i left for belmont around 11:15am. my father had the sprinkler running out on the front lawn. i warmed up some instant chongqing-style shrimp wontons in the microwave for lunch. soon after i finished eating, we left the house for a burlington supply run.
first stop was bin bin's place to pick up her mail. ever since she was late in paying her condo fees and utilities bills, we're afraid one of these days when we go to the house the locks will be changed, or the electricity/gas turned off. it's been nearly 2 years since they returned to china, still not sure when they'll be back. i was busy readjusting the timers and using the vacuum to clean up some mouse droppings (weeks ago i went online and downloaded the vacuum manual to figure out how to use it).
we left by 1:15pm, drove to the burlington h-mart. the place has a strong fishy smell, or it could just be the kimchi. you notice it at first, but then you get used to it. things at h-mart can be expensive, even korean staples you'd imagine would be the cheapest here. for example, buldak stir-fried noodles. at h-mart it's $8.99 for a 5-pak, while at market basket it's only $5.99. what it lacks in affordability, it makes up for in selection. something seems to be a little off with this burlington h-mart. boxes clog aisles, there's a leak in one of the frozen foods department that they just taped off instead of trying to fix, and i saw cartons of filipino ice cream that were all broken apart and expired but nobody seemed to care. are they having a hard time finding workers? let's just say this h-mart has seen better days. i wouldn't mind if it went out of business and maybe a ranch 99 takes its place, that'd be my dream-come-true.
after h-mart, we went next door to market basket by 2:30pm. my mother and i were only getting a few times, so my father elected to stay in the car instead. we got some korean gojuchang, which was $4.50 for the cheapest carton, but just $3.50 at market basket. sure, there's only one brand, but it's just another example of the price disparity.
we left burlington by 3pm, got back home 25 minutes later. i was out in the backyard watering the lawn by hand. later my father came out to trim the cactuses and squash vines. i cut back some of the non-flowering morning glories and moonflowers. when i examined some of the vines, i saw buds, so hopefully they'll start flowering in a week or so. we also collected some more long beans, which they gave all to me so i can work my fermentation magic. lacking a proper container, i took a glass cookie jar. i also added a memory card to the basement webcam. i noticed it last night when playback didn't work, i must've taken out the memory card at some point, used it on another device.
my mother made korean soondubu jjigae (korean tofu stew) for dinner, that was another reason for going to h-mart today, to collect some additional ingredients (like dried anchovy for the broth, and a choice cut of beef). the silken tofu was courtesy of russo's. it was good for a first try, but next time: less sugar, as it masked the other flavors; more kimchi - we used half a jar of old kimchi that'd been sitting in the fridge - sour and savory, but it could've used even more of it; we cooked the beef beforehand, but i wonder if it wouldn't have been even more tender if we just left it to cook in the broth? overall the soondubu jjigae was a little bland. next time, maybe saltier, more sour, more spicy.
tonight was the harvest moon. when i rode home last night, the moon was already full, seemed to take up most of the sky. tonight was the official date for the full moon, and i was hoping to get some photos. moon photography is tricky: either it's over exposed and the moon is just a white circle in the night sky, or too underexposed and all you see is the moon while everything else is black.
moonrise was officially at 7:02pm, i decided to launch the drone into the sky first from the backyard to see if i can see the moon with zero obstruction. it was coming up just to the left of boston. my father was outside with me, and used a flashlight as a beacon when i brought down the drone. he was also in charge of slapping the mosquitoes off of me as they swarmed around.
after i came back inside, i convinced everyone to go to the nearby park to see the harvest moon. at first we thought it was still below our horizon, but as we got closer to the park, we saw the moon in the sky, next to the 700 huron avenue apartment building.
the tennis court was unlocked and we went inside to take photos. one good thing about standing in the tennis court was no mosquitoes. i was having a hard time getting any good moon photos with my dSLR 55-250mm lens. i had better luck with my google pixel phone, using the night sight setting. i took some photos of my parents, illuminating by the glow of my mother's phone.
after we returned home, we each had a brown sugar boba samanco (taiyaki) fish ice cream sandwich. they had a bunch of green tea samanco at h-mart, but just a single package of brown sugar boba which i quickly snagged.
because of street cleaning, half of my street was empty of cars. i had to park 2 blocks away, in my reserve spot whenever i can't find anywhere else to park that's closer to my house. when i got inside, i was relieved to see that my credit cards and id was at home. i thought i lost them because i couldn't find them anywhere in belmont, but i just forgot to bring them.