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...