i finally left by 9:50am. the fixed tire seemed to be holding, since i tested it yesterday by going to market basket and back and it was okay. temperature was in the 50's so i just wore a light fleece jacket, and i quickly warmed up after a few minutes of cycling. i made it to haymarket in under 25 minutes.
my haymarket haul: 10 maroc-brand clementines ($4), 5 gold nuggets ($1), a bag of mandarins ($2), 2 bunches of scallions ($1.50), a nugget of ginger ($1), 5 bokchoi ($1), 3 large carrots ($1), a sleeve of garlic ($2). i also managed to lose about $25 in cash which i had in my hand, but must've dropped when i stuffed the money into my pocket when i was switching bags. of course when i went back to see if i could find my money, it was gone.
i left haymarket by 10:40am, took me the same amount of time to get home. i was only home briefly, gathering up some things (like the yogurts for my mother), before heading to the cafe to work.
my parents were making vegetable buns when i arrived. they made several batches so we'd have enough to sell during the two weeks they're away on vacation.
it turned out to be a busy day today, but nothing crazy, just a steady stream of customers. it actually makes the day go by faster when there's a flow of orders to fulfill. out of the past 4 days, today we made the most, with about 1/3 of the customers. it was warm enough that the backyard deck got a lot of visitors. in the afternoon during a lull, my mother made some rice noodle soup for lunch. we tried some of the oranges i got. my mother liked the moroccan maroc clementines the best: sweet, juicy, large. the gold nuggets had the better flavor though, but for some reason they were smaller than the gold nuggets we normally find, and was slightly tart, which i didn't mind, but my mother didn't like at all and said i could have all of them. we didn't try the bagged mandarins though, but i noticed they were star market signature brand, so they should be good too.
i finally went home around 4:50pm. when i unlocked my bike, i saw the back tire was completely flat. so that patch didn't work after all! or maybe i was unlucky enough to suffer a different flat, though it seemed like too much of a coincidence. i'm just thankful it didn't happen this morning when i was in boston, that would've been a long walk.
i was going to wheel the bike home, but that might damage the tire and the rim. my father said he could drive me, but in the end we decided to put the bike in the car and he'd deliver it to my place after work. so i ended up walking home, which took me nearly the same amount of time as riding to/from boston. i didn't mind though, gave me a chance to admire some spring flowers.
since my parents would be stopping by later, i thought it was the perfect opportunity to move some overgrown seedlings to belmont for planting. i pulled out all the long beans, blue beans, buttercup squashes, and bitter melons (i save two bitter melons for myself).
when my parents finally showed up after 7pm, it was my mother ringing my doorbell to let me know they'd arrived. she said my father was feeling well (diarrhea) and said moving my plants later in the weekend would be better. so after i got the bike from the car, they returned home.
it was already starting to get dark, but i still went ahead and fixed the flat tire. having done it just yesterday, it was a pretty easy thing to do. i removed the inner tube and put it in the bathtub to check for leaks. it wasn't leaking from yesterday patch, so that was a relief, my patch work wasn't at fault. instead it was leaking from the valve stem itself, there seemed to be a rip, and that's where air was bubbling out. it doesn't seem to be something that can be fixed, and since the inner tube itself had already been patched 3 times, i decided to toss out the tube and just use a new one. fortunately i had a spare and was able to install it into the tire in a matter of minutes. the only thing is even after i pumped up the tire to 80 psi, it still felt a little soft. i'll check it again tomorrow to see the tire has gone flat, maybe it's just my imagination.
tonight was gam 6 between the kings and warriors in san francisco. warriors were up 3-2 and looking to close out the series. kings held the lead throughout the entire game, even though the warriors were always within striking distance, until the final few minutes, when sacramento extended the lead big enough that steve kerr sat down all his starters in preparation for game 7. kings won, 123-116. game 7 will be sunday, time to be determined.
i had korean ramen for dinner, just because i had some leftover silken tofu that i needed to use before it went bad. silken tofu is too soft, doesn't hold it's shape, i won't be getting it again. instead of my usual shin ramyun spicy noodle soup, i had the nongshim kimchi ramen instead. i soaked the refrigerated tofu in hot water first before adding it to the ramen so they wouldn't be cold. normally i cook the tofu along with the noodles, but silken tofu is so soft, i was afraid boiling it would pulverize it into sludge.