i woke up at 9am this morning with a list of errands to run. but i took my time, made a grocery list, and didn't leave until 11am for market basket. most of items were for the cafe, i decided to make some hot dogs for dinner. while i was there, michael called me with some computer issue. i told him i could swing by his work place around noontime.

i went home to drop off the groceries before heading down to harvard square. the place was packed with friends and family attending the graduation ceremony tomorrow. there are so many schools at harvard, every single open space was utilized as venues for individual schools. you could tell which people were here on graduation business because those were all the people dressed up. there was tight security inside harvard yard and you had to pass a security check to get through.

it's unfortunate then most of the time when i see michael, it's because there's some computer issue, so it's always a little tense. the problem today was all his contacts disappearing. i poked around but didn't see anything out of the ordinary. his laptop was a little low on space, i so erased a bunch of old defunct outlook data files (PST) that we no longer used, freeing up 40GB worth of space. that still didn't fix the issue. i noticed he had 4 remaining PST files in his out outlook directory, but only 3 mailboxes in the application window itself. michael said he was cleaning some files yesterday and might've erased something crucial. that's when it clicked: he erased one of the original mailboxes that for some reason contained all the contacts. it was a simple matter of exporting the missing PST and suddenly all the contacts came back.

michael told me he's planning on starting a website that would allow customers to order new lenses for their old frames. nowadays not many glasses companies make custom lenses, you basically take what they have in stock. i think that's a great idea and he got the guy who originally built their outlook database. also while i was there, he gave me the last pair of frames that i currently wear, so that the next time i wanted new glasses, i can use those frames because i like them so much. he showed me that the frames that i have are made with a virtually indestructible material, and demonstrated by bending the temple arms before they simply snapped back in place. he also adjusted my glasses while i was there, i didn't even realize the nose pad arms were crooked.

problem fixed, i left michael's store a little after 1pm. when i got back home i had just enough time to grab a leftover italian sausage from the fridge and eat it for lunch before i went out again.

i was meeting bruce for a tree walk to show him the hidden paulownias around the neighborhood. there used a grove of giant paulownia trees on beacon street. i first discovered them back in 2007, nearly 2 decades ago. they were easily the tallest trees on the street, but not many people noticed them despite having pretty fragrant flowers. beacon street used to be a lot different. i remember these used to be a gas station with a sign for the S&H green stamps loyalty program. unfortunately all those paulownias were chopped down to make way for new apartments, the cost of gentrification. nevertheless, its offsprings continue to survive, in hidden spots around beacon street. i've slowly discovered a few - up to three - and wanted to show them to bruce.

bruce was walking with a cane. a few months ago he started getting a mysterious knee pain that wouldn't go away. it wasn't just walking, even standing would hurt his knee. he got an x-ray but they didn't see anything. his doctor gave him a cortisone shot which fixed the problem until it came back 4 weeks later. just recently he got an MRI, and still waiting for the doctor to contact him with a diagnosis.

we also saw some black locusts with pretty white flowers that resemble wisteria. we saw the paulownia on the corner of park and morgan street. the second paulownia was behind the garage in the parking lot of the wine & cheese cask. the third tree was across the street (washington), poking out through a gazebo.

we went inside the wine & cheese cask to get something cold to drink then sat on a bench on the corner of beacon and washington/kirkland and watched the traffic while we chatted. bruce believes trump won't make it to the end of his term and will probably die due to health reasons. walking back, we saw a tree that had maple wings but the leaves didn't a maple leaf shape. later we learned it was a boxelder, a female one at that.

i got back by 2:30pm. i packed up the groceries and took the bike to the cafe to drop off the supplies. only my father was at the cafe; my mother and 2nd aunt went next door to the empty bakery to see what leftover supplies they can take back. the transfer sale finally went through last week, the new owners will move in next month (next week). i'd never been in the bakery before after they finished renovations. i've always thought it was tiny but it's surprisingly big (long). there were murals on the wall that the new owners will probably paint over which is a shame. the previous cafe was a real labor of love, too bad they couldn't make it work out.

