while making a smoked salmon bagel sandwich for lunch, i discovered that my salmon had gone moldy. instead i just used the salmon cream cheese and some capers.

in the afternoon i went to market basket to get some groceries. not ingredients i needed tonight, but rather in a day or two, when i intend to make some meat sauce for my pasta. instead tonight i was making a beef barley soup with a pound of frozen leftover beef roast that'd been defrosting since this morning.

when i got back home the beef had thawed enough that i could cut it into chunks and brown it in a pan while i chopped up the other ingredients, all of which i had on hand: onion, garlic, hot pepper, potato, celery, carrot. i also added a cup of dried barley. the only thing i was missing was more beef broth; i had 2 cups in the fridge, which i thought would be enough, but i didn't expect to add some much additional ingredients. after i finished browning the beef (added them to the crockpot along with all the other ingredients), i ran to star market to get 2 more cans of beef broth (for a total of 6 cups of broth). with the slow cooker set on high, i figured it'd be 9pm before i'd be able to eat my stew.

i'd picked up a few cases of san pellegrino essenza flavored seltzer and went to the cafe to drop them off. my dslr slung around my neck, i stopped periodically to take photos of the colorful autumn foliage. today was another grey day, sucks if you love sunshine, but good for uniformly lit snapshots.

my mother wasn't at the cafe, having gone out with my 2nd aunt, most likely to the nearby ac moore in fresh pond, which happened to be where i was going next. i found them in the yarn department. i was there looking for lanyard clips, which i finally located. more than i needed (45), but i had a 55% off one item coupon, which cut the price down to $2.25. besides yarn, my mother was also looking for a stiff material for making the visor insert of a hat she was knitting. she ended up getting a few different materials to try out, from foam sheets to stiff cotton-fabric boards. she and my aunt also each bought a vacuum-sealed soup bowl that were on sale for $2 (originally $5).

while my mother and aunt walked back to the cafe, i biked across danehy park to my place. there were some spectacular red maples, and some colorful sumacs. unfortunately i only had my 28mm lens and couldn't get far enough for full coverage. depending on the weather tomorrow, i might come back and get some better photos.

the stew was getting there when i returned home, but still needed a few more hours to mature. after raking a barrel full of dead leaves and fallen twigs outside, i came back in and snacked on some leftover buffalo wings.

the stew was finally done by 8:30pm. i taste tested it earlier, even though i didn't add any salt, it was salty enough as-is. maybe i added too much barley because it'd absorbed most of the broth, and the stew tasted more like a barley porridge. it was okay, and i managed to use a lot of leftover ingredients. i'll probably be eating this for the next few days, my meat sauce spaghetti will have to wait until friday. good thing is i can refrigerate (or freeze) the sauce.

i ate while watching hame 6 of the world series between the washington nationals and the houston astros. i was rooting for the astros, rooting for justin verlander who has started in 6 world series games but has never won a decision. a houston victory would make them the champions. i was also rooting for the nationals, the true underdog; a win for them means they survive to play a game 7 tomorrow night, winner takes all. washington ended up winning 7-2.