i heard my roommate waking up around 8am, even made breakfast. was she planning on going out today? i myself woke up around 9am, bathroomed, showered, then left cambridge via motorcycle at 9:50am.
i was heading to belmont early because my mother said something about getting some fried clams in quincy, and the clam box opens at 11am. but when i got there, my mother had already left for her walk, and wouldn't be home until 11:30am, by then too late for clams.
i checked out the latest temu haul which arrived last night during the rainstorm. my mother got a plastic microwave splash guard ($2.98) that got crushed during transit, so i'll need to contact temu for a refund. my replacement mi box remote ($5.77) came, i'll test it out when i get home. the tuya-compatible wifi door and temperature sensors ($5/each) came, i'll try them out at the cafe. and my 1000ml (32oz) vacuum flask/tumbler ($12.50) came, now i can drink all the ice water i want in belmont with frequent refills and ice melts.
my father and i then worked in the bathroom tending to our garden. my father was busy pruning squash leaves, while i was busy catching squash bugs and their eggs. i saw a lot of squash bees visiting the flowers, that's a good sign, but at this stage in the season, not sure if we can produce anymore new squash fruits. but knowing squash bees are busy in the garden guarantees the female flowers will be pollinate, regardless if they can mature into a ripe squash. we also tied a few more developing squash, to prevent them from creating too much tension on the vines, creating choke points.
for lunch i had some rice porridge with dates along with salt eggs and some fresh soy milk. i used the new insulated tumbler; it came with a tea strainer which i don't need but i might try it out to make some cold infusion tea. the bottle insulated well - no sweating, and the outside didn't feel particularly cold - but there was a single metal taste even though i rinsed the bottle a few times. the lid - a knockoff of the takeya - is a bit cheap, all plastic, no rubberized grip like a genuine takeya. honestly, for the price i paid, i should've just paid a little more and gotten a 32oz. takeya bottle instead. (also the current temu price for the exact same bottle is now just $10.50).
i left belmont around 2:10pm, heading back to cambridge to attend a cambridge mural bike ride happening at 3pm. i stopped first at the cafe to put some stuff away in the fridge and freezer. when i got home i found out lauryn had gone out. i bet she left shortly after i did. i took a quick shower before changing into shorts and t-shirt and went down to the basement to get my better trek bike. the front tire was flat, i pumped it up before leaving by 2:50pm.
the meeting spot was in inman square. the exact location was a secret, because there was already close to 200 people on the RSVP list, and the ride couldn't support anymore. while we waited, we got a free bluebike beanie, a neck gaiter, and an REI bike light. after going over the ground rules, we left by 3:20pm.
i didn't know anyone at the ride, nor found anyone friendly enough to chat with. i've been on a bunch of these rides - whether it's the biannual city of cambridge ride, boston midnight architectural ride, or these mural rides. i've found that i like the riding part, but not so much the explanation/education part. the talking really bores me, and with so maybe cyclists, it made a mess of the local traffic, which made me feel guilty. so just we were were about to leave central square around 4:20pm, i split up from the group and returned home.
on my way back, i found pots for the taking out on the curb. i only had my mountainsmith lumbar pack which doesn't hold too much, but i tried to cram as many pots as i could. i also took a 5" portable battery-powered/USB fan (still in box). a little bit further ahead, i noticed somebody had thrown out a blue-tinted snap lid jar. turning my bike around to take a look, two clay pots fell out of my bag, smashing onto the ground into shards. the blue-tinted jar wasn't worth it anyway (though if i had the space, i would've taken it).
i got back home by around 4:30pm. i changed back into my motorcycle riding clothes (jeans) then returned to belmont. my father was taking a nap while my mother was busy watching her foreign dramas in the dark.
i took laser-measurements of the space of our old refrigerator (a GE TBHA18ZRE 18 cu.ft. manufactured in may 1992). we narrowly replaced it 2 years ago during tax-free weekend, but decided to keep it after installing a new rubber gasket. i then tried to get it replaced last year during tax free weekend, but my mother didn't want to deal with the hassle of moving all that food. but this year my mother has been complaining that the fridge doesn't keep cold anymore, so it looks like now we're finally going to replace it, especially with tax-free weekend coming in two weeks. the measurements are: H 65.9", W 34.5", D 35.0". the limiting factor is the height, not many large refrigerators that short. we found a short samsung fridge 2 years ago that had the right height, but it was too wide and wouldn't fit through the narrow 29" doors of the ranch house. so far the winning candidate is the 21 cu.ft. maytag MRT311FFFH ($748). it has a height of 65.7", which is perfect.
my mother didn't want to cook dinner so we ended up ordering blue ribbon barbecue in arlington. we got two duo platters ($20 each), ribs, texas hot links, burnt ends, with sides of baked beans, cole slaw, and collard greens. the two sauces were hot BBQ and gold BBQ, but while i was in the store waiting for the order, i also picked up some sweet BBQ, extra hot BBQ, and chipotle mustard. they were pretty busy, with people eating in-store and outside, and 7 people waiting for their pick-up orders. i counted a staff of 5 cooks plus a 6th person in charge of processing the orders. i ended up waiting for 8 additional minutes before finally getting my order, my father waiting outside in the car.
maybe because we hadn't ordered from blue ribbon in a while, but their servings were enormous (i think ordering the duo is better than the triple, as you get more stuff). a duo platter has almost enough food for feed all three of us. did i mention corn bread is included? only thing we regret was not ordering some rice, as all that savory barbecued meats and flavored beans and cole slaw needed something bland for balance.
after dinner i helped my father disassemble the old sur la table air fryer. the door wouldn't close properly anymore (the plastic locking bracket had worn away completely, my father was going to create new brackets using epoxy), so the one at the cafe is the new backup air fryer. we found a youtube video were somebody had opened up their air fryer; it wasn't very detailed, but gave us an idea what we should do. when we finally got it open, the inside was filled with cooking grease that needed to be properly cleaned. at least it's not too hard to take apart, after you get the baseplate removed. in theory, we could take apart the entire air fryer, clean everything, and reassemble it to like-new condition.
i got back home by 8pm. lauryn must've returned home recently as well, since she was cooking dinner, some pasta that made the kitchen feel like an oven. i said i noticed she went out today, she said yes, but didn't offer any details, nor did i really care.