Eve

This was a great Christmas Eve. I spent the first two hours of December 24th baking cookies and making treats (pictured below) for my family's consumption and for my neighbors. Then I went to sleep. When I woke up, I finished the treats, had family over to see our house, then it suddenly started snowing which was unexpected and a was a perfect backdrop for the day, went to a Thai restaurant for a yummy lunch, distributed the treats to the neighbors and got to know them a little better, ate some cookies, watched Elf (quite possibly my favorite Christmas movie), went to a Christmas Eve service, ate more cookies, and now I'm gearing up to open some presents.

Speaking of getting to know the neighbors better, as I was finishing up packaging the treats for distribution, we had a knock on the door. It was our across-the-way neighbors inviting us to their open house party tomorrow, Christmas Day. We are definitely going to try to make it - such a nice offer. The neighbors are a couple that remind me of me and my husband - she's Caucasian, he's Latino. We found out that they are even more similar than we thought - he's actually Chilean, which is the exact same tiny, distant land that my husband originally hails from. It's a small world, indeed. Here's to finding excuses to get the know the neighbors in a typical Maryland community.

One of the greatest things about living in MD is the possibility of a White Christmas, or at least a lightly frosted Christmas, as was the case today. Even if it only lasted for a short while. Here's my ironic hipster photo to commemorate this great day.

Cake

And now for some words about Maryland's official state cake - the Smith Island Cake. It consists of a mind-boggling number of thin alternating layers of cake and frosting, which is then fully covered with more frosting. The number of layers can vary. The one I just bought today has 8. But I think the general rule of thumb is that they have around 10.


The classic Smith Island Cake flavor is yellow cake with chocolate fudge frosting. The original flavor is sold as mini-cakes (4 servings) at some Giant store locations in Maryland, along with coconut (white cake with coconut frosting), seasonal (pumpkin), and red velvet (white frosting). I've also seen cake pops for sale at the Giant, but I haven't tried them yet.

All the cakes are from the Original Smith Island Cake Company, located in Smith Island, which is an actual island off the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland that is only accessible via boat. I looked into travelling there a few months ago and staying in this B&B, but we ended up buying a house and the timing didn't work out. I still want to go there one day. I hear they also serve excellent seafood and fish at that inn.

My husband LOVES this cake. It is pretty darn good. Good enough to make me break my diet once in a while. Actually, I tend to succumb to dessert more often than not. Life is short. This cake has 320 calories per serving and just over 1/2 your daily saturated fat intake so I usually have split a serving.

Here's a recipe for the cake. I am interested in making it some time, but I would either need to buy more round cake pans or be extremely patient in order to bake a bunch of separate batches and come up with 10 or so layers.

Official

You can tell a lot about a state by taking a look at their list of official state symbols. Here is that list for Maryland:

State Tree: White Oak, 1941
State Bird: Baltimore Oriole Icterus galbula, 1947
State Boat: Skipjack, 1985
State Cat; Calico, 2001 (because they're black, orange, and white, just like the Baltimore Oriole - want one!)
State Crustacean: Blue Crab, 1989 (duh)
State Cake: Smith Island Cake, 2008
State Dinosaur: Astrodon johnstoni, 1998 (how cute is it that MD has a state dinosaur?)
State Dog: Chesapeake Bay Retriever, 1964
State Drink: Milk, 1998 (blech, seriously?). In 2009, MD had about 55,000 cows.
State Exercise: Walking, 2008. (amen, especially if of the "power" variety)
State Fish: Rockfish, 1965 (seen in a lot of menus in MD)
State Flag: 1904. This beauty is the best State flag I know. I challenge you to come up with a better US state flag than this one. It's regal, classy, yet simple. It looks European, and that's because it consists of the coat of arms of the Calvert and Crossland families (families that produced the Lords Baltimore who founded MD). The red and white represents the Crossland, and the black and yellow is the Calvert side. Very Games of Throne. Also reminds me of the Ferrari flag.


State Flower: Black-Eyed Susan, 1918
State Folk Dance: Square Dance, 1994 (guffaw)
State Fossil Shell: Ecphora gardnerae gardnerae, 1994
State Gem: Patuxent River Stone, 2004
State Horse: Thoroughbred, 2003
State Insect: Baltimore Checkerspot Butterfly, 1973
State Reptile: Diamondback Terrapin, 1994 (these things are dope-looking!)

State Seal: Great Seal of Maryland, 1959
State Song: Maryland, My Maryland, 1939 (sung to the tune of "O Tannenbaum")
State Sport: Jousting, 1962 (MD was the first state to adopt an official sport. So sporty!)
State Team Sport: Lacrosse, 2004
State Theaters: Center Stage (Baltimore) and Olney Theater (Olney), 2003

I propose that Maryland add an official State Word: "Hon." Short for "honey," it's a term of endearment that has come to represent Baltimore's unique white working-class culture and special brand of hospitality.

