my original plan was we'd stay in flushing long enough today so we could have both lunch and dinner before returning back to boston. however in that scenario, we wouldn't leave new york until the early evening, and wouldn't get back to boston until 11pm-12am. that would've been too tiring for everyone (especially since my parents still need to open the cafe tomorrow morning). so in the end we decided on a shortened schedule: stay long enough to have lunch, leave flushing by the early afternoon, get back to boston at 6-7pm.
my mother and taiwanese aunt came downstairs. they were thinking about getting some breakfast. at first it was something chinese, but i brought up that there was a bagel place nearby. my taiwanese aunt had actually been there before and said it wasn't too bad, so we decided to go there. we left the apartment by 9am.
it was another hot and humid day. my 2nd aunt joined us on this expedition. we took a peek inside a neighborhood dollar store before making it to oh!bagels cafe. my mother randomly ordered a few bagels, combining eggs & bacon with cream cheese, which even the guy behind the counter thought was a weird combination. i waited outside, and walked a block down, checking out some of the other stores. there was even a dunkin' donuts at the next street corner.
we came back to the apartment to eat. the bagel was okay - soft and chewy - but otherwise wasn't anything special. because our 24-hour parking was set to expire at 11am, my father and i left an hour later at 10:45am to go get the car. i wanted to bring most of our luggage, but my father said we could just pick them up when we return with the car. the weather basically decided for us when it started to rain. we left without bags, just umbrellas, as we walked to the parking lot.
we pulled the car in front of the house by 11am. everyone with the except of tangtang came out - she was still sleeping. i was afraid not everything would fit in the trunk because my father packed his thermoelectric cooler, plus we had to take all of my 2nd aunt's things as she was coming back to boston with us. we did finally manage to squeeze everything in the trunk. we had to left hastily because we were parked in front of a driveway and a car was trying to leave. we said good bye to my taiwanese aunt (she leaves for taiwan in a few days herself) as left.
we weren't ready to leave flushing just yet on this raining monday, but the driving force as to where we can go depends on where we can find car parking. i tried extending our hours where we were parked previously, but it was $13 for 2 additional hours. yesterday we saw two places - the inexpensive municipal parking lot next to spicy palace, and the free parking inside of the skyview mall - that were potential parking spots.
but first we went the great wall supermarket on northern boulevard, just a minute drive from where we were staying. it has free parking, so even if we don't buy anything, it was still a place to temporarily park the car. and if we did end up buying all our groceries here, that'd save us a trip to skyview.
of course my 2nd aunt had been to the great wall supermarket many times, it's one of the many markets within walking distance from where she was staying. it was my first time visiting, the inside looked very bright and clean, a far cry from the traditional dimly lit and dirty asian supermarkets. it was however not as big as the skyview super market, and some of things we saw there we couldn't find here. but my mother was perfectly fine with that, since it saved us a trip. we ended up buying all our asian groceries here, then spent some time packing it all the car. the trunk was filled to capacity, so we also had bags of groceries in the foot wells.
we left great wall supermarket around noontime and drove into central flushing, to the municipal parking lot. we weren't confident there'd be any parking left. along the way we kept our eyes open for street parking. we ended up finding a spot on the corner of 37th avenue and prince street. the price wasn't too bad, 2 hours maximum for $6 (though just $2 for an hour). it used a vending machine that took either quarters or credit card. you had to select the amount of time you were going to park and pay that amount. a ticket would then be dispensed which you'd leave on your dashboard for the meter maid to see.
so we were now on the clock: had to get back to the car by 2:10pm. first we had to get lunch, then afterwards buy whatever we wanted before finally leaving flushing.
we ended up eating at jibeichuan across the street from spicy palace. they seem to specialize in fish maw rice noodles. inside was nice and clean and air conditioned, with mirrored walls to make the place look bigger. there was a good lunch time crowd (all chinese), but still a table that could seat the 4 of us. i ordered the house special fish maw soup rice noodles ($14), my mother got the sour fish rice noodles ($14), my 2nd aunt got a tomato broth rice noodles, and my father got the pork intestines with rice. we also got a side dish of pickled cucumbers and a bowl of ice jelly (冰粉). the jelly came first: it was pretty good, but they added a lot of stuff that didn't seem traditional, like sesame seeds, crushed walnuts, and raisins. the cucumber weren't anything to write home about. the noodle soups were served in this tall dishes that looked like dog food bowls (i'm guessing to prevent customers from accidentally spilling their soup). my fish maw soup was sort of bland. what exactly is fish maw anyway? surprisingly there were an assortment of mushrooms, i counted 4 varieties including a piece of morel. i ended up asking them for some chili oil to spice up the noodles. my mother's sour fish noodles was much tastier, i should've gotten that. after we finished eating, we took turns going to the bathroom, since this was probably the only bathroom break we'd have before leaving new york. the bathroom was super clean, which is always a plus.
next we split up. while my mother and 2nd aunt went to get spicy braised duck parts and portuguese egg tarts, i went to a nearby florist to pick up a pennywort plant for $10, then to taipei liquors to get some baijiu. my father went to go find my mother and take her to the liquor store. after we met up, we went to some fruit stand below the bridge and got some cheap last minute produce.
we returned to the car by 1:40pm, but since we still had half an hour left on the meter, we went inside the tangram mall to use the bathroom one final time. something i ate didn't agree with me, and i had to use the toilet. i broke out in a cold sweat as i tried to do my business, thankfully the stall (handicapped) was pretty clean. i met my father we was waiting for me. we went and found my mother and 2nd aunt buying some pineapple butter buns.
we got to the car by 2pm, 10 minutes to spare. from flushing it was an easy route to the whitestone expressway. we missed an exit at the cross bronx parkway and had to take a detour in the bronx to get back on the highway. once we got our bearing, we started driving north towards home. as we got into connecticut, we started hitting some monday afternoon traffic. google map recommended instead of continuing on 95, that we can take local road 15 which would be 30 minutes faster. we ended up doing that. we were definitely moving, but the local highway was narrower and slower. along the way we passed through the town of darien: there might not be anything to do in connecticut, but they sure have some pretty houses! at 4pm we stopped at the fairfield service station.
we continued on route 15 all the way to hartford, before connecting onto interstate 84. that took us into massachusetts, before we connected on route 90 all the way back.
once we hit cambridge, my 2nd aunt called my 2nd uncle, told him to get ready to come downstairs to help her bring stuff back into the apartment. we got to my 2nd aunt's place at 7pm. after that i my parents and i went to the cafe to drop off some supplies before heading to belmont. i finished the rest of my leftover korean chicken for dinner, while also having some portuguese egg tarts, taiwanese melons, and braised duck. i finally got a ride home by 8:30pm.