January 18th 2014: Playing Badminton in Waltham

This morning, I had a meetup event to play badminton in the town of Waltham at Massachusetts Table Tennis and Badminton Club (MATTBC). Before that, I headed to the town of Boxborough to check out the water bodies at the Cisco campus,

and take a little hike at the Flagg Hill Conservation Area. The path I took here is shown below in brown.

 There wasn't much to see on the trail itself though, and good views of Flagg Hill Pond could be obtained going on Windermere Road anyway, without a need for hiking. The pictures I took here of the pond follow.

With that, I was done with Boxborough and on to Warner's Pond in the town of Concord

before heading to the town of Lincoln.

Flint's Pond, 70 Sandy Pond Road

Town Hall, 16 Lincoln Road

Pierce House

Finally, I decided to head into Waltham.

Brookline Bank

I was feeling really hungry, so I decided to get a quick meal at Wilson's Diner, a small town breakfast place where they cook the food right in front of you in town.

I decided to get the Hot Chocolate

and the Special Omelette with Greek Locanico and Feta Cheese.

The hot chocolate had mini marshmallows in it, while the omelette was somewhat interesting, although the feta cheese made it a little sour. Remind me never to have feta cheese in an omelette again. Overall, nothing too special about this place except that it's Greek oriented.

From here, it was on to badminton and table tennis. Do take note that no black soled shoes are allowed here, as the owner will not allow you to play if that's what you have on.

I haven't played either sport for a long time now, so it was good to know that I still had some skill in badminton, although my table tennis needed a lot of refreshing. It was still a fun time with friends though, and somehow I wasn't even that tired after a few hours of playing.

After the workout, it was time for lunch, and we went to Mulan, a Chinese restaurant in town. We ordered a lot of food, getting the Spiced Beef,

the Salted Crispy Chicken,

the Sauteed Bean Curd Sheet with Bamboo Shoot and Black Mushroom,

the Shredded Pork with Baby Bamboo,

the Sliced Lamb with Scallion,

the Stir Fried Peapod Stem with Minced Garlic,

the Beef with Leek Wrapped in Pancake,

the Chicken Casserole,

the Fish Filet with Chili Pepper,

and the Grilled Taiwanese Sausage.

The food was simply excellent, to say the least, not to mention the company. We also got a delicious complimentary sago dessert after the meal.

After lunch, everyone decided to go home because of the snow storm that was ongoing. I decided not to do that, heading instead to Cambridge to check out Jerry's Pond at 349 Rindge Avenue

and the Broad Canal, where there were nice views of the West End area.

From here, it was on to Quincy, where I managed to visit a few places before the sun finally went down for good.

Old Temple Beth El

Wesner Hall, Woodward School

For dinner, I decided to get it at Kagawa Sushi Bar and Restaurant, a Japanese place with decent decor in town.

With my Groupon, I ordered a lot of food, getting the Spicy Lobster Miso Soup,

the May Flowers (in pretty flower shape, tempura crunch, fresh salmon with ikura on top of inari and cucumber base),

the Tuna Sushi Pizza (cucumber, tempura crunch, tobiko and spicy mayo on top of crispy fried rice bed)

and the Shrimp Kagawa Home Made Pancake (Japanese Style pancake with vegetable, egg).

Of all the dishes, I was only really disappointed with the pancake, which not crispy, felt soggy, and did not taste fresh. The rest of the food was pretty good, although nothing too impressive in terms of taste or presentation. Overall, I still have yet to find an amazing Japanese restaurant in Quincy to date. With that, I headed to my friend's place in Quincy for a night of fun and playing poker, which I seemed t do well at at first, then eventually lost everything due to bad luck. Oh well, it was still a fun day of playing badminton and hanging out with friends. Can't wait to do this again next week.