual stolen items, a crime hadn't officially been committed yet. the cop left with the empty package envelopes. i then checked the webcam footage from last night. through process of elimination i was able to narrowly down the possible timeline of when it happened, and found the culprit. at exactly 8:36pm, a man riding a small motorcycle made a beeline into the parking lot, hiding behind my sister's car. in the video you can see him opening packages and throwing out the envelopes. after a few minutes he left. there wasn't much we could do with the video since the police weren't interested. the only thing it did was provide an answer to a mystery. that in itself is kind of a relief, though not much comfort to those who's packages got stolen.

it was a hot and humid day today, temperature once again in the 90's. i told my father not to bother open the patio umbrella or setting up the furniture. my sister had bought a barricade online, for some reason she wants to block access to the patio deck. i was a little annoyed because i specifically told her not to do this but decided not to sweat it too much.

i was very busy today, seems like i was in the back kitchen working non-stop. from making a new batch of tea eggs, to preparing 2-3 batches of black soy noodles, to putting together some more tea egg spice packets. it was my first time using the drawstring tea bags i bought from temu. for some reason the drawstrings come out on one side, so the bags don't automatically cinch up, you need to secure it by tying it up a few times with the tiny drawstrings. these new bags are smaller, but because they can be closed tighter, the spices don't leak out and make a mess. the smaller size makes pouring in the mixed spices slightly more challenging but it can be done. when i made a new batch of tea eggs i used one of the new spice packets and it seemed to work well.

i didn't have lunch today, just an expired sports drink for hydration. i did eat an oui yogurt (vanilla & chocolate) that i bought months ago.

my aunt showed up in the late morning, coming back from tennis. she left when we started getting busy around lunchtime. it was also busy a bit before we closed, with a steady stream of business throughout the day, the busiest day so far this week. we did have one disgruntled customer leave us a one-star negative review on google. she said the cafe smelled, that she couldn't understand my mother (not sure what that means but sounds a little racist), and that she'd never come back. i was tempted to reply but decided not to engage. all the reviews we'd have so far have been 5-stars, it was only a matter of time we got a bad one. it wasn't for anything specific either, just some vague criticism. she reviewed a few other places (a lot of hair salons and nail stores), either giving them 5-stars or 1-star. she even reviewed a dunkin' donuts (5-stars). i can understand why some businesses get ready incensed when people leave bad reviews. if only businesses can leave reviews of customers!

while cooking some noodles today, i had an interesting thought. i've worked at the cafe long enough that i've learned the distinct personalities of the various pots and pans. like that pot is better for cooking large batch of noodles because it has a thicker bottom that won't easily scorch. or this pot is used for making teas because it's taller than the rest. i also have favorites, like i will only cook my tea eggs with that particular inset pan with the dented bottom and the pot with the epoxied-repaired handle. maybe it all means i've worked there long enough that i've gone crazy.

my mother picked some backyard mint this morning and insisted i make a batch of mojito for her to drink. so close to closing time, i made my mojito:

i made some mistakes. for one thing the simple syrup was still hot. it didn't matter once the ice was added, but it melted some ice along the way so the mojito wasn't as frozen as i'd liked. i also didn't refrigerate the white rum, so it room temperature, which further contributed to a watery mojito. my mother didn't mind though, she got the first pour which was still icy. i filled her stainless steel insulated coffee mug. she added some boba pearls, which froze in the ice making them hard and inedible. i ended up pouring out the rest of the mojito into two 32 oz. containers i pulled from the freezer. i took one of them home (the smaller portion) as well as a prepared bento box my mother made for me with leftover chicken, zucchini, bitter melon, and salted egg.

back at home, i had about 48 hours before drew arrives sunday night. i took a quick shower before eating dinner. i finished a tall glass of frozen mojito that left me in a drunken fog. it was so hot in the house and i was so tired from work, i was in no mood to clean. i'll do all tomorrow when i get back from work in the late afternoon, foregoing my usual saturday routine of going to my parents' place for dinner.