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i was on a train with a group of mentally challenged teenagers on a field trip. at first i thought they were just some noisy kids, but then i overheard some of their conversations and it didn't quite make sense, and i was able to connect the dots. i was looking around the cabin and i realized i was surrounded. some i could tell, like the asian boy with white specks of drool on the corners of his mouth, but others i wasn't so sure if they were with the group or not. i never found out where they were going, i got off at south station before they did.

during my lunch break i went to downtown crossing to look for ramekins for my flan. my first stop was filene's basement, where i was astonished by the number of women shopping in this underground lair of name-brand discounts. "so this is where the women of boston go during lunch," i thought to myself. i did a quick search of their gifts department but didn't find what i was looking for. next i went to macy's across the subway corridor. macy's actually has an extensive kitchens department, and i found corning ramekins on sale for $10 for a set of 4 4 oz. bowls, normally priced $15. i grabbed the last two boxes, one already opened by everything was still intact inside. i paid for my stuff, but the cashier expressed some concern over that fact that one of the boxes was jiggling on the inside more than it should. it was the unopened box, and when we opened it to inspect the merchandise, i saw that one of the bowl was chipped, so i ending up buying only the good box.

i was ready to call it a day, when i passed by a marshalls that i could resist taking a quick peek. they didn't have much stuff, and i quickly came back out. that's when i saw the big tj maxx sign and made a detour to that department store. here i was able to find 2 more sets of ramekins, $10 for 4 bowls, one set red, the other set green. i waited in line to pay for my items. the woman in front of me turned back to give me a look. i couldn't quite figure out what that was all about, but when she paid for her stuff i realized she was out shopping for bras and panties. my memory is usually very dull and i forget stuff all the time, but suddenly i could remember every single detail, from the lacy violet bra she was purchasing to the skin colored bra she no longer wanted. i looked away, slightly embarassed, casually glanced at the woman behind me, who was also purchasing underwear. i paid for my ramekins then left, getting a small barbecue beef chacarero sandwich before heading back to the office.

this morning the sky was this intense blue, the kind of blue i've only seen prior to hurricanes and typhoons, the calm before the storm. there wasn't any storms, but the crystal clear sky sent the temperature plummeting via radiational cooling, and tonight was the coldest it's been this season, 26 degrees according to the latest weather report.

i came home, where i quickly went across to the street to buy a quart of whole music, before i started making another round of flan. i promised my family i'd make it for thanksgiving, and thus far i still haven't perfected the recipe quite yet, so i have to keep on trying until i do, with thanskgiving just 2 days away. the ramekins i bought turned out to be smaller than i expected, so i kept just one box (the red ones) and will probably have to return the rest. julie arrived just as i was melting the sugar to make caramel. 4 eggs, 2 cups of whole milk, about half a cup of sugar, pinch of salt, and 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract mixed in a bowl, then poured into the ramekins lined with melted sugar on the inside sitting in a bath of boiling water, where it went into the oven for an hour at 350 degrees. the mixture was more than required so i had another rice bowl of flan mix. after baking, i placed them in the fridge to cool down.

julie in turn was making an italian bacon with cheese and vodka pasta sauce with sour creme and sun dried tomatos. the italian bacon she bought was a kind of cured meat like ham (we ate some raw), reminded me of "steak'm", but less dry and less salty. she made in the sauce in a large pan then mixed everything together along with the cooked pasta in her electric wok. the stereo was tuned to 93.7 FM, where there was nothing but christmas songs, a bit premature considering how thanksgiving isn't even over yet.

we ate while watching never been kissed on the WB network. afterwards we tuned in to 24, tonight's suspense sequence (russian roulette) a ripoff of the deerhunter. we had the flan during a new episode of queer eye, the resulting dessert a complete success. the center wasn't soupy like the last time, the entire creation a solid consistency. we each had two servings since the ramekins were so small.