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i biked down to chinatown this morning even though i didn't need anything. instead, i used the trip as an opportunity to replenish my pokeball supply by hitting several dozen pokestops and also gave me a chance to get some exercise. it was another hot but dry day, so more comfortable than oppressive. a t-shirt, shorts, and a bike helmet was all that i needed as i made my way to ming's market.

one of the things i was looking for were chacha brand salted sunflowers (blue bag). when my parents came on monday, my mother couldn't find them, which made me worried they'd stop selling them because nobody was buying (except me). i found them in the same spot they always were, right by the door when you first come in. i grabbed 5 bags. i also got some preserved sour mustard and a head of napa cabbage for my mother.

instead of going home, i took a detour to wander into south boston via traveler street. it made me realize i've never really been to south boston before. i've been on the periphery, like castle island, but i've never been through the heart of southie. i have been to broadway station before, back in september 2018, when i came here to buy a used macbook pro magsafe charger from somebody working in the south end. riding down west broadway, i couldn't help noticing how gentrified the area had become: fancy outdoor seating restaurants next to traditional irish bars. the demographics were different too, upscale whites mixed with blacks, asians, and hispanics, a real diversity of ethnicities. i made it all the way to the of broadway, where west becomes east, to find a chinese takeout restaurant called leechen. for many reasons this place is special, but when i first spotted it on a map, i knew i had to come and see the place for myself, advertised as a chinese/mexican place. unfortunately it was closed, hopefully it didn't go out of business and i can come back and sample some chinese mexican cuisine.

there was plenty more to explore (dorchester heights, carson beach, another 10 minute ride from the JFK library), but i was hauling groceries and getting a bit hangry, so i decided to head back to cambridge. i cut back across the way i came, going by the boston common to get on the esplanade and make my way home via the charles river bike path, turning into cambridge via the MIT bridge.

i saw waterlilies in the charles river lagoons. these are native Nymphaea odorata and supposedly the flowers are very fragrant but i couldn't smell anything from the shoreline. the flowers are typically white but occasionally there are pink variants in the wild.

i left the house this morning at 10:30am and didn't get back home until 1pm, 2-1/2 hours later. after a shower, i steamed the last of my zongzi for lunch. i didn't go out again until 2:30pm. i went to the beacon street star market to pick up a watermelon ($3.99 on sale) and some cherries (96¢/lbs. using a digital coupon); watermelon they had, cherries they didn't.

after dropping off the watermelon at home, i got my bicycle, loaded up the rear baskets with empty cans and bottles, and went to market basket to deposit them plus pick up some more groceries. i had my eyes on a bag of shishito peppers i wanted to try, as well as more stuffed grape leaves. once again like yesterday, i forgot to use the deposit redemption coupons.

after dropping off the groceries at home, i went out again, this time to the porter square star market where they did have bags of cherries. at that price ((96¢/lbs.) it's a steal, but the one caveat is that you can't buy more than 2-1/2 lbs. worth of cherries (i can easily eat 5 lbs. worth of cherries in a single day), so i left with only a small bag.

that'd be the last time i'd go outside today, spending the rest of the day indoors. judging from the clouds it looked like it might rain, but it never did.

i felt a little sleepy around 7pm and took a short nap on the couch, waking up around 8pm. production-wise we didn't break 50kWh yet again; i think the problem is dust on the panels. hopefully it'll rain tomorrow and gave the panels a cleaning.

for dinner i boiled the rest of my chicken tortellini combined with tomato sauce and meatballs. i through some hot pepper rings into the mix to spice things up a little. next week i'm hoping to make some greek salad, something healthy and cool for what looks to be another warm week.