I did a pretty decent practice last night, considering I hadn't practiced for something feeling like a week. I also packed all the things I had to mail except the finishing touches on two large boxes. It was kind of nice just staying for the weekend.
I was up at a bit after noon, maybe 1. Had my cold chicory coffee I'd brewed the night before and nuts, etc., checked on Ebay stuff, cleaned up and got into clean clothes, and finally finished off those two large boxes, making them the slick pieces of art my packages are.
I was out of here at 4:40 I think, and the wind as I was going North was really bad and throwing all kinds of junk into my eyes so I got out the safety glasses and then I was fine. I put my household trash into a dumpster where Joe Hobo may find it but I don't care. The super-secret trash that has any info goes to the trash can at the post office where no one's going to go scrounging. I had to be careful sorting the packages because I had a lot of boxes that were smallish but had to go to FedEx and the big one that was going to Europe by USPS.
Then I went around to FedEx and dropped the FedEx packages off, and then went around back to see if there were any packing materials and any veggies from the H Mart dumpsters. There were many bags of rice in there. I pulled out four, two white and two brown. That was 60 lbs of rice in the bike trailer so I figured I'd abbreviate my route back and just go straight back, stopping only at the Grill-'Em plaza dumpster where I got a red and a green pepper and could have gotten some lettuce but I have celery here I need to use up.
I got back here and hauled everything in, and had two hard-boiled eggs and gave everyone on Ebay their positive feedback, and pondered whether I wanted to go out again. The stores are kind of nutty now and Monday seems to be about the best day to shop. And I was down to two eggs after eating two. And on my last dollop of miso which I'd use tonight. And ... .and .... and ... and I'd forgotten to drop off the "sooper seekrit" trash at the post office and I had two bags of it. Oops! So out I went. Safety glasses on again for the outward part of the ride; I didn't need them on the ride back. I dropped off my bags of trash in the can there at the post office, and rode over to 99 Ranch. I got a can of Tiny Tots sardines because sometimes they're a real comfort food for me, and one of those funny-shaped cans of corned beef for the same reason, and another bottle of Datu Puti vinegar because it's the cheapest and comes in a neat thick plastic bottle. At the checkout I got $60 cash back. I got outta there and rode over to H Mart where I got garlic (still $4 ouch), eggs, miso which was tricky because they'd moved it to the opposite end of the store but it makes more sense, it's with the bagged wet soups and kamaboko and stuff. And some surimi "crab legs" a small package, for a treat.
The ride back was very relaxing, with the wind going my way. And I hadn't stopped to have a snack with some water and a little alcohol, nor felt the need to. Today the sips were few and far between. Nor did I spend the about $23 on a couple of bottles of Chinese white lightning, and I'm tapering down quickly enough that I won't need to buy any more. Between this and staying in, albeit ordering things on Amazon as always, I've only spent about $120 of this week's paycheck.
I got back here and put things away and found I had an email saying my covid test was negative. I sent Ken an email telling him so he'll feel free to come by at the usual time this week.
After a snack of surimi and some cut-up Parmesan cheese rinds, I made up a coffee and cooled it down then put plenty of ice in and drank it black. I think I'm getting to like the flavor.
I did some reading about storing rice and ways to keep da bugz out, and the preppers are all into Mylar bags and vacuum sealers and oxygen absorbers, with the result that all of those things cost a fortune on Amazon. So I did more reading because I was thinking, what about boric acid? I found a couple of Indian pages saying it's just fine, just make sure to wash the rice before you cook it. That may be the origin of the absolute necessity of washing the rice before you cook it that I grew up with, even though you really don't have to these days. I decided that's my solution, and got on Amazon and ordered 2 lbs of boric acid powder for $17 or so. That's enough to treat a lot of rice, but the stuff's got tons of other uses too.
I've got four gallon jugs that held isopropl alcohol, the super pure kind used in making circuit boards. Sanmina throws 'em out from time to time. A gallon of rice is a pretty good way to hand off some rice to someone, it's easy to dispense from, and these jugs are really thick with heavy duty lids, too.
When I grabbed the rice, I thought I'd just bag it up in smaller bags to donate at the blessing boxes. But, I decided, since brown rice does not store long at all but white rice can be stored for years and years (which is why it was a form of money in old Japan) I'll store the white rice and donate the brown rice. With a good number of the bentos in Nijiya having brown rice, I think like it more now as opposed to the old days when it was "inferior" and only eaten by hippies.
So I took a look at the rice bags and three of them had holes and one either doesn't, or has one I haven't found yet. And, I'd gotten 3 white and 1 brown. So I got out the bucket I'd had the tobacco in and cleaned it up, and put the brown rice in there and took 3 sandwich size zipper bags and found that 5 scoops with my hand is a pound or a bit over a pound, which is just about right.
By the way when I was in H Mart I took a look at how much rice costs and a good estimate is $1 a pound. So I'd picked up $60 worth of good rice today.
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