Source: Maryland State Archives, http://msa.maryland.gov/

Crab

I think the first thing I ever learned to associated with Maryland was crab, preferably in the form of crab cakes. And when we're talking MD crabs, we're specifically referring to the blue crab of the Chesapeake Bay. When I was at the National Zoo a few months ago (I come from San Diego and I still can't get over how the National Zoo is free for all to enjoy! No $44 entry fee necessary!) I got to see these beautiful swimmers in action. Their scientific name is callinectes sapidus, from the Greek "calli - beautiful" plus "nectes - swimmer" and Latin "sapidus - savory." Basically, the name says it all: beautiful swimmers that are tasty. I can say from experience that the way the little guys swim is beautiful, because their rear legs, which are shaped like paddles, flutter all around while they hold the rest of their legs fairly steady. And they are in fact quite blue before they are cooked.

For the past four months or so, for various reasons, I have been avoiding dairy products and most meat, but because I live in MD and because I'm part Asian and seafood and fish is a part of my life, I have not given up eating animals like crab. The thing I like most about crab is that the meat is so very sweet. It doesn't need any seasoning, although in MD people like to douse crab and indeed any seafood in Old Bay seasoning, which is also made in MD. Some people will dunk their crab meat in butter. That is superfluous. I'm just saying. Crab is good and you'll see more on the subject in this blog in the future. Because they are a big deal in MD.

Game

I went to my 2nd ever professional football game this past Sunday. Both games I have attended took place in Baltimore, MD's M&T Bank Stadium, but about four years apart. The football stadium is right next door to Baltimore's world famous baseball stadium, Orioles Park at Camden Yards. I’ve been to one Orioles game in Camden Yards, but my plan is to go to more games starting next season. The Orioles did really well last season.

As a curious football newbie that was lucky enough to get nice seats to those two games, I can say that football games are noisy and exciting. When I’m there in person, the time passes so much more quickly than when it’s on TV. So it’s a great time. However, it can get cold during the season. This time, I learned my lesson and wore a zillion layers and used a rain poncho and blanket to keep dry/warm. I also drank $8 hot cocoa served in a keepsake Ravens cup—so much better than drinking cheap American beer. And my seat neighbors and I were "treated" to a good old-fashioned drunken brawl. Actually, what happened was a tipsy, wizened middle-aged female Ravens fan taunted and tapped a drunk, wizened middle-aged male Steelers fan who did the gentlemanly thing and responded by punching her in the face. The police kicked them out of the game, but the woman returned after about 25 minutes.

I don't know much about sports and I'm not a big sports fan, but MD is a perfect sports state for me because I love their mascots, their colors, and their team histories. The mascots are BIRDS. The football team mascot is a raven, named "Poe" after Edgar Allen Poe, who lived in Baltimore for a time, where he secretly married his 13-year-old cousin, and eventually died of unknown causes in 1849. It is possible to visit Poe's grave in downtown Baltimore, which I have done. I have the picture to prove it.

The baseball team mascot is an oriole, of which the male of the species boasts a telltale bright orange breast. The male oriole also has a pretty song. The Ravens' team color is purple and the Orioles' team color is orange, two very fun colors that are fun for fans to wear. The colors remind me of Halloween. Also, orange and purple are two of the very few words in the English language that don't rhyme with any other words. No, "murple” doesn't count as a word.

Both the football and the baseball teams were called the Browns (from boring old brown to birds, orange, and purple – what a transformation!), but they came from two different cities during two different decades. The St. Louis Browns (Missouri) became the Baltimore Orioles in 1954. The Cleveland Browns eventually became the Baltimore Ravens in 1996. Focus groups and a fan voting contest decided on the Ravens’ team name. Of course, these team transitions involved a lot of intrigue and controversy, but that’s what makes their stories interesting.

And it’s another reason that the state of MD is such a rad state to live in.

Visit

I just had my first visitors over to the new house—my mom and her husband. We did a few projects and some yard work, and brainstormed on future, bigger projects, but we also made time for sightseeing and eating out in MD. We visited Brookside Botanical Gardens, which was beautiful. My favorite section featured a Japanese “tea house” with a giant Japanese red maple beside it, overlooking a tranquil pond. I love Japanese gardens in general. The Hillwood Estate and Museum in DC also has an excellent Japanese-style garden.

We discovered a great Peruvian restaurant in Rockville called La Limeña. I think it’s going to be a new favorite of ours. The service was really friendly, and they treated us as if they knew we would be back. I guess they know from experience. It seemed like most of their clientele consisted of repeat visitors. The fish ceviche was salty, limey, and delicious. For dessert, we had homemade helado de lúcuma, which is the first I had seen in this country. Lúcuma is from South America (Chile is the only country where I’ve ever tasted or heard of it), and the only way I describe it is it’s a fruit that tastes subtlety like caramel and chocolate. If I could, I would import the flavor to the U.S. and make it a new flavor sensation, like what dulce de leche was almost a decade ago. Lúcuma is a fruit that is too dry to be eaten fresh, though, so usually they turn it into a powder for flavoring cakes and ice cream. Capel also makes an amazing creamy liqueur with lúcuma and dulce de leche (or manjar, in Chilean), that is like Kahlua but way better. And Latin.

