weekend in review

It's always a good time when my sister comes to town, but this weekend in particular was a whirlwind.

Paddle boats in Forest Park
It's $15 for one hour, and though your legs will get tired, your butt is going to get the worst of things. Paddling faster, by the way, does not affect the speed of the boat. You can putter around Forest Park and troll under bridges to scare joggers, though, and ask them to take your picture.

Maya Cafe
A tiny Mexican cafe in Maplewood. Great house-made salsa, and killer sweet-then-sour margaritas.

Ben Folds at Chaifetz
Fantastic, as always. It was my sister's first Folds concert, and despite some plainly disinterested "this is my free spring concert" students, it was a fun show. We were in the third row, so that went a long way. Chaifetz is too big for that sort of thing, though, and it took some tinkering to get the sound right. Also, he broke something off the piano.

Blues City Deli
Oh, man. Try the Black & Blue. I can't believe I hated blue cheese as a kid. This place was both fast and fantastic.

Citygarden
I have yet to get tired of this place, which is apparently catching on as a picture-taking destination.

Crown Candy
They make a mean malt, and there was quite a Saturday afternoon line, though the to-go queue wasn't too bad. Those tiny booths look off-putting anyway, but I'm told I have to get back sometime for the grilled cheese.

"Kick-Ass" at the Moolah
That little girl is going places, and while I'm completely disinterested in the sequel, it was just tongue-in-cheek enough to work. It was also gross at points, but I'm not up on the genre enough to know whether that comes standard. As for the theater itself, it may be time to refresh the fleet, but it doesn't get much more awesome than kicking back on a nice couch to watch a movie.

Laumeier Sculpture Park
Citygarden is hard to top, but Laumeier was a disappointment on its own merits. If you're planning a senior picnic or something, this is a great spot. But if you're looking for interactivity, skip this and go downtown. I don't have a strong enough art background to appreciate some of this work, but the fawning title cards seemed to have that covered.