i continued to belmont, where i planned on mowing the lawn. i mow it now so that over the weekend i can apply sedgehammer herbicide to the lawn to kill all the sedges. my father and i noticed that we cut too short so i raised the mow height to setting 4 (it was at 3 before). i scattered a trio of bunnies and an adult rabbit that simply hopped the low fence like it was nothing. after i finished mowing, i moved out all the garden refuse bins to the curb. before i left, my heavy duty zip ties arrived. i put some on the hop bine trellis top.

i got back home by 4:30pm. today was warm - mid-80's - but it wasn't bad, a pleasant late spring day. it was warm enough to cook the sewer juices and there was a stink in my bathroom. i fixed it by simply not closing the bathroom door and opening the window just a crack.

i took a shower to rinse off the stink i've accumulated over the course of the day. afterwards i had some pita bread with roasted eggplant ajvar dip and the sponge cake my sister bought over the weekend. i washed a load of laundry before throwing it into the dryer. i watched some youtube videos and vegged out the rest of the day.

after the evening news, i got sleepy and decided to take a nap around 6:30pm. i didn't wake up until 2 hours later at 8:30pm, feeling groggy. i forced myself up so i could make some hot sauce. it's been on my to-do list for a while, and i was afraid if i waited any longer, the peppers i bought last week will go bad.

the whole process took 2-1/2 hours. i didn't finish until 11pm. i use anaheim peppers and thai chili peppers, the two red-color types i can get from market basket. i used to think anaheim peppers weren't that spicy (almost like a sweet pepper), but they can range. still, i treat them as bulk filler for the hot sauce, while the real spiciness comes from the thai chili peppers. i'm used to working with 2 lbs. worth of anaheim peppers, but got a bit less this time (1.74 lbs). i removed the stems by slicing it off, while the thai peppers i can just rip off the stems. peeling the garlic took the longest, i'm tempted to get buy pre-peeled garlic next time.

the weight ratio of anaheim to thai to garlic is 3:1:1. however in this case i didn't have enough thai chili or garlic: it should be 225g of each, but i only had 172g of thai chili and about 208g of garlic (the entire sleeve peeled, 5 heads). the oil component is 3/4 the weight of the anaheim peppers, but i used 2/3 instead, which also worked.

i used my small food processor to chop up the ingredients, forgot that i used my large processor last time. results are the same, it just takes a bit more time using the smaller machine. i discovered chopping mixed ingredients work in the best in getting everything properly pulverized. i add chopped anaheim at the bottom, thai chili in the middle, and peeled garlic on top. i process once, press everything down, then processed a second time for a more minced sauce.

once the ingredients were all processed, it was time to add to the oil. i use canola oil. i had two opened jars that smelled rancid so i tossed them out, using an unopened jar instead. i was going to heat up the oil first, but then i realized it was going to make a huge mess when i dump in the wet pepper mash, so i simply added everything together. the sauce will sputter when it simmers, that's natural. i wish i had a deeper wide pan to catch the sprays so it doesn't make a mess of my countertop area.

i simmered for 20 minutes on medium-high heat before adding the remaining ingredients. this turned out to be a mistake. since i had less peppers, i should've reduced the portions, but instead i used the same amount as last time: 4 tbsp of sugar, 4 tbsp of salt, 4 tbsp of baijiu, and 6 tbsp of sichuan peppercorn oil. the correct amount should be 3 tbsp of salt/sugar/baijiu and 5 tbsp of peppercorn oil. when i tasted the sauce, it wasn't very spicy. instead, i tasted mostly salty and sweet, with some fragrant peppercorn. the sauce may actually be too salty/sweet. the ultimate judge will be my mother. i think she'll like it because it's not as spicy, but maybe she'll think it's too salty.

i scooped the sauce into empty clean sesame paste jars using a stainless steel canning funnel.

for dinner i ate another italian sausage, a piece of corn, and a lamb chop. it felt wrong eating so close to bedtime. i wasn't even that hungry, but figured i should eat something at least before going to sleep.