next stop was the everett restaurant depot. my father got a case of fresh chicken thighs and my mother found her tripe. i was curious as to what the wholesale egg prices are these days; the cheapest i saw was $24.75 for 15 dozen large eggs which comes out to 13.75¢ an egg. we also got some 3-compartment bento box containers.
we didn't need to go to market basket. instead we went to the 99 supermarket in malden, a 10 minutes drive away. here we bought a bunch of asian supplies, like yellow pickled daikon radishes and jasmine rice. they even had truffle sunflower seeds and sea salt sunflower seeds. 99 has great selection, and a vast selection of snacks, but their prices still can't compare to chinatown. now that c-mart has exited boston chinatown and the only remaining large supermarket is ming's, i'm worried prices there will go up with no competition.
it was 11:30am by the time we were finished with shopping. with no more stops left, we ate lunch at the flaming grill & buffet next door. my 2nd aunt's senior group brings them here at least once a week for lunch. it's $14 a person between 11-3:30pm. dinner buffet is $20 a person. weekends the price goes up to $21. all the waiters and waitresses were chinese, while the entire kitchen staff seemed to be hispanic.
buffets are rigged: they make more the less you eat, so there are a lot of foods that can quickly fill you up. the assortment of sushi looks delicious, but eating a few can quickly make you feel full because of the rice. there are also various meat dishes, but your average person will quickly feel full after a few fried fish or chicken pieces. having said that, the spread was pretty impressive. maybe because we can soon after they opened, so everything was still fresh.
in my first round, i had some fried wings, fried white fish, fried chicken, some spicy salmon rolls, coconut shrimp, chicken gao's chicken, and a bowl of hot & sour soup. i was already full after that. but i went back for round 2, this time getting some fried salted fish, beef stirfry, edamame beans, mango gelatin, a pineapple slice, and a piece of plantain. round 3 i tried the seafood soup, a bean paste zongzi, some mussels, a mint cream dessert, and more mango gelatin. i finished with some orange sherbet ice cream.
the most insane coincidence happened when a family friend (nancy) whom we haven't seen in ages was just sitting a few tables down, having lunch with her son. she came to chat with us whenever her son was out collecting more food.
for $14 it's an amazing bargain. there was so much stuff i didn't even try, like the salad and fruit bar, or the flaming grill where they cook the food for you, or the different assortment of ice cream, or the desserts (pies and cakes). i wouldn't mind going back. it's actually doable by public transportation, as the 109 bus will go there from harvard square. there's also an option where you can pack a buffet takeout, and i saw a bunch of people (delivery drivers?) stuffing to-go boxes.
right next door to flaming grill was a dollar tree, so of course we paid a visit. my mother was looking for cheap yarn but none of them caught her fancy. we left with some kleenex tissue packets.
coming back, we went the most direct route down broadway (route 99), the main commercial drag of everett. we then connected to route 16 west, cutting through tufts and davis square to the cafe by 1:20pm.
after we unloaded everything, we went to my parents' house. i helped my mother with some laundry before watering the plants in the basement. today i was using my new package of gnatrol WDG for a soil drench treatment. while mosquito bits is 2.86% Bti, gnatrol powder is 37.4% Bti. for light infestation, the recommended amount is 1 tsp per gallon, while 3 tsp for a heavy infestation. for my 5 gallon bucket i ended up only adding 3 tsp, since i figured this was a maintenance application due to the fact that i have been watering with Bti, but just in a smaller concentration. if i follow the instructions accordingly, a total of 3 treatments should completely get rid of my fungus gnat problem.
besides watering, i also replaced the yellow sticky trap. this will allow me to more precisely monitor the gnat level. i also discovered the basement dehumidifier tank hadn't been emptied since the end of autumn and was now full of mold and slime. i brought the tank upstairs and scrubbed it clean with alcohol and water.
even though we had a big lunch, we also had a big dinner. we reheated the leftovers from yesterday, but my father also made pan-fried shrimps and my mother made a fresh mustard green stirfry. definitely a lot of eating today.
my father gave me a ride back to cambridge. celtics were playing again in a back-to-back, this time in milwaukee against the bucks. this seemed like a loss on paper, with jaylen brown out due to illness while neemias queta was out due to rest. but payton pritchard led the offensive with 25 points, whil hugo gonzalez had a monster game starting for the first time, with 18 points, 16 rebounds, and 3 steals. derrick white also scored 18 plus 9 assists. final score was 108-81.
i replaced the remote sensor for my acurite weather station. i got the replacement sensor a month ago but didn't have time to swap it out. i also wasn't quite sure if the old sensor was broken or it was just naturally warmer in my backyard. like when i got home tonight, the sensor said 30 degrees outside, while my nest thermostat said it was 22 degrees, and the google weather app said 20 degrees - a maximum of 10 degrees difference. when i finally replaced the sensor, i was happy to see the sensor reading 22 degrees - which seemed more accurate. but as the night wore on and the outdoor temperature dropped, the sensor still read 22 degrees, while the temperature dropped to 16 degrees.