We also stopped at an Afghani restaurant called Maiwand Kebab. It was quite excellent. My husband said the grilled salmon dish he ordered was the best salmon he’d ever had. I had a yummy veggie platter that included eggplant, curried potatoes, pumpkin, spinach, chickpeas, naan, and rice. It was quite satisfying. My mom was happy ordering a big plate of eggplant with yogurt sauce and trying everyone else's dishes.

Maryland has yummy restaurants and pretty things to see. I want to experience more of it!

Blue

Maryland is a diverse, welcoming, and progressive state. Since we just had our elections in the U.S. two days ago, I have had the pleasure of witnessing this firsthand.

There are around 5.8 million Marylanders. This year, about 2.3 million of them voted. In this state, the electorate is allowed to vote early. 430,000 Marylanders chose to do so, representing almost 19% of the total voters according to my calculations. We were allowed to vote for five days during the week before the election. My husband and I didn't want to complicate our commute on Tuesday (election day), so last Friday evening we stood in a line that stretched around the block for 1.25 hours at a civic center to cast our early votes. While we stood outside in the chilly weather, civic-minded folk stopped by and offered to provide additional information about the measures on the ballot. Of course, they all hoped we would vote their way, but they weren't pushy or mean.

The poll workers included fresh-faced middle schoolers who reminded us to turn off our cellphones, kept the lines orderly, and passed out the "I voted, yo voté" stickers as we shuffled back outside after casting our votes. I had never seen such young people volunteering at the polls, and I found it irresistibly cute. I myself feel a little non-young, because this is the 4th presidential election in which I've voted. I'm lucky in that I turned 18 (legal voting age) right before a presidential election, which only comes every four years. On the other hand, this was my husband's first time voting in the U.S., because he became a citizen this year.

We both agreed that voting felt great. It's kind of like going to the doctor's office and getting a clean bill of health, but at the same time everyone around you is getting the same thing done, and you all get a mini thrill. And it feels that way regardless of how you vote. And instead of a lollipop, you get a sticker. On the sticker front, I must say I like the small, simple stickers that we got that say "I voted" in English and Spanish and feature an American flag on a white background. My friends that live in Virginia got stickers that were probably 3 times as large, with a blue background and an American flag, that said "I voted in...Arlington" or Shirlington, etc. I guess there's a wide variety of voting sticker designs in this country, and you can check some of them out for yourself.

As for the content of our ballot in Maryland this year, I'll have to write about that later. But like I said in the beginning, think "progressive."

Concept

The concept for this blog suddenly struck me when my husband and I found a house that we now call our own. We started our house hunt in earnest this past April. After enduring some drama, and having placed failed bids on 3 previous homes, we saw our house in July, decided to buy it, and moved in October. Our house was built in the 1930s, and it's a pretty, slightly quirky house.

When we decided to get the house, I suddenly felt like a citizen of Maryland. This, despite the fact that I had been a resident since 2008 when I got my MD drivers license with an official-looking blue crab on it. As a homeowner, I want to be involved in my community. I want to know the traditions, customs, people, and places that this state has to offer. I want to observe the state as an outsider looking in, and as a resident exposing the state to the rest of the world.

One observation: Virginia and Maryland are neighboring states. They are both named after the Virgin Mary. Virgin - Virginia. Mary - Maryland. But one of the first things I picked up on when I moved to the DC metro area is that there is a Virginia - Maryland rivalry. Virginians are skeptical of Maryland, as Marylanders are skeptical of Virginia. As soon as I moved to Maryland, even though I was really just a few steps from DC, I felt odd whenever I ended up in Virginia. When I lived in DC, I would venture out into Virginia without blinking an eye. I liked to eat Korean food there, for instance. However, as soon as I moved to Maryland I felt odd and out of sorts in Virginia. The spaces are too open. The strip malls and roads are different. The trees aren't as lush, and the landscape is browner than in MD, overall. It's kind of hard to pin down, but I'll try to explain more later.

Opening

Olha que coisa mais linda, mais cheia de graca. So goes the opening of one of the most beloved muzak songs in the world, "Garota de Ipanema," or "Girl from Ipanema" in English. My translation of the line is, "Look what a pretty thing, so full of grace."

Maryland is an oddly-shaped state located on the East Coast of the United States of America (please refer to the cheese board below to get the idea. Also, please buy me said cheese board). Technically, I have lived in Maryland since 2008, but I lived in a high-rise apartment building that was literally a 3 minute walk from Washington, DC, so I actually felt like I lived in DC. My husband and I recently moved to Maryland, like, actually IN Maryland, so I decided to learn more and write about the state I now call home.



I was born and raised in southern California, then I went to college in Connecticut, then I went back to San Diego for a year, then I moved to Washington, DC for work and grad school. In between there I had longish stints in Italy and Chile. I finally "settled down" in Maryland. It's a good and interesting state. Thought I'd write a blog about it. Like to hear it? Here it goes...