it was a good day for a run, the weather was perfect that i didn't even think about it, not hot, no cold either. last night i started having that tickling sensation in the back of my throat which i know to be early onset ragweed pollen allergy. so i took a hit of nasal spray before leaving the house. i felt strong, like i was running downhill, but still forgot to eat something before i left, to give me even more energy.
after the run i took a detour to the community garden to check on my plants. i didn't think anyone would be there but all the tall foliage hid gretchen, who was tending to her garden. i asked her about her beans which look similar to my hyacinth beans except they're dark purple and longer while my hyacinth beans are crescent-shaped. she said they're just called "purple beans" and she's grown them in the past but this year they did really well, enough that she could actually serve them to friends. unfortunately the purple color disappears once the beans are cooked, they revert back to green.
my garden is on autopilot at the moment. most of the garlic chives are blooming, attracting all sorts of pollinating insects. hyacinth bean tendrils are trying to escape the confines of my plot, searching for something to climb on. that one plump bitter melon had turned orange and burst, revealing red seeds inside. my single buttercup squash is doing fine but i don't think it'll continue to grow any bigger, currently the size of a softball. and a lot of long beans, enough that i may be able to harvest them for a single serving, saving the remaining beans to make seeds for next season. i harvested some ground cherries and a tomato. i let gretchen try a few ground cherries, she'd never had them before.
i finally got home by 11:30am but my stay would be very short-lived. i was using the bathroom, getting ready for a shower, when i got an e-mail notification saying the cafe received an online order. i looked at the receipt and realized it was a big order. i checked the webcam and saw that my sister was there helping out. but a few minutes later, another online order came in. i debated what to do but in the end i got on my motorcycle and raced down to the cafe to help out.
i ended up staying there for more than 2 hours. my original plan was to go to belmont afterwards to spray some fungicide, before returning home and riding out to medford to visit harbor freight and aldi's. but i decided to bike down to chinatown instead, since the things we needed there for the cafe was more important, and all the things i needed to get from aldi's (baby cucumbers, scallions) i could also get in chinatown. before i left my mother made some rice noodle soup for lunch.
i got back home by 2:30pm and left 20 minutes later. i got to chinatown c-mart by 3pm. i'm the master of comparison shopping, and nothing hurts me more than buying something at one place, only to find out i could it cheaper someplace else. so while i was at c-mart, i had to decide whether something was worth buying here or ming's market, where i was going later. i got a big head of taiwanese cabbage for making the taiwan paocai (48¢/lbs. got one for $2) and a daikon radish (68¢/lbs. got one for $1). they also had longan in stock ($3.33/lbs.), i got two bags.
i went to ming's market a little further down the street. here i got the remaining items: shanghai bokchoi ($1.99/lbs.), baby cucumbers ($1.79/lbs.), tangerines ($1.99/lbs.), mustard green ($1.48/lbs.), and pad thai noodles ($1.99/package). i noticed something today at both asian supermarkets: they've taken down all their plexiglass shields at the checkout aisles. i spent several minutes repacking all the items so they'd fit in my rear bike baskets as well as my messenger bag.
i took a new route suggested by google maps. it involved getting onto mass ave and following it straight home, but instead of getting to it from washington street, i took a detour and followed dartmouth then columbus avenue. it took me through south end neighborhoods i'd never been in before. i had my gopro recording a time warp video so i could capture the ride for posterity. i didn't get back home until 4:30pm. the ride took 10 minutes longer (33 minutes versus 23 minutes) but worth doing as something different, though i'm not sure if i'd do it again if i was in a hurry to get back.
i stayed home the rest of the day, even though i still needed to go to market basket. i'll do that tomorrow morning instead, before heading to the cafe to work. so not only did i go out for a run today, i also biked to boston and back. my weight reflected all this activity, i was down to 149 lbs. my gastroenterologist set a weight goal for me of 145 lbs., though lower is always better. 149 lbs. is just an illusion though, i'll gain it all back by tomorrow, it's basically weight loss through sweating.
i baked some french bread pizza in the oven for dinner around 8pm. i ate while watching the latest netflix documentary about the florida gators football team and their dominance in the 2000's under coach urban meyer.