i called my 2nd aunt asking her if the cafe needed anything from market basket. she gave me a list (half & half, bean sprouts, IBC diet root beer, cabbage, frozen peas), i went on a supply run, picked up some english muffins along the way, paid with the company debit card. at the cafe i watered the plants with some Bti-infused water and deactivated the infrared illuminator smart plug. i returned home before noontime and made myself an egg & ham english muffin sandwich for lunch.

i finally tried a cosmic crisp apple today, about $1.75 per apple, so fairly expensive as far as apples go. it's smaller compared to the sugar bee, and when i got it out of the crisper i noticed it was bruised on one side. what does a high end apple taste like? first bite i was surprised by how sour it was, i was expecting it to be sweeter. and it wasn't that crispy (despite the name), a little waxy, but maybe because i kept it in the fridge for too long. the skin was also a bit tough. after the initial shock, i started tasting a familiar floral flavor, like rosewater, but not quite. apple-wise it's okay, but the sugar bee is still king in my opinion.

i've been on a crusades history kick the past few weeks, ever since i picked up a copy of in distant lands: a short history of the crusades by lars brownworth. it's amazingly succinct and well-written, and i wasn't surprised when i looked up the author and discovered he hosts a crusade history podcast as well. unfortunately i can only read a few pages a night before falling asleep, so it's going to take me a while to finally finish the book. i'm currently about to read up on the 4th crusade. not satisfied with just reading, i was curious about finding some crusade-related movies. the only one i could think of is the 2005 kingdom of heaven. i remember seeing it when it first came out, but didn't remember much, and not really knowing the crusade's history, didn't fully appreciate the characters. now with some crusade history under the belt, i rewatched the movie again, this time the longer director's cut. the film takes some liberty with the actual history, but it's by far the most ambitious crusade-related movie i know of.

i ate 2 bricks of lasagna in the evening when i could've done with just one. kevin came home at 8pm and immediately started making dinner. i'm keeping my eye on this weekend storm, supposed to drop as much as 3 inches of snow starting saturday night before transitioning into rain. i'm hoping the rain will wash away most of the snow, still waiting on a more accurate forecast the closer we get to the weekend. trying to figure out if i need to shovel or not.