 |
 |
 |
earlier i went to michael's (3rd time this week) to get another skein of metallic yarn for my mother. from porter square i went to huron village and went down lakeview to get to fresh pond and concord avenue. i went by the old tokyo restaurant, now abandoned. the original owners even went as far as to plant several pretty pink cherry blossom trees in front of the building, now showcasing their colors for a missing audience. a woman walking a dog saw me taking photos and asked if there'd be a new restaurant. i told her i had nothing to do with the place, but she didn't seem to understand, and angrily told me "you should do something about it."
my burger king receipt said i was order 15. does that also mean i'm the 15th customer of the day? i got there right at the start of the noontime lunch rush hour. nearly all the people who were coming in were contractors, the stains on their clothes hinting at their profession. i rubbed my shoulder as i waited for my order, still smarting from that bike jolt. i had a coupon ($7.99) for a 2 whopper meal that included 2 small fries and 2 drinks. i added 2 additional double cheese burgers and a small chicken sandwich, for a combined total of less than $13.
i continued down concord avenue into belmont (riding the new cyclotrack that was put in place a year or 2 ago), then up bright road (instead of blanchard, which barely has enough space on the winding road for a bike lane). my mother was already waiting for some burger action after i told her i was stopping by to pick up some fast food. i ate all my fries first before eating my whopper.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
after lunch i continued working in the backyard, first chopping up a barrel worth of branches, before conditioning the raised bed soil with buckets of homemade compost. while digging through the compost bin i was shocked to find a bamboo shoot had made it's way into the bin. 
i also added a layer of compost to the peonies, some of which were already showing magenta buds poking from the ground. in RB3 i planted some fragrant sweet peas, while in RB2 and RB1 i planted sugar snap peas. also in RB1 i planted 3 rows of kale; not sure how well they'll do because the soil was kind of lumpy from the medium grade compost mixture.
just when i was almost finished with my backyard gardening, i managed to hurt my collarbone one more time: i was pulling out a tree root from the dirt with 2 hands when it suddenly gave way and i ended up violently jerking my left elbow backwards. that hurt so much i saw stars wincing from the incredible pain and swore in a breathless whisper.
riding back home, i was so worried about abusing my shoulder again that i was overly cautious, pedaling as slowly as possible, both hands on the handlebar, and sitting down throughout. i ran into ed and we chatted for almost half an hour. "you alright?" he asked me. i thought he was referring to my recent injury, but i was surprised how he found out about it. turns out he was asking me about the north korean missile crisis, figuring i was somehow korean, until i set him straight. he also talked about his big bones, "3x thicker than a chinaman's bone," he said very matter-of-factly.
 |
 |
 |
it's more 9 days since i updated the status of my seedlings. they're doing fine, particularly the tomatoes, which are leafing out. none of my new seeds from 8 days ago having germinated, except for a few tomato plants. i'm surprised the basils haven't sprouted yet, they're usually the first to come out (around 5 days to germination). maybe because i had them in the kitchen, which isn't very warm (normally i germinate my seeds in the guest bedroom, where the temperature hovers around 70° during the winter). having said that though, when i checked again later in the evening, i did see some green things about to emerge from the soil.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
i ordered some mouse melon seeds (Melothria scabra, $2.63 for a packet of 15 seeds) AKA mexican sour gherkins or cucamelons. they sort of look like miniature watermelons but taste like cucumbers with a slightly sour taste. i got them because i wanted to grow at least one thing new this season besides my usual vegetables and flowers.
 |
 |
 |
maybe it was a reaction from eating that whopper for lunch, but i suddenly had a craving for brussel sprouts for dinner. i had a frozen bag in the fridge that must've been there for at least a year or so that i finally decided to eat. after defrosting, i cut everything in half and tossed them with olive oil, kosher salt, crushed pepper, siracha sauce, red wine vinegar, and some honey. i baked everything in the oven at 375° for half an hour, flipping them a few times in the process. they smelled awesome, but they tasted pretty blah. maybe if i used fresh brussel sprouts instead it might taste better. or maybe there's no way to really make brussel sprouts taste better. i ended up eating my roasted brussel sprouts with some leftover mantou buns.
oh the americans! the mess that results from the american scientist getting blown up with 3 FBI agents then the eye-for-an-eye revenge killing of a KGB agent following the kidnapping and death of stan's partner seems to grow even bigger. the episodes keep on getting better, the tensions increase, i just wish there could be one episode where everything is calm and nothing goes wrong for a change.