t
o
n
y
a
n
g
'
s
 
w
e
b
l
o
g


MAR

29

2022

today marks week 2 of my cafe duty. this morning was the chilliest part of an abnormally cold snap given the time of year, with temperature getting no higher than the lower 30's with strong winds that made it feel even colder. hard to say how the cold weather affects customers, but today was definitely a slow day, not many people wanted to be out.

things i did today included taking an inventory of our frozen specialty foods ingredients, so we had an idea when we might need to make more. i may need to go to chinatown this friday to get a few items, including tonkatsu sauce (which i still think we can make our own) and baby bokchoi. at the very least by friday temperature will be a more seasonable 60 degrees. we also tested out a QR code sticker that my sister printed out on transparent sticker paper. the problem we didn't think of is a laser printer can't print white - so the QR code was printed in black - but the transparent quality basically made it disappear into the background and we were unable to scan the code with our phone. my sister said she'll get some white background vinyl sticker paper instead.

even though business was slow today, there was still enough things to do that the time went by quickly, for me anyway, between 11am to 2pm. my father fried some eggs and toasted some garlic bread for lunch, i had a chai latte that a customer ordered and later didn't want (she opted for bubble tea instead) and i also had a cup of coffee since we have way too much. my father divided up the hickory smoked ham we got yesterday morning from market basket. my sister made a pot of pork bone ramen broth. and the cherry plum branches i pruned off and my sister stuck in some vases have started to bloom (i posted an photo onto the cafe instagram account).

i left around 2:45pm once we started to hit the afternoon lull. when i got home i ordered some more smart plugs for the cafe. we need one for the bunn coffee brewer and another one for the grow lights. i charged it to the cafe credit card, this was a legitimate cafe-related purchase. it's due to arrive by tomorrow.

pedro the brazilian handyman finally got in touch with me, nearly 2 weeks after i asked him for a quote. he just sent me a price ($3400) which included labor and materials, no written proposal, and was more expensive than the guy we ended up hiring. i politely told him we already found someone.

in solar news, today was the first day this year where we managed to break 50kWh (50.66kWh). the graph line today wasn't perfect, but the combination of bright sun with cold temperature made for maximum production. last year we didn't break the 50kWh threshold until april 3rd (51.47kWh). unfortunately with just 2 days left this month and the forecast calling for cloudy skies, we're not going to set any records. last march we made 1133kWh; this march we'll probably a bit over 900kWh, nearly 200kWh less production.

my mother called me today. she said my big aunt has been visiting everyday even though it was against the rules, coming to get more clothes or drop off food. my mother said my big aunt has a huge HDTV (60+"), and she and my 2nd aunt have been watching commercial-free chinese-language dramas (my big aunt apparently subscribes to some kind of asian streaming service). my mother said they were doing their 3rd at-home covid test today; later some official will call them, and all they have to do is report whether they're positive or negative, they don't even need to verify. ever since people have been allowed to quarantine in their own homes, the covid protocols have been a bit porous; no wonder domestic transmission cases in taiwan have steadily increased recently.

for dinner i made a classic grilled smoked ham & egg & avocado everything bagel sandwich with sriracha. the key is the ham, which caramelizes in the pan and the flavor really enhances. true, this is typically a lunch sandwich, but there's no reason why i can't have it for dinner. afterwards i cut up my cantaloupe and ate half, saving the rest for tomorrow.