recently, weather seems to be the deciding factor in shaping my days. with forecasted thunderstorms for this afternoon, i paid a quick visit to haymarket to pick up some cheap produce before the rain arrived. today was hot (80's), a bit humid, and riding underneath the scorching sun made me yearn for autumn already. napa cabbages make their appearance this week. i didn't realize that however and bought from the first vendor i saw (when i could've shopped around), a large 3lbs. head, along with two daikon radishes, all for just $2. i have the necessary ingredients for making more kimchee! i also bought 2 bags of rainier cherries ($5), a pound of long hot peppers ($1), and a bag of plums ($2).

i went to the cafe to drop off a few items before returning home. i was feeling all smug because i beat the rain, covering my motorcycle and then watching the swath of storm clouds eclipse boston and its vicinity. the sky went dark and it rained for a little bit before the sun came out. just the calm before the real storm i thought to myself. little did i know, that would be it in terms of rain for today. once again, i stayed home anticipating a rain out when i could've been out doing stuff.

after a late lunch of toaster-oven fried kielbasa and a poached egg, i did a load of laundry, washing the bedsheets and some towels. i also set the bread machine to prepare some pizza dough for later tonight: 3 cups of flour (actually, 1.5 cups of white bread machine flour + 1.5 cups of brown whole wheat flour), 1/2 tsp of salt, 1.5 tsp of yeast, a cup of warm water, and 2 tbsp of vegetable oil. after the machine kneaded the ingredients into a large dough ball slightly larger than a softball, it sat idle, waiting for the dough to rise. by the time it was finished, the dough had risen and completely filled the pan. i took out the dough and put it in the fridge sealed in syran wrap.

i made barbecue chicken pizza for dinner. i grilled 3 chicken breasts and cut them into small cubes before coating them with some barbecue sauce. 20 minutes of baking at 425 degrees later and i was done. 3 cups of flour makes too much dough for just a single pizza, i should scale it back to just 2 cups next time. i ended up with a lot of surplus crust. and 3 chicken breasts is also too much meat (although i couldn't find packaging portions smaller than that). i ate two hearty slices with a fork, saving the remaining 2/3 for tomorrow.