i had my umbrella because it was raining a little bit. i wore shorts and a t-shirt, and decided to go with my concept 3 skechers sneakers ($25, amazon), which i bought in 2021 but rarely wore, after realizing they'd get destroyed in biking. the shoes are very comfortable but i question their durability.
i was the first to arrive at the cafe (10:30am). since today was going to be a rainy day, i doubt it was going to be busy, so i just cooked 5 cups of rice, the usual amount. my sister and father came later.
business wasn't too bad considering the weather. it probably helped that it was only rainy during the morning and was just overcast in the afternoon. a few customers even sat outside on the back deck. we sold a few more zongzi. there was even an uber eats order.
all day i was monitoring the situation in russia. wagner mercenaries were rolling towards moscow. i could follow their progress on google maps, as the one road leading into the capital from voronezh was all blocked off. would there be fighting in moscow? it felt thrilling witnessing history making in progress. the wagner forces got as far as elets. but by the afternoon it all fizzled out as news broke of a truce brokered by belarus president. prigozhin was ordering his troops to stand down and turn around. russia civil war seemed to be averted for the time being.
close to closing time, my father and i moved a cabinet to my sister's place.
we left for belmont around 4:30pm. we took the plastic crate full of pileas that originally was intended to be sold at the cafe, but because nobody had put up a sign yet, and they'd just been sitting in the dark, we decided to take them back home so they can at least live in the backyard until we figure out a new strategy.
my parents' backyard seemed especially lush give the recent rain. the squash vines were growing so fast, new shoots had to be tied to the trellis since we worked on them last tuesday.
after we finished tying the squash vines, we asked my mother if she still wanted to see the watertown greek festival, which she said she wanted to go earlier. instead of walking (my mother said she'd already gone on her daily walk), we drove (5:30pm). along the way, somebody had thrown out a lodge-brand blue enamel cast iron dutch oven and i grabbed it. seemingly too good to be true, only when i looked inside did i realize why they wanted to toss it: it was all charred up from years of cooking (maybe i could clean it, or maybe i'll just throw it out).
we found a parking spot on melendy avenue. the festival was happening on bigelow street. we walked over and there was definitely something happening, but i realized it had nothing do with the greeks, but rather just something for donohue's bar and grill. what gave it away? no greek food. the greek festival was further up the street, by the greek orthodox church. that's when we saw the food tent and all the greek people. we walked through the tent to see what kind of foods they were offering but didn't buy anything. we also went inside the hellenic cultural center, where not only did they have food, but all several tables selling everything from greek orthodox bibles, to handicrafts, to greek honey. we ended up buying some greek honey ($20 a jar) after they let us sample some.
we left by 6pm and went to nearby what da chick to get some thai chicken rice for dinner. both my mother and i got the roasted chicken while my father had the combo (a mix of crispy and poached). i personally prefer their spicy crispy chicken, but i don't like the sauce it comes with. the roasted chicken has this amazing chili sauce that's to die for and that's the main reason why i got it.
we ate back at the house. afterwards there was nothing left to do but rest and wake up early tomorrow to go to new york. my father and i figured out some potential parking places and added one location to google map so we can use it as a destination point tomorrow. instead of sleeping on the small bedroom - my sister slept there a few weeks ago and said there might be bugs because she got some bites (though i think it's just her) - i slept on the zero gravity chair in the living room.