the free bike ride code i put in yesterday seemed to still work, so that 24-hour day pass is legit. not sure what i was expecting, but the blue bike rides pretty smoothly. on the left handlebar was a bike bell, on the right handlebar a gear shifter. not sure what kind of shifting it has, but it's not indexed, so there's a smooth continuation of shifting, which took some getting used to, it initially felt like i wasn't shifting at all. the brakes were very good, i think they might be disc brakes because of the stopping power. i thought i was traveling at a good speed, but the few cyclists going in my direction all passed me. seems like it's a biking tradition to pass blue bikes, since most of the time they're ridden by tourists we aren't racing to get to their destination.
the day pass gives me 2 hours per ride, but i didn't all that time: it took me just 21 minutes to travel the 2 miles to get me to assembly square. there are 3 blue bike stations here, but i parked at the first one i saw. pulling the bike onto the curb, i was surprised how heavy it was in the back, must be weighted. i made sure it locked into the station. as soon as i did that, i received a text message telling me my bike ride ended at grand union boulevard at revolution drive and that the price was free because i used a day pass.
so that was my first blue bike experience! it's been around since 2012 (back when it was called hubway), so after 12 years i finally tried it. i'm no luddite but sometimes it takes me a while to try new technology. i was like that with adopting smart phones, i had a regular phone for the longest time that did nothing but make phone calls and receive rudimentary text (never figured out how to send). i had a very good experience with the bike, especially since i was riding for free. i don't know if i'd ever buy a full annual membership, but good to know i have a biking option if i ever need it.
i walked 6 more minutes to the la quinta hotel. the area was pretty desolate still so early in the morning. there was nobody around other than construction workers working on a "life science" lab space project.
i got to the hotel by 8:50am. an empty shuttle bus was parked outside, having just dropped off a vehicle load of customers. i went inside the crowded reception area and saw my california aunt. i also saw my california uncle willy, who introduced me to his friends: philip from seattle, and richard and his wife from the bay area. they were just checking in. the rooms wouldn't be ready until 3pm, but one of the rooms was currently available, so they decided to put all their luggage in that room for the time being. i waited downstairs. once they came back down, they filed into the breakfast area to get something to eat. i waited outside, walking around the parking lot, eating a kind bar i packed in my messenger bag.
by the time i went back inside the hotel, the breakfast area had cleared out. i pulled out a map from the information stand and i gave everyone a summary of our route for the day. my original plan was to visit 26 locations, but even i knew that was overly ambitious, especially taking a group of 5 tired seniors who'd just taken the red eye from the west coast. one of the places they wanted to visit was MIT. MIT is weird in that the kendall/MIT subway station is nowhere near the entrance, and requires a more than half mile walk cutting through the MIT campus (takes about 15 minutes). i decided to cut out all the backbay sightseeing (trinity church, boston public library, newbury street, fenway park). the new plan was to sightsee in downtown boston, then take the red line to MIT, followed by a bus ride to harvard square.
we finally set off by 9:30am. we cut through assembly row, where many of the stores were closed because it was still too early. we then made it to assembly station. everyone needed a charliecard, which took a while to buy, as the machines kept not accepting the credit cards, until it reverted to cash only machines. richard's wife's card didn't work for some reason, but an MBTA attendant there let her through the gate. it was well after 10am when we go to the platform to wait for the train. of course there was signaling issues so the inbound train didn't arrive until 10:20am. fortunately it was just 3 stops before we got off at north station.
a part of the original plan was to do some sightseeing in the north end. but my uncle willy said it wasn't necessary, so we made a beeline to quincy market instead. i walked ahead, while everyone else was shambling a block behind me. i made a detour stop at boston market. none of them seemed interested as it wasn't the fabled quincy market, the only good thing that came out of it was we got to use their bathroom after we got the passcode for the doors.
my california aunt wanted to checked the holocaust memorial, while everyone else took a seat nearby and waited. she didn't know what it was until told her, and even then she wanted to get her photo taken with the somber monument. i pointed out boston city hall and the samuel adams statue, they took some photos. we then went inside faneuil hall. no seemed interested in boston souvenirs. once again everyone sat and waited as i showed my california aunt the historical meeting house (currently undergoing renovations).
when we finally went inside quincy market, i'm not sure if everyone was dejected after such a long wait. quincy market is just a bunch of food stalls. my uncle willy seemed interested in trying some chowder, but after realizing there was no good place to sit and eat, decided to bypass quincy market altogether and find a sit-down restaurant instead.
we ended up grabbing a table at ned devine's (close to noontime), under the cooling shade of some locust trees. i think we were the only asian customers there, everyone else was white, though by the time we left i saw an indian family grab a table. ned devine's search pub food. we got the mexican corn dip with nachos, two salads, a spicy chicken burger (for me), two chowders (for willy and philip), grilled salmon, and a fish sandwich (richard shared with his wife). it was a nice little break from all the walking. the food was decent, my aunt couldn't get over how "delicious" the water tasted and she wondered if they treat it somehow. my uncle willy showed me how he interacts with his blood glucose meter. he was surprised when i told him i used one of those before (when i did that food study back in march 2020). that explains why he didn't eat the oyster crackers nor the rice that came with his grilled salmon. he also told me that philip and richard are college friends of his and that philip is a life-long bachelor (like me).
we left by 12:40pm. i was hoping after a good lunch everyone would have more energy. they kept asking if we were at harvard square yet. i kept telling them it wasn't until later, as there was more boston sightseeing to do. i took them to long wharf, figured these west coast residents would get a kick out of seeing the atlantic ocean for a change.
