probably leaked out from my grocery bag when i went to market basket on wednesday. i've been wallowing in kimchi juice without even realizing it! i removed the cushion and figured i'd need to febreze the hell out of it to remove the stink, but then i discovered the cushion cover was actually removable. so i pulled it off and soaked it in some oxiclean solution. i also found the offending grocery bag and soaked that as well. i never washed the cushion cover before, the water was dark brown from nearly 2 decades of filth.
i biked to the community garden in the late morning to water my plants. renee was there taking care of her half plot before she loses it completely due to lack of use. while i was leaving, i bumped into lynn, who just came back from harringtons with 3 different varieties of tomatoes. she was worried about planting them, but i told her they'd be fine with this continued stretch of hot water.
i got back before noontime to catch the news and make myself a cold matcha latte. i sniffed around the soaking cushion cover, i couldn't smell the stink anymore. i rinsed the cover until the water was no longer brown, squeezed out as much water as i could, before taking it outside and hang drying it from my backyard porch clothesline. as for the cushion itself, i discovered if i dabbed at the stinky parts with a paper towel soaked in some oxiclean solution, it actually removes the smell, or at least masks it. i did that and then put the cushion outside to dry as well.
i left the house around 1:30pm, biking into chinatown and haymarket again. i stopped by the public garden to take some photos of chestnut and buckeye flowers before continuing to the south end.
i decided to visit the berkeley street community garden. i've always seen it from afar, it was time i saw it up close. i'd looked up the garden website last night and it said due to covid they were closed to the general public. 
the notice was posted back in 2020, so i was hoping it might've been updated. when i got there however, the gate was locked, and i could only admire the garden through the bars. it always seemed like a mess from the streets, especially when the garden is actively growing during the summer, but it's actually very well organized. i walked the length of east berkeley street, admiring the various garden plots as i went by. there's a real spectrum. you got the fancy manicured plot, but you also have the ones that look like a hoarder's paradise of mix-matched fencing and trellises.
by the time i reached the end of the community garden, i was practically across the street from ming's market. i locked up my bike and went inside to get a few things. i didn't buy anything for myself, mostly cafe supplies and a few things for my sister. i used the company debit card to pay for it all.
from there i biked into chinatown proper, to nam bac hong chinese herbs on beach street, to get a package of dried smoked plums (çƒæ¢…) for $10 (1 lbs). i told the clerk i needed it to make sour plum drink, and she nodded understandingly as her helper went into the back room to get the plums. they smell great, even packaged in a bag the fragrance is still strong.
i continued my journey, cutting through downtown crossing, the financial center, and post office square, to arrive at haymarket by 3pm. 
i made my rounds, checking out the various vendors to see what they were selling. the guy i bought the large gold nugget oranges from last week no longer had them, but they did have bags of smaller mandarins also labeled as gold nuggets. so i bought 3 bags for $6. the price of navel oranges have also dropped again, i bought 18 oranges fo $4, and judging from the label on the boxes, these might be cara cara oranges again.
i left by 3:20pm. as it was getting late and i didn't have the energy to go to the cafe, i went home instead. i weighed myself: 149.8 lbs. i know it's not my real weight, but rather my dehydrated sweating all day weight, but i just need to lose 6 more lbs. (down to 144 lbs.) before my BMI will be back to normal instead of overweight. with this matcha latte diet, every week i shed a pound. at this rate, by the end of june, i'll be back to fighting weight again.
i called my mother to report to her the things i bought. she said she invited my sister's godmother over tomorrow (saturday) for another barbecue (my aunt was also invited by default), and asked me to go to market basket and pick up a few more things, including some italian sausages and corn. i'll do that tomorrow morning.
when evening came, i took down the cushion cover and brought in the cushion. i smelled them both: the cushion cover - which was mostly dry by then - had zero trace of kimchi funk. as for the cushion, the odor was mostly gone, but with my sensitive nose i could still pick out a little bit of stink, so i dabbed at the affected area once more with more oxiclean solution. after it dried, i sniffed again, and while the smell was fainter, i could still detect it, so i dabbed it one more time with oxiclean. i keep this up, there won't be anymore smell on the cushion. after that i might remove the cover from the other cushion and give it good oxiclean soak as well.
for dinner i made the last of my buffalo chicken wrap. i had even more ingredients this time around, the wrap wouldn't even close, so i ate it mexican taco style, making sure nothing fell out of either end. i had a can of foco tamarind drink (30% real juice). it was good, but there was a metallic finish at the end, courtesy of poorly designed cans. i also bought a can of pennywort drink, can't wait to try that one. i have no frame of reference as to what it might taste it: grassy, sweet, tart, it'll be interesting.