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i got a late start and didn't finish laying out my jerky on the dehydrator racks until 11:00 this morning. given a 12-hour drying time, i wouldn't be done until 11PM, and that's not including a 1-2 hrs post-dehydration safety bake. i ended up with 8 paper towel layers of jerky, 4 sheets per rack.

i finished the rest of my no-knead bread for lunch, mixed with an olive oil-garlic-salt dipping sauce.

today was the first full day of good weather all this week, and i was itching to go outside and ride the ross road bike some more. i took off a rear rack brace mounted light bracket from the ross cruiser in the basement and put it on the ross road bike, just in case i needed some light if it got dark. with the pulling action on the drop handlebars i feel like i don't even need to shift gears: on flats i pedal normal, but up hills i can pull on the handlebars and exert more downward force on my legs, while down hills i just coast with no pedaling.

i first went to the cafe, where the wireless internet was down again. 99 times out of 100 it's because of the linksys router; to fix it i just unplugged and plugged it back in.

next stop was belmont, where my mother was busy cleaning up the house in anticipation of the arrival of some china relatives tomorrow morning. she burn some incense to try and cover up any stink.

working in the driveway, i removed a bit of rust from the road bike (mostly on the crankset and rear derailleur, a bit on the rims) and raised the seat by half an inch more. my father was busy mowing the lawn while my mother - done with the cleaning - was back to her knitting again, this time making a beret with a neat stem.

my godmother stopped by since she had the day off. hailey naturally began barking, but i managed to calm her down my taking her into the next time and giving her a timeout before bringing her back into the living room. she was a lot better, but every once in a while she'd forget her training and start growling/barking again and i'd have to remove her for another timeout.

i left before 5:00, hoping not to get stuck in rush hour. everyone came out to test ride the collection of bikes in the garage, including my godmother, who hasn't been on a bike in a few decades, but interested in getting one. even my mother took her bike out for a quick spin up and down the street (this after many weeks of coaxing to get her to go out riding again after a few initial trips).

i wheeled the ross road bike into the house. who's to tell me i can turn my place into a bike garage? this also allows me to fiddle with the bike whenever i feel like it.

remembering i still had mangos in the fridge, i whipped up a lassi. even though i swore off watermelons after that binge last night, i was back to eating them again (although in moderation, just a few slices at a time). i went to bed late last night (4:00) and didn't realize i was still tried until i fell asleep reading on the couch. i woke up around 8:00 to close the blinds. for dinner i heated up some leftover beef broth and cooked up some noodles.

i did a load of laundry. i have enough t-shirts to last me several months, but my supply of underwear can't keep up with the demand. it's been a while since i did laundry, there was still a few boxers mixed up with mostly briefs (now that i've transitioned to whitey tighties, per doctor's order).

i shut off the dehydrator around 10:30. not exactly 12 hours but close enough (honestly, it was probably ready after 8 hours of drying). i then baked the jerky in the oven for another 1:30.

the final result was okay. not as flavorful as last time, when i overloaded on the sichuan peppercorns and put in way too much vietnamese hot sauce. i couldn't taste the cumin at all (my mother warned me today that i needed to put in a lot of cumin to really taste it, 2 teaspoons probably wasn't enough). some of the strips were long enough that i had to snip them in half with kitchen scissors in order to fit them in the jar.

it seems like all i do these days is either make bread or jerky. this is just a temporary obsession, it'll pass eventually. but at least not before i whipped up another batch of no-knead bread, this time using some pillsbury flour. i got very scientific this time, even using a measuring cup to pour out exactly 1-1/2 cups of lukewarm water. i'm following the exact steps i took last time when i made my best bread ever. hopefully this will let me figure out if it's the flour or the water.

i gave the bike one last adjustment before i went to bed, raising the seat by another 1-1/2 inches. so long as i can put one foot on the ground i'm good (or at least a toe or two). riding the bike today, i felt like my knees were too bent, which meant the seat needed to be higher. can't wait for daybreak to take the bike out for another spin!