from there we continued to the old state house. no one seemed interested in my explanation, or they feigned interest. i thought to myself, if we can just to get the state house, surely they'll be impressed with that. but now they were asking for the nearest subway station.
on our way to park street station, i took them to the granary burial ground. only my california aunt and philip showed some interest, everyone else just hung back by the entrance. when i told my uncle willy about samuel adams' grave, he grunted, like, so what? crossing the street i finally pointed out the state house up on the hill. they barely glanced at it. when i mentioned the dome was gilded with gold, richard's wife replied, "real gold, huh?" if they still wanted to see MIT and then harvard, i wasn't sure how that'd work out, given the fact that most of the group wasn't the least bit interested in any boston sightseeing. i mean, it's not my time that's getting wasted, they're the ones visiting, i've seen all this stuff before. but i did take it a little personal.
when we got to the red line platform in park street, that's when richard told us that he and his wife were returning to the hotel. i was actually glad. now the only limiting factor was my uncle willy. but still i was worried how we'd tackle MIT. when we got on the train, i soon found out that they were going to skip MIT and go directly to harvard.
harvard square is so close to my house, i was tempted to invite everyone over, except i knew my uncle willy wouldn't be able to make the 15 minute walk. i was so close to home i could almost see my house it seems. we checked out the john harvard statue. philip seemed genuinely in awe at seeing harvard yard in person, while both my aunt and uncle had been to cambridge before so this wasn't anything new to them. my uncle willy took a seat by the harvard church will i brought my aunt and philip to see memorial hall.
afterwards we retrieved my uncle and then waited by church street as a phoned my father to come pick us up. earlier i'd already called him, when my aunt was buying some MIT t-shirts from a vendor inside the station. this way even though they didn't get to visit MIT, at least they all still got t-shirts. after a few minutes my father showed up. we took the scenic route to the cafe, snaking through brattle and reservoir street to see some old mansions.
we finally arrived at the cafe by 3:20pm. my taiwanese aunt and 2nd aunt were already there, as well as my mother who'd been preparing food for everyone's arrival. they'd met philip before back in taiwan. i think there was relief on everyone's part. my uncle willy could finally get his rest and i could finally stop worrying about playing tour guide.
my mother served some scallion bread and glass noodle salad first, while waiting for the main course to arrive. around 4:30pm i started assembling my new england clam chowder.
| new england clam chowder (3-6 serving) | |
|
6 russet potatoes (2 lbs.) peeled, diced 2 cans chopped clams 1 onion, chopped 1 tsp salt 2 tsp pepper |
2 cans whole baby clams 16 oz. light cream 1/2 package bacon, chopped oyster crackers |
| boil medium-low potatoes 3 minutes (al dente), drain and cool (30 minutes). add chopped clams, onion, salt & pepper and marinate for 1 hour or overnight. separate clam juice from whole baby clams. add juice to chowder then simmer medium-low 5 minutes until potatoes done. cook bacon until bubbling then add to chowder. add whole clams and light cream. simmer 5 minutes or until chowder is fully cooked. serve with oyster crackers. | |
keep in mind that i doubled the recipe from last time. instead of 2 lbs. of russet potatoes, i used the entire 5 lbs. bag. i also didn't bother adding corn starch, felt like the chowder was already thick enough from the extra potatoes. i had some clam juice (1 cup) that i saved from a clam dip recipe i attempted yesterday and poured that into the chowder to give it more liquids.
my aunt and matthew finally showed up around 5pm with the main course: a cooler full of still-warm cooked lobsters just purchased from the waltham market basket. they bought 18 lobsters in total (even though we were originally just 12 total including me), each weighed a pound. they though the lobsters were too small so they bought a bag of cooked frozen dungeness crab claws as well.
the feast began while i was still in the kitchen stirring my chowder. they started with the crabs, which i had a claw. is crab meat supposed to be naturally salty? i kind of like it that it is. that was followed by the lobsters. my father brought them out to show people and get their photos taken with the crustacean before taking them all back and opening the shells. we didn't have lobster tools, so he used the back of a cleaver and a pair of pliers to crack open the shells, spraying bits of shell and meat all over the kitchen floor. people then used chopsticks to push out the lobster meat. i still continued working in the kitchen while everyone ate. i was pouring out frozen margaritas and mojitos that i'd made weeks ago. eventually i did have a lobster with some ginger-vinegar dipping sauce. i remembered why i don't like lobsters, their rubbery texture and that fishy flavor. crabs though? i like crabs. i ate in the back kitchen with the lights off like a servant since there wasn't enough seats in front of the cafe.
finally it was time to serve the chowder in mugs along with a package of oyster crackers and fresh ground pepper. my aunt said she didn't know i knew how to make clam chowder. everyone finished their chowder except my 2nd aunt, who brought hers into the kitchen and dumped everything into the trash, saying it was too hearty, not enough soup. with the exception of my 2nd aunt, the chowder seemed to be a big hit. i still had enough leftover to give two servings to my aunt and wo servings for myself (along with some oyster crackers).
after my aunt and matthew left, my father gave my california aunt and uncle along with philip a ride back to la quinta hotel in somerville. my mother, my taiwanese aunt, my 2nd aunt, and myself stayed behind to clean. after we wrapped up the trash (full of smelly lobster shells) for me to throw out in my own garbage, i drove my aunts home while i then drove myself home, my mother switching seats with me so she can then drive herself home.