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!