the temperature the past few nights have started to get cold (50-60's), which in turn is making me wake up later because i don't want to get out of bed. the only thing i had planned was to ride down to chinatown/haymarket today to get some supplies. then in the late morning my mother called me: my father forgot to pick up the ground pork he had one of the market basket butchers prepare for him. so i got dressed and rode down there to buy the pork before dropping it off at the cafe.

i returned home and switched to my bicycle to investigate some carboys i saw someone left on a curb. these were older styles, the glass had a greenish blue tint. they were also in bad shape, made had chipped or scratched lips. i did find one that was in okay shape, but the opening was very small. that's when i realize, do i really need another carboy? i already have two in my basement, unused. i really don't need a third, it'd just take up space.

i had lunch when i got back home: pita bread with leftover tzatziki and leftover romaine lettuce salad with thousand island dressing.

my pH up and down solutions arrived. i noticed there was liquid inside of the bag. the blue pH up solution had its seal broken, so that's what was leaking. i thought it returning it and getting a replacement, but it didn't leak too much, not worth the hassle. the way it's colored (blue and orange) makes it almost like edible, definitely not kid safe, though they had child-proof caps (which apparently isn't water-tight). now that my mason jar hydroponics nutrient solution had autocorrected its pH level, i don't have an urgent need for these pH up and down chemicals just yet.

i left for boston by 2pm. i headed to c-mart first, where i ended up getting everything so that i didn't need to go to ming's market afterwards. i got fresh vegetables to refill my sichuan paocai jar (chinese cabbage, daikon radish, carrots) and a few snacks. afterwards i went to haymarket via downtown crossing.

that sign post where i usually park my bike, it's completely gone now. i had no choice but to lock my bike to the fencing around the holocaust memorial. there seemed to be a few less tents today (the fishmonger and the oyster bar guy weren't there), maybe some vendors decided to go on vacation during the labor day long weekend. there was nothing particularly interesting, here was my haul: $7 of rainier cherries ($2/lbs.), 2 lbs. of longans ($8), 6 limes ($1), 2 boxes od mission figs ($2), 2 lbs. bokchoi ($2).

i made it to the cafe by 3:45pm to drop off some supplies. my mother wasn't interested in the cherries at all (rainier cherries are very sweet but lack that distinctive cherry flavor) but instead kept the longans. the longans were so sweet, they tasted like honey. the figs were okay, but it's really hard to get quality figs: they're either too raw that they taste mildly astringent, or too ripe where they've gone moldy. many of the sweetest figs i've ever had were ones that looked like they've gone bad.

by 5pm i was in the community garden watering my plants. it's been over a week since my last visit. i don't like being there in the late afternoon because that seems to be peak mosquito period. the hyacinth beans have taken over the right side of my plot, i'm not even going to bother retrellising them, just let them have that area. my garlic chive borders have also all bloomed, a perimeter of pretty white flowers. there were a few ripe tomatoes but they all suffered some kind of critter damage. one of my habanero peppers has turned red, i harvested it along with a few red serrano peppers. i also have many red thai chili peppers, but those are so tiny, they're not worth harvesting, i see them more as an ornamental. i thought i'd have some mature bitter melons, but the ones i saw were still small, not even any orange ones. elsewhere in the community garden, one of the gardeners in the back plots has a ripe cantaloupe, didn't think it'd be possible to grow them here.

went i returned home i also watered my potted plants in the backyard deck.

the cafe ice machine in the basement broke down today. my father called xiaowu to come fix it, he said he'd come today, but he never did, costing me parents to stay at the cafe until after 8pm when they finally went home. a low storage ice maker doesn't cost that much, for $335 we can get a new machine delivered by next week. it's not worth trying to fix that old machine, especially if xiaowu never comes.

i watched the evening news and web surfed from the couch, watching some youtube videos about middle earth. i fell asleep around 7pm, waking up an hour later. for dinner i made a bowl of luxury korean ramen with tofu.