in the afternoon i went to allston to do two things: grab a menu from victoria seafood and visit the 88 supermarket. it was a hot and humid day and i debated whether to take the motorcycle which was faster or the bicycle which was slower. i finally decided on the bicycle because it'd give me some exercise and would be easier to navigate the numerous one way streets. i took my usual route to allston, down north harvard street to franklin, over the pedestrian walkway that spans the turnpike. instead of continuing own harvard avenue, i traversed a few side streets to get to ashford, which was a less traveled wide one way street that led me to the back of victoria restaurant. there was a good crowd, unlike the last time we went when the restaurant was virtually empty (but filled up by the time we left). i grabbed a takeout menu and a special chinese-only menu and left without saying anything to anyone.
from there it was another 400 yards to super 88 just a bit further west on brighton avenue. i can't remember the last time i was at the 88 supermarket here in allston/brighton (not to be confused with the super 88 in malden) - was it more than a decade ago? i think most visits were with julie, who had a car, because to get there otherwise is not so easy from camberville.
i took a tour of the food court and decided to get some lunch, as i only had a greek yogurt earlier and i was still hungry. i decided to go korean, getting the galbi short ribs box lunch special for $12. served in a styrofoam takeout box instead of a traditional korean lunch box, it didn't live up to its namesake. i had a choice of 3 sides, but nothing appealed to me so i picked the kimchi, another pickled cabbage, and some sweet fried chicken nuggets. in the past, a korean box lunch with include a salad and some sushi and maybe a soup. this was not the experience i remembered. the galbi was okay, but i really should've just saved my money and gone to the gyu kaku japanese barbecue place in harvard square instead for their lunch special. in addition to the korean lunch, i also got a thai bubble ice tea. i ate while reading words of radiance from my oneplus one phone.
after i finished eating i went into the supermarket to do some browsing. since i only carried my camera bag, i couldn't buy too much, but i could tie some things onto the rear rack with a bungie netting. i didn't buy too much in the end, just some asian pears and a bottle of rice cooking wine. i returned via malvern and ashford.
i went to the community garden in the late afternoon. i didn't need to water as there was a forecast of rain later in the evening, but i went just to see the progress of my malva zebrina. flowers had blossomed on two malva plants, too many to count, with plenty more flower buds on the way.
GC came home around 7pm, having played 3 hours of badminton. after he finished making and eating his dinner in the kitchen, he came to the living room to watch a few more episodes of breaking bad. as for me, i had my leftover general tso's chicken. heated in the microwave, it wasn't that good anymore.