it was a noisy morning as cars were getting towed due to street cleaning. i watched an SUV get towed, it took them less than 3 minutes from beginning to end before dragging the vehicle onto a flatbed truck and driving off.

i arrived in belmont early as my mother was planning on go to belle isle in winthrop for some seafood. somehow my sister heard about it and said she was coming too even though she hardly ever does anything with us.

while we were waiting for my sister to arrive, we were in the backyard harvesting some bitter melons. i also saw something i'd never seen before: open long bean flowers. i always thought the flowers were just those pale yellow semi-circle blossoms, that's why i always thought they were ugly. but apparently these flowers only open in the mornings, that's why i'd never seen them before. they actually look very pretty.

once my sister arrived, we finally left a bit before noontime. my sister drove her car. she must've cleaned it because normally the back of her car is cluttered with junk. we got to belle isle seafood in about 35 minutes along the turnpike, exiting after the airport. we got there by 12:30pm.

i was afraid it'd be crowded since we got there around lunchtime, but it wasn't too bad. a few tables of seniors were sitting in the shady inside to avoid the heat, while more adventurous customers sat outside underneath umbrella tables and wooden pergolas. nothing beats belle isle as far as view: right by the pier, view of boston harbor, next to logan airport, boston skyline in the background. it felt like we've been here a bunch of times, but i was actually surprised to find out that we've only been here once, back in september 2016. i think we were blown away by that first meal and thought about belle isle enough times over the years that i felt like we've been here more often.

our waitress was holly, who first took our drink orders before coming back to take our food orders. my father and i both got the cajun swordfish dinner, while he also got a side of fried clams. i got a small clam chowder. my sister went with the fried clam dinner. my mother the lobster meat sandwich dinner ($33).

while we waited for our food to come, i was tracking some planes leaving and arriving at logan airport using the flight24 app. one flight from portugal, another coming from tokyo. sitting under the awning, it was actually pretty nice, with a sea breeze and no bugs.

the clam chowder wasn't anything special at $5 for a small cup, i can probably skip it next time, get something else. the last time we came we got the grilled swordfish, and promised ourselves we'd try the cajun. i thought we had the cajun before but this was the first time. one had more char but i gave it to my father even though i prefer the smokiness. the piece i had wasn't as charred. like last time, the swordfish was cooked to perfection, super tender, no fishy taste, almost like tofu. the fried clams were a little off, too much batter, not enough clams. the best clams we ever had was in quincy of june 2017, at the clam box. those were huge belly clams. my father just had the fried clam plate, which is a ripoff since for a few dollars more he could've had the dinner which came with fries, onion rings, and coleslaw, a much better deal. the lobster meat sandwich (AKA lobster roll) was a monster. there was so much lobster meat my mother couldn't eat it all, felt like there were two lobsters' worth of meat, and big chunks of it too. it was a bit bland though, i thought if we had some tobasco sauce we might spice it up a bit.

by the time we finished eating the place started to get busy. all the outdoor seatings were taken, while back inside it was empty. when the check came the bill was $175. we finally left around 2pm.

from there we drove to the chelsea market basket, crossing east boston along the way. while my father slept in the car, my mother, sister and i got out to get some cafe supplies. everything was going well until it came time to pay. while i was unloading the cart and putting items onto the conveyer belt, i must've snaged one of the soda bottles when i left a box off of it. i watched as the bottle seemed to glued underneath the box before a split second later it dropped to the floor, shattering in a glassy and carbonated mess. it was embarrassing as the in-house custodian came and sprinkled wood dust on the linoleum floor.

we left market basket by 3pm. we made one more stop, at bianco & sons sausages, to get some chinese sausages. we got there right before closing (3:30pm), only my mother went inside, she said they had already emptied the display fridges for the day. from there we drove to the cafe to unload the supplies, arriving there by 3:40pm.

my sister got hailey before she drove us back to belmont. not used to sharing the backseat, hailey won't lie down until my father scooted forwards to give her more room.

in the backyard there wasn't much action compared to what i'd already seen over the weekend. my father and i tied off a few hanging squashes that looked like they needed some more support.

for dinner my father pan-fried an old piece of swordfish outside on the barbecue burner. the different between the belle isle swordfish (we still had some leftover) and the one we cooked ourselves was very apparent. our swordfish wasn't very fresh, had previously been frozen then thawed, and had a strong fishy smell. once cooked, it also wasn't as tender. once you've had good swordfish, it's hard to go back.