Saw that someone put up a gingerbread monolith in Corona Heights.

https://www.kqed.org/news/11852841/c...ars-at-sf-park

Maybe they will rename it Corona-19 Heights?

 

Happy Sunday Nor Cal. Have a blessed day.

Jim

 

Those monolith confuse me. I have no idea what they are. As a Chinese American, I feel culturally out of place. Nothing like that in Chinatown. Please pardon my ignorance.

Stay at home orders are keeping me away from enjoying the free world. I didn't get to see Santa. No Thai massage at Oriental Spa. Today, I am trying to make a roast pork instead of going to Chinatown.

This is like Prison. No Roast Pork, Santa, or Thai Massage.

 

Welcome to the last Monday of 2020.

Jim

 

My niece is Mongolian; she immigrated in her early 20s (mid 30s now). I think she struggles a bit with American culture.

Listened to the last Radiolab podcast of 2020. First part of the episode was discussing whether Santa is an essential worker or not. Tony Fauci declared that "Santa", the big guy at the north pole is exempt from COVID. It's not so clear for the thousands of helpers all over the place.

 

I hope your niece isn't operating a restaurant serving wings and fish & chips. I went to a place where the food was still frozen on the inside. Family business. Girl there said she didn't want to defrost too much food in case it doesn't sell. So she just does microwave from the freezer as it's ordered. Really nice person. I asked her why she was serving microwave food from Costco. She said that she didn't know how to make wings, fish, and french fries. What? You have a restaurant that serves wings, fried fish, and fries; and you don't know how to make it? Apparently her dad thought it was a good idea to buy the place and have her run it. Even though they had no idea how to run it.

 

Wow...Wish I had money to buy a restaurant. I am not a chef, but I know how to cook burgers and fries. Fish and wings, I would need to YouTube. I am surprised they have not thought about that.

Finally got the truck running, and it didn't take buying/installing a fuel pump. Just a three dollar can of starting fluid. Checked all the gauges while it was running and all the exterior lights. Only burned out bulb is for the right front side marker light. Headlights work, but I did not test the high beams. Also did not test the gauge cluster light, since it was too bright to see if it worked. I will need to have the brakes checked once the truck is legal as the pedal goes to far to the floor before they actually start working. Might be a master cylinder, or most likely, since it has been sitting so long, wheel cylinder seals, or maybe a caliper piston seal. Still, I am a happy camper. Even the odometer and trip odometer work.





Jim

 

Very nice


I suspect that there's a combination of veterans and small business administration loans and grants which could put you behind the register of a burger joint.

On one of my misadventures, I got to speak with a guy who was the executive chef for a fast food chain. He worked in the corporate laboratory kitchen. Apparently there's a science to parcooking, weight, temperature, volume, and even the oil. Fast food precooks the wings at a processing facility, then ships it partially cooked, seasoned, breaded, and frozen. Retail level just has to follow the instructions to defrost to a correct temp, fry only X number of pieces at X temp oil, for X time.

I don't know. I put chicken into hot oil. It changes color. It's fried. Luckily, I never undercooked fried chicken. I always thought chicken is cooked when it looks the right color: before it is burnt. It never occurred to me that anyone would do something like try to fry frozen chicken, burn the outside, while the inside is still raw. Or try to microwave frozen chicken, and serve it in a restaurant.

 

Yeah, that doesn't sound like a good business plan, especially when customers start getting sick from under cooked chicken. Maybe they should hire a real cook who can train the rich daughter?

Jim

 

The wings, fried fish, and french fries were precooked. Frozen. Stuff you get at Restaurant Supply Depot. Like gallons of clam chowder in plastic bags. So it's not really raw. Just microwave hot on the outside and frozen on the inside.

I think that they should get out of the restaurant business.

Apparently, the daughter is a book keeper by trade. Not an accountant. Just someone who does the boring data entry, and remembers to send in quarterly reports and sales tax payments. That's how they bought the place. She kept books for the previous owner. By serving microwave food, the book keeper has already reduced the value of the 3 cooks she would have had to pay. In a restaurant, if the cost of frozen food is 25% more than cooking fresh, you raise the price. $6 for an order of 6 wings and fries, or 2 pieces of fried fish and fries, becomes $8.

She just hasn't factored in the loss of business volume from people who will not come back for bad food.

 

Going to be a hard lesson to learn.

