i locked the bike in front of ming's market, went inside briefly to check out some produce prices, then walked down to c-mart to see their prices. mustard greens stems at ming's market was $2.69/lbs. while at c-mart it was $1.99/lbs. taiwanese cabbage prices were the same in both places 79¢/lbs. i was shocked to see they had fresh wax apples $9.99/lbs. i was tempted to get some, but at that price it was something like $3/fruit, too expensive.
back at ming's market i bought the bulk of the remaining produce, including 98¢/lbs. for shanghai bokchoi. it's so cheap, i don't know why i ever bother growing my own. they also had tianjin cucumbers, which were just advertised as "cucumber" for $2.79/lbs., i'd never seen them before. longans were on sale for $8.99/lbs. while lychees were $29.99 for 2lbs. i did get some large gold nugget oranges, $1.29/lbs.
i left chinatown by 11am, took the scenic route home via the espalanade. crossing the mass ave bridge into cambridge did i finally realized today was MIT's graduation (actually, MIT has a three day commencement, though undergraduates have their ceremony tomorrow).
it was nearly noontime by the time i returned home. lauryn was still asleep. i dropped off a taiwanese cabbage and some carrots (for making taiwanese paocai) before heading to the cafe. i took the bicycle because it was too much of a hassle to move all the produce into my motorcycle saddlebags.
my parents were making buns. i was happy to see my sister helping out at the cafe today, she'd been missing in action for nearly 2 weeks. i had an ugly vegetarian bun for lunch before continuing onwards, to belmont.
i went to my parents' place to reseed the dead patches of grass on the largest section of the front lawn. today was a hot day - with temperature in the upper 80's - but this heat will only be with us for another day tomorrow before the temperature comes crashing down to a cooler 60-75 degrees, ideal grass growing weather. i'm taking a gamble, hoping that we have a few more weeks of cool weather in june. when temperature gets above 80 degrees, cool-season grass will stop growing. the grass seeds i'm using is scotts turf builder sun & shade mix, which is a combination of kentucky bluegrass, perennial ryegrass, and tall fescue (they seem to be all cool-season varieties).
i used matthew's thatch raking to work the lawn. it didn't work so well because we have thick carpets of dead grass, extreme thatch. the thatch rake ended up just tearing up those sections, which i later collected the dead grass with a rake and threw them away. i measured the area of the lawn that needed to reseeded - 12ft by 12ft or 144 sq.ft. i then drove out to home depot to get some soil.
a lot of commercial soil has chunks of shredded wood. i was looking for a finer type of soil, one that isn't so chunky. i then came across scotts turf builder lawn soil, specially formulated for lawns. it was $11 a bag (1.5 cu.ft.) but worth it if it does what it advertises, so i ended up grabbing 3 bags. i also went inside the store and got a new melnor watering wand ($15, these only seem to last a season before they start leaking) and a melnor pulsating sprinkler with a zinc spike ($10). i had a feeling i'd be returning the pulsating sprinkler, but got it just to test it out.
i got back to the house by 2pm. based on matthew's advice, i mixed the grass seeds with the lawn soil. i couldn't tell how much seed to use, so i added enough seeds so each handful of soil was filled with blue-coated seeds. i then sprinkled it onto the lawn. i ended up using all 3 bags of lawn soil.
second step was setting up the sprinkler. i moved the melnor oscillating sprinkler so it's water the new batch of grass, while using the pulsating sprinkler on the previously reseeded lawn. the pulsator is kind of an inexact sprinkler, sort of just randomly spraying in all directions. because it had a round radius, the corners of the lawn got the least amount of water. the oscillating sprinkler was much easier to use, adjustable in all directions and volume. i moved the sprinkler timer directly onto the spigot while moving the splitter below the timer so it would automate two hoses. because i had to turn off the faucet to make the switch, i noticed the repaired stem was starting to leak again. nothing i can do about it now, but once we have the lawns established and no longer watering automatically, i'm going to repack the bonnet for the nth time.
i watered the backyard garden before leaving. my father told me he'd already switched the hose so it was using faucet water instead of rain barrel water since the barrels are mostly dry at this point. we're supposed to get some rain this weekend and i really hope it'll happen just so we can replenish our rain barrels again.
i got to the cafe by 4pm, dropping off the pair of new brooks ghost 14 shoes for my mother. she tried them on and immediately disliked them, said they were too large even though they were the same size she tried at the store. she decided to return them, and just as quickly bought a new pair of allbirds shoes she saw online. i was pretty tired by that point, only having eaten that vegetarian bun, but still hungry enough that i was having stomach pangs. i returned home by 4:30pm.
lauryn texted me earlier, said she was going to market basket to get groceries, said she'd be back by 5pm. that gave me some time to take a hot shower and have a piece of drumstick and a sausage for a late lunch. when she finally came back, she was clutching a large paper bag of groceries in her hands. i forgot to tell her to take some canvas grocery shopping bags.
she paid the rent, and asked if she needed to put down a deposit. that might be something my sister thought up for the upstairs apartment, but i've never had to do that. just pay month to month. she also asked my help to order a 3-months mintmobile SIM card ($50), since she doesn't have a US credit card. i also found out more about what she's doing in hong kong. she was supposed to graduate this spring, but because of credit mix-ups, she still owes her school one more semester when she goes back. no, she is not going to mcgill university, that was something she was supposed to do in the fall but her canadian visa application got lost so she never got her visa even though she'd already been accepted into their semester program. she told me while studying in hong kong, she took cantonese language classes so at least now she can understand it dialect, if not speak it well. she also wants to travel to taiwan but the chinese government has now banned most chinese citizens from vacationing in taiwan (only student visas and family visits are allowed).
later in the evening i showed her how to work the gas stove (she'd never used gas before). she was cooking some pasta with tomato sauce. she also added an egg to her simple dinner. as for me, i heated up two leftover blue cheese burgers for dinner. 
i coincided my meal with the start of the NBA finals. i'm not sure who to root for. i have zero opinion on the nuggets, but the heat i either love them or hate them. denver dominated throughout the game, but miami was scrappy and wouldn't give up, fighting to the final minute when it was all but certain they'd lose. that scrappiness makes me want to root for them.