inspecting my grow closet this morning, i noticed a pepper seedling had popped up in a pot that already had a bitter melon seedling. that's because it's a reused pot. i'll need to transplant the pepper at some point. my transplanted snapdragons are also growing, but they probably need to be transplanted outdoor at some point before they get any bigger. while watering the seedlings i spotted a fungus gnat. so far this growing season, i haven't had any gnats in my grow closet until today. it's good thing i'm close to moving everything outside. in the meantime i put up a yellow sticky trap in hopes of capturing some adults.
the rain that fell overnight was slowing down this morning, but it was still wet outside, so i donned on my rain gear, knowing i wouldn't be wearing it when i returned home. coming onto rc kelley street, the road was blocked by a wall of pedestrians. apparently they were attending a historical lecture. it sounded interesting, and i wanted to listen in, but i also had to get to work, so i walked my bike onto the sidewalk to get by them before continuing on my way.
i made a new batch of tea egg spices, 20 packets. we got a few orders midway through and i had to stop what i was doing to fulfill the orders. i also made a new batch of tea eggs. not that we were in any danger of running out today, but tea eggs taste better the longer they steep in the tea brine, so this new batch will be perfect come next week.
one of our regulars - little moustache ("小鬍子") - came to eat on thursday and came back again today despite the rainy weather. he bought his girlfriend, they both ordered bentos, they finished everything.
even though we didn't make our daily average, we still made some profit despite the bad weather. the rain didn't stop until almost 2pm. by the time we closed a 4pm, the sun was coming out. my aunt invited my parents out for some korean barbecue in honor of mother's day. i was invited too but declined the invitation because i had to get home to watch the celtics game which started at 3:30pm. i also convinced my mother to have a mother's day barbecue tomorrow because of the nice weather.
i bumped into leon when i got home. we chatted briefly about the celtics, both not believing that boston is down 0-2. i turned on the tv when i got inside. the celtics were up 15 points, and were playing much better than the previous two games. the game was very similar to the cleveland game last night. knicks never led, celtics had a 31 point lead at point. final score 115-93. payton pritchard had the most points for the celtics with 23.
during halftime i transplanted that stray pepper seedling i saw in my bitter melon pot.
originally i wanted to catch some somerville porchfest action, but that was before i realized the celtics were playing. the game ended at 6pm, which was also the time when porchfest finished. i biked to market basket afterwards to get some barbecue ingredients. i passed plenty of people leaving porchfest, all of them young.
when i came home i started making my pasta salad. i haven't made it since may 2023. due to shrinkflation, the box of tri-color rotini was only 12 oz., not 16 oz., so i had to get a second box to make up the difference.
| pasta salad dressing (italian) (2 cups) | |
|
1-1/2 cups olive oil 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar 2 tbsp kosher salt |
2 cloves garlic 1 tbsp brown sugar 2 tsp dry oregano 2 tsp dry basil |
| mix ingredients in food processor. | |
| pasta salad (4-6 servings) | |
|
1 lbs. tr-color rotini 4 medium tomatoes, chopped 6 oz. feta cheese 8 oz. ham steak, cubed |
1 cup black olives, chopped 1 cup fresh arugula 1 cup pepperoncini, chopped 1/2 red onion, chopped 1 cup cilantro, chopped |
| cook pasta. rinse under cold water to cool. mix with remaining ingredients including dressing. refrigerate overnight and serve cold. | |
i'm not sure how i came across this pasta salad recipe but it's really good. besides the pasta and not counting the dressing, there are 8 other ingredients. i also really like how colorful the salad is. tri-color rotini is key. recipe calls for a cup of black olives but i accidentally only bought about half a cup's worth. for ham i had 10 oz. of frozen smoked ham in the freezer that i thawed and then chopped into cubes. because my mother loves arugula, i added 2 cups worth of arugula. the next time i make this salad, i want to try adding some anchovies to the dressing for even more flavor.
after i finished tossing the salad, i put it in the refrigerator to chill. it was already after 8pm. too lazy to reheated my leftover pizza, i just ate it cold with an orange seltzer.