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the overnight temperature dropped to 45 degrees. i'd switched to my winter blankets for the first time this year. given the choice, i prefer sleeping in the cold than the hot. but it's harder to get out of bed when it's cold.

today at the cafe we sold 10 bento boxes (2 by way of grubhub) and 15 boba teas; most popular bento was char siu (3) and minced pork (3), with sausage (2) and chicken (2) tying for second; most popular boba flavor was mango (4), followed by lychees (3) and taro (3); we had 6 beef noodle soup sales which by far was the most popular single item of the day (something about the cold weather makes people want to eat chunk of beef with noodles); i air fried a container of marinate char siu but managed to burn my hand in the process; i managed to leave one of the basement upright freezer door open for more than a hour, only noticed it when i went down to the basement and heard the warm temperature alarm; a customer sitting outside forgot his fanny pack, we managed to find his MIT and i was able to track down his e-mail address, but he called a bit later asking if we saw his pack, and came by to pick it up, turns out he was actually a post-doc electrical engineering researcher from taiwan, i was able to deduce it from the wades-giles mandarin romanization of his chinese name.

i made it to belmont by 4:30pm. i was making my instant pot pork bone century egg rice porridge for dinner tonight, using the large 8qt classic instant pot my parents have stashed in the basement that goes mostly unused. i've had rice porridge most of the week, so you'd think i'd be sick of it, but i was actually excited to eat it again, and see how my parents like my recipe. right away they said i didn't put enough rice (only 3/4 cup) and had too much pork. my mother said i should take out some of the pork and eat it with a soy sauce dip. we also didn't have any zha cai (pickled mustard stem), only some 4-year-expired suan cai (pickled chinese mustard leaves). i use the zha cai to make the porridge both salty with a bit of crunch, so the porridge came out a little bland. i added some expired suan cai, it actually wasn't that bad, though there was a slight metallic taste. i also added a teaspoon of fried chili oil, which made it super savory and spicy. i didn't think it was too bad - best porridge i've had in a while - but i don't think my parents were impressed. in fact, my mother cooked some pickled radish with eggs as a side dish because she was afraid the rice porridge wouldn't be filling enough.

my sister dropped off hailey around 5pm. i let hailey outside so she could use the bathroom, the only time i was in the backyard today. inside the sunroom it felt like a suana, especially since it was very hot inside from all the trapped heat. night time temperatures are going back up again, it'll be safe to move out all the houseplants tomorrow. october is around the corner, but there's at least a few more weeks of proper outdoor sunshine for the plants to enjoy before we move them inside permanently for the winter.

i got home by 8pm. maybe it's a sign of the weather getting colder, but i had an irresistible urge to snack. the only thing i had in the house was some watermelon seeds, some move theater popcorn, and some fruit. i sampled all three options, none were very satisfying. my room temperature is now consistently at 68°; i plugged in my aquarium heater this morning, my tetra likes it around 70°.