Jim

 

The niece is more of a cheese (and other deli delights) monger when she was working. She took a couple years off after having a baby, and is now going stir crazy taking care of her daughter. She is a bit of a go-getter, and she is putting way too much energy into making everything perfect for her daughter. It will be good when the kid can spend more time at school, and she can get back to the cheese.

 

My sister's like that too. Trying to make everything "perfect" for her kids. My brother in law shrugs, rolls his eyes, and goes outside for a smoke. There's a pandemic. And she's trying to enroll the kids into music, dance, languages......at the ages of 3 and 6. Sure. They will master the cultural arts and be fluent in Latin - it's a dead language nobody speaks. From watching the Karate Kid, and Cobra Kai on Netflix, she's convinced that her husband and I are depriving the children by not teaching them martial arts. Sure. I'll show my niece how to sweep the leg after she masters Hawaiian Hula, Russian Ballet, and gets a Juris Doctorate. My nephew, with DNA from both sides of the family, will do just fine playing Dodgeball. I'm sure your niece isn't as obsessed with trying to raise superkid.

I noticed that with Covid-19 forcing some businesses to shutter, the ones still open are doing brisk business. Molinari Delicatessen has a line going around the block. It's truly survival of the fittest. The shops which are still open either own the real estate debt free, or they are able to renegotiate terms for rent. Everyone else is forced out from failure to pay rent, or foreclosed from lenders.

Anybody with capital to deploy is in a buyer's market. Less than 1000 sq ft, gets you a take away counter, kitchen, and you are in business. No need for seating. Just like 3rd world hawkers. Speciliaze in selling only a few items. Minimal equipment. Griddle for burgers. Deep fryer for fries. You have a burger joint. Not so crazy. In N out only has burgers, fries, and drinks. No wings. No fish. Just hamburger, cheeseburger, Double Double, fries......Jim has a grandson who could run the place.

 

Jim also has a truck that is going to drive him either 1) insane, or 2) to the poor house. Got it running Monday night, so I took it this morning to get gas in it. gas leaked all over the ground while filling it up, so I abandoned my idea of going to Autozone to return a part. I get home, and look under the truck and it is not leaking gas. It only leaked when filling the tank. So I guess there is a hole in the filler tube. I decided to go to the closest Autozone instead of the one with better customer service (and more staff). They wouldn't take the part back even though it was still in the FedEx bag because I did not have the receipt. So I head home, on the way I punched it to see how well it would accelerate. Didn't do half bad, but I may have overdone it because when I pulled into my carport, steam was billowing out from under the hood. I pop it open and the whole top side of the engine is covered in water, as is the under side of the hood.

I decided to let it cool down before attempting to work on it. I just figured I had not tightened the upper radiator hose clamp enough. When I went back to it hours later, I pour a gallon of water into the radiator, and it pours itself out onto the ground from some unknown leak. It was dripping from the trans/engine area, but unless it is a core plug it must be coming from somewhere else. The top of the engine was dry. I was going to start the engine to see where it is leaking from, but after seeing it all go out as fast as I put it in, I decided against it. So, now the plan is to have it towed to the smog test shop tomorrow and pay them to find/fix the leak, then smog it. This truck is a love hate thing. I love it when it finally starts, and I enjoyed the two trips I took in it, but now hate it because of the water leak. It doesn't help that I cannot get on the ground and inspect anything like I used to be able to do in the past. My daughter says she will help if it is too expensive as she has some money saved up, and of course my grandson will help too, but I don't like borrowing money from family. Looks like I have no choice in the matter since the end of the year is Thursday.

And of course, the tow company that the apartment hired was in the parking lot when I pulled in and asked me if the truck was currently registered. I showed him the one day pass from the DMV and told him I have a 9am appointment for a smog check and he told me he would give me a few days to get it taken care of. Which is basically what the other tow driver said about a week ago. I have over $1,100 in this truck already and it would totally suck if it were towed.

Jim

 

Lines were long at Safeway. I can't understand why. I breezed through the self checkout lane. Why would all those people stand in line to pay? NY steak and lobster were on sale. My favorite cut of tri tip is on sale akso. And when you go through checkout, there's all kinds of coupons that apply to the grocery bill. $5 off the whole order. $1 off produce. $2.99 a gallon for milk. I think it's a scam. Their prices are marked up high, so they can give you a discount, and the store still makes a lot of money. Same way Albertsons operates Lucky and Safeway, with different ads and sales. Kroger has a FoodsCo in my area. Suppose to be lower price. But Trader Joe's has items that rival Costco. Luckily, in The City, we still have independent butchers, produce stands, and such, that actually are cheaper and give better service.