i went down to haymarket via ebike to get some berries for making fruit rollups. as i left the house, i noticed a grubhub delivery on my neighbor's doorstep. it must've arrived last night but they seemed to have forgotten about it. temperature was in the upper 30's, so i wore my long underwear. i had gloves on but my hands started hurting from the cold. i only brought my litelok u-lock, that's all the security i need. my kryptonite chain lock might have insurance, but i feel more secure with the litelok. the only way it can be cut is with an angle grinder, and they'll need at least a few discs to bypass the lock. this ebike is not worth the effort.

winter time is slim pickings at haymarket. there are only a few things in season. surprisingly, there were plenty of berries, sold by the case load. i found a vendor that had a split package of half blackberries (6 boxes) and half raspberries (6 boxes) - all for the low price of just $5. some vendors were also selling strawberries, but at $4 for a a large box it wasn't worth it. others had blueberries, but they were expensive as well. the keyword here is cheap! i also got 4 lemons ($1), 6 yellow oranges ($1), a green papaya ($2), a daikon radish ($1.50), and 6 fuyu persimmons ($4).

with my messenger stuffed with produce on the bottom of my rear basket gave me just enough room to put the case of berries. i was afraid of boxes popping open if i hit a bump too hard so i rode gingerly. after a few blocks i realized the case was dangerously close to falling out of the basket. i didn't have my bungie netting, otherwise i could strap the boxes down. (later on i realized i had my bungie netting all along, i just forgot to check). if i rode with my butt touching the case, i could kind of trap it from sliding forward. but it was an uncomfortable position, and i had to ride even more carefully.

so i slowly made my way back home. on cambridge street i decided to use the throttle on my ebike to save myself from awkward pedalling. unfortunately i ended up going too fast, hit a bump outside of the valente library, and one box of blackberries came flying out of the case. i managed to go back and pick up the box and save a few berries, but the rest were all scattered on the road, not worth salvaging.

i made it home by 9:40am with no further mishaps. i noticed the food delivery was still outside. out of curiosity i looked at the slip to see what they ordered. it was two harvest bowls from sweetgreen. but the name on it wasn't my upstairs neighbors, nor any of my other nearby neighbors. i tried looking for an address but the only thing on it was a name, "alison y". so this was basically an orphaned food delivery. instead of letting my upstairs neighbors find it, i decided to keep it for myself.

i took a peek inside one of the bowls: kale, wild rice, steak, chicken, sweet potato, lime, apples, and almonds, as well as a piece of sourdough bread. it looked like a crazy mish mash of ingredients, but could be delicious. both bowls were the same, so i decided to take one to the cafe for my mother to try.

i got the cafe early, started cooking the rice and warming up the backup batch of tea eggs. my mother showed up a short time later. we had customers right when we opened. my 2nd aunt showed up a bit after that, bringing with her goodies from taiwan and china. we asked her questions about her trip. i found out they didn't eat hot pot because none of the people in their tour group could handle spicy foods.

my sister ended up eating half the sweetgreen bowl, while my mother finished the rest.

it was starting to look like a slow saturday but we got busy around 1pm. we ran out of bean sprouts then ran out of ramen. we had another smaller uptick in business around 3pm. it turned out to be a good day, finishing it off with a good week. november is essentially just 3 weeks of actual business since the final week of thanksgiving is super slow.

it was nearly dark by the time i got home. i took out the battery and put the ebike away in the basement. i then went ahead and raked the alleyway and the backyard. it's supposed to rain overnight, and i like to bag some of these leaves before they get wet. i was hoping my upstairs neighbors might do some cleanup since i'd already raked 2 weeks ago, but trying to get them to take any responsibility in property upkeep is futile.

i finally came back inside by 4:45pm.

i ate the sweetgreen bowl for dinner. it was weird, all those different ingredients. apple paired with steak? that's a new one for me. it didn't taste bad though, with a spicy dressing. i felt full afterwards, and healthy too. it wouldn't be hard to make my own bowl, something worth researching. just basically add all my favorite ingredients regardless if it makes sense or not.

back to cyberpunk 2077: still at the electric corporate power plant. my new strategy is all about stealth. the property is dotted with dumpsters and other places for disposing of bodies. so i wait until i can corner a gang member and ambush them, grabbing them from behind and hiding their bodies. i got down to the sub-basement before getting shot to death.