Weekend with The Folks (Hers): Aquarium, Antiques & Buddha! + Derby

First off, hooray for Chinese Buddha reopening. A favorite of ours, this Chinese restaurant had been closed for months, after forced to relocate to a new venue. Time went by, with its opening continually pushed back. Questions arose, would we ever have the good food we craved, how much tackiness would remain, would this picture be hanging in the foyer like in the original?


The answer are yes, not much and no.

Yes, the food is back, they reopened on Sunday. We got dishes that we had before the restaurant's closing, and there was no difference. You can tell new waitstaff is finding their pace. One thing new thing... white people as waiters. One person missing, our favorite cranky waiter.

Tacky, no. The restaurant is beautiful, a bit too much so for my taste. We heard other patrons commenting about the nice digs, and wondering if the Mick "Ick" Jagger picture would return. I doubt he and friends will be appearing in public again.

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Our first visit to Buddha was just us, our second (of the week) was with my in-laws. They liked it very much as well. While there, a hellacious rain storm swept away the blues skies. Before Buddha, we took the 'rents to the Dekalb Farmers Market. It took awhile for them to overcome being overwhelmed, but then the shopping commenced.

Dinner was followed by a trip to the Aquarium. Special late-night hours made the visit great. Fewer people, much fewer kids and adult drinks. Again, in-laws were pleased.

Next day, we hit the Scott Antiques Market. The 2 massive complexes house loads of dealers, but few bargains, and we left spending money only on some cheap hot dogs and ice cream. A trip to Trader Joe's was made and dinner at 6 Feet Under made everyone fat and happy.

And now that they have left, I will be doing derby tonight, the Denim Demons vs. Sake Tuyas.