the everett costco was our first stop. this being the second to last weekend before thanksgiving, the place was packed today. 
we ended up parking on the far lot, which is normally empty and just a place for canada geese and seagulls to hang out. inside the store, there were zero shopping carts when normally they'd be hundreds (fortunately we grabbed one from the parking lot before we came in). the cashier area was a congestion of customers waiting to check out.
we bought a cart full of supplies. the check out line actually stretched to the back of the store, and was starting to loop around the paper towels and bulk bottled water. 
my father waited in line while my mother and i searched the store for some final items. having a long line is actually a good sign, means that somebody was directing traffic, instead of all the customers piling by the check out aisles in a free-for-all. there was no time for browsing, we basically grabbed what we came to get and wait to pay. the line quickly shrunk as whoever was directing traffic started filing customers to the different check out lanes. we finally got out by 11:45am.
malden 88 asian supermarket was the next stop. it was a farcry from the costco, only a few dozen cars in the parking lot, not hundreds. for some reason there was a lot of black immigrants shopping here, and many of them were all dressed up, like they just came from church. there was more time to browse here, but even then, this wasn't our final stop, so here too we left soon after finding all the these we needed to buy, including gathering some ingredients for thanksgiving. we left by 1pm.
driving down medford street to get to the fellsway, we then went to the medford ocean state job lot. my father stayed in the car while my mother and i went inside the store. she was searching for cheap yarn, i was looking to find some snacks. we got a townie lady as our cashier, who kept complaining about how she couldn't go on break. when the register computer crashed and she had to start all over again after a reboot, i thought she was going to lose it and go crazy. even after the second time she rung us up, she still made a mistake, and get us a $40 credit by accident. she was about to ring us up a third time when i told her if she didn't give us the credit, nobody would know anyway, no harm no foul. we later saw her standing outside the store smoking a cigarette. we left OSJL by 1:45pm.
our original plan was to go to aldi's as well, but it was low on our list our priorities, and we'd already been out for nearly 3 hours by that time, with some food needing refrigeration. plus, it might be just as crowded at aldi's as it was at costco, so in the end we decided not to go, but instead head straight to the cafe to drop off the supplies.
we arrived at the cafe by 2:10pm, spent 15 minutes unloading, before heading to my parents' place. none of us having had lunch yet, we spent some time snacking on some foods we got from OSJL and super 88. i got some pita and ate more leftover muhammara dip; the one that we got isn't the best, 
but still had a very middle eastern flavor. we got some crackers from OSJL and had them with seaweed pearls, which is vegetarian caviar (we didn't know it was vegan at the time). it doesn't taste like real caviar, but texture and appearwise it's very close, and they do have a salty briny taste to them, not so much of fish, but definitely a seaworthy flavor. my mother also got out the boursin non-diary garlic cheese. she had it at my sister's place a few weeks ago, it's like her new favorite snack now. i tried it for the first time myself, it's actually pretty good, the garlic makes all the difference.
i ordered a few things after consulting with my parents. i bought new washer inlet hoses along with a longer washer drain hose (a combo deal) from amazon. from newegg we ordered an open-boxed rosewill inductor cooker ($45). for my mother i got her a similar travel pillow, usually a 50% off coupon.
my mother brought home a box of tea egg spices and 20 eggs so we could make tea eggs at home and have them ready to serve by tuesday, since they need a few days to steep in the tea brine for maximum flavor. i left it simmer on the stovetop for over an hour before finally turn it off.
my mother also wanted to do laundry - try out our new washer and dryer - but because it was cloudy today, she decided to do it tomorrow, when we have a full day of sun and free solar electricity all day. i'm also curious to see just how long it takes to do a wash then dry.
while my mother went to go watch her korean drama on the imac and my father went to go take a nap, i was in the basement removing the dryer door. i switched the latch and hinges on the dryer itself and brought the door upstairs so i could switch it from right-opening to left-opening. there wasn't enough time to work on it before dinner, so i opted to do it afterwards. i found a youtube video that explained all the steps of a door reversal, definitely a lot easier than the manual instructions, which seemed too daunting.
my mother made dinner while my father napped. we were having some sour fish stew tonight (酸菜魚). earlier at super 88 we bought two different packages of sour fish stew. tonight we elected to try the more expensive one. we might be having it for thanksgiving, in a soup form, one of the new dishes we're trying out this year.
we paired the sour fish stew with rice. it was sour and spicy, but this particular brand didn't have pepper corn, which is a cornerstone of authentic sichuan sour fish stew. nevertheless it was very tasty, and one of the ways i can eat fish and not be adverse to it.
after dinner my father and i took apart the dryer door so we could switch the hinges. it wasn't difficult, but we went slow and followed that youtube video so we don't make any mistakes. having done it once, next time i could do it way faster. the lg eayload door is kind of ingenuous, and seems to be the only washer that can do that as far as i know, the door opening in two ways (left or right, and top down).
after we switched the hinges and put the door back together again, we went downstairs to reattach it to the washer. it worked beautifully, now it swings from the left side, as well as from the top down. while we were there, i also set up both the washer and dryer for wifi access. it seems like an unnecessary feature, the only use i could see if telling you how much longer it takes the washer or dryer to finish. you can also do a remote wash or dry (don't know when you'd ever use that); the washing machine actually locks up when it's on remote wash, to prevent the washer from running when someone is about to use it. the ability to remote wash/dry have to be switched on manually from the control panel. the wifi functionality also doesn't work when the washer or dryer are turned off.
my father gave me a ride back to my place by 8pm. i was surprised DC wasn't home. i used the bathroom and took a shower, then settled in with a hot glass of good earth cinnamon tea and an asian pear. DC finally came home around 9:30pm. he told me he went to chinatown during the daytime to stock up on noodles and rice. then later he went to the office because his old laptop died on him. fortunately he has a second laptop, and he managed to restore all his files from 2 weeks ago from a backup.
my mother was casually talking about wanting a garlic press today, so tonight i went online to find one for her. i myself use a zyliss susi 3 garlic press and i love it, i hardly chop garlic anymore these days, i just use the press. but one thing i don't like is it has a small capacity. i was looking for something that can crush a bit more garlic. the one that i see that gets a lot of good reviews is the OXO good grips garlic press. amazon sells it for $20 but it has to be imported from the UK and won't arrive until sometime in december. so i thought about buying used. i checked out craig's list, ebay, mercari, they either didn't have it, or were selling it at near retail price. i ended up finding one for $12 (free shipping) on poshmark, a website for people to sell their name brand unwanted. i never used poshmark before, but i signed up for an account and bought the garlic press. it should arrive in a few days.