Touring with Tara OR Beautiful Baltimore

What a month! May has had it's ups and downs, but since the ups were so awesome, that's where I'm going to start. We had our first house guest! My good friend, the gorgeous and super-fantastic Tara came for a visit! I can't tell you how nice it was to be able to hang out with a friend. Despite having been here almost 3 months now, I haven't really been out much. With Tara here, I had no excuse not to go out and see my city!

Before my adventures with Tara, I'll admit I didn't hold Baltimore in very high esteem. I'd heard that there were nice bits, but I assumed it was like this crappy old bench- once shiny, now worn, patched and beat-up . Well, there are definitely parts like that, but together, Tara and I found the charm in Charm City.

We started out in the Mount Vernon neighbourhood. Right off, the architecture blew us away. Above is an example of any old street in this area. What got me was the attention to detail, and the creativity that went in to making these buildings. Not only were they built to to last, they were also built to captivate.

Each building, if you took the time to look, had something special to offer. Some had elaborate leaded glass work, others had decorated pillars or the original (painstakingly restored) carved wood doors. This fellow caught my eye when I was looking for the source of a birds' call.

Another cool feature we noticed on our stroll were these boot scrapers- some plain, some shaped like griffins and other beasts. They were all over the place, and I can only assume that they are the original ones from before the roads were paved. Who knows how old they might be, as the city of Baltimore was founded in 1729.

Based on what I've seen so far, Baltimore is a city of churches and monuments. They're everywhere. Some are modest, others magnificent. I won't bore you with every picture we took that day, but here are a few of my favourites.

Above and below is the Mount Vernon Place United Methodist Church, built in 1843. It sits at the very edge of a large and extremely confusing traffic circle. Seriously, it has multiple traffic lights- some to let you into the circle, others to stop you while you're in it. I pledge here and now never to brave it by car, as I fear for my sanity (and for others' safety).

I amused myself imagining that these are the doors that let the sinners in. I tried the door, but it was locked (what does that say about me, I wonder). Actually, as far as we could tell, none of the churches were open to the public. Such a shame as the interiors must be breathtaking.

Here is Baltimore's Washington Monument. Smaller than the one in DC, but us Baltimoreans will have you know ours was the first. I'll also venture to say ours is better looking. So there, DC. To the left of the monument is a statue of La Fayette, whose army of Frenchmen came to the aid of the Americans during the American Revolution.

My favourite building of the day was the First and Franklin Street Presbyterian Church (on the corner of Park Ave & Madison St... weird, eh?) built in 1847. The style is tudor-gothic, and pictures don't do it justice. If you look closely just above and to the right of the rosary window, you'll see a tree that has taken root. Below are a couple more shots from different angles closer up.

Around the side of the church is an impressive display of prayer ribbons. Buddhists have something similar called prayer flags. They write a prayer, or draw a mandala on a piece of bright cloth and hang it up. The idea is that every time the wind catches the flag, the prayer is blown away to heaven.

These ribbons each represent a prayer. The blue ones are for peace and reconciliation. The green ones for for the Iraqi people who have died during the wars in Iraq. The gold ones are for the families of American soldiers lost in Iraq. The darker gold are for the families of American soldiers lost in Afghanistan. The red ones are for the Afghani people who have died during the war in Afghanistan.

Our first thought was that there should be more blue ribbons.

Now library lovers, prepare yourselves for one of the most amazing sights in Baltimore; The Peabody Institute Library.

George Peabody donated $300,000 to get things started, and the Peabody Institute opened to the public in 1878. When we were there, there were several groups of people studying, but despite this the hush was enormous.

To end my post, I'll leave you with a picture of the Mayfair; a derelict theatre next to the economy lot where we parked. For your reading pleasure, (and to satisfy our curiosity) we chatted up the lot attendant for some background information. Built in 1880, it was in nearly continuous use for 100 years. During it's life it was a gymnasium, skating rink, auditorium, theatre, and cinema. For the past 30 years it's stood empty, and over time the windows were broken and the roof caved in. The Mayfair is the last old theatre on a street that was once all theatres. Proof that, for better or worse, we can't hold on to all the treasures of our past.

Potting Plants and Playing Nice

One of my recent dalliances with domesticity has been to start up a little garden on our deck. I've done this before, but a combination of a north-facing apartment in a cool climate and my own inattention yielded post apocalyptic-like results. Remember Ursula the Sea-witch in Disney's 'The Little Mermaid'? How she turned all those poor mer-folk into shriveled up little weed-people? Well, that's typically what my gardens look like after a month or so. This time though... this time will be different. At least I hope it will, because those herbs ain't cheap.

Aside from the usual suspects (tarragon plus several varieties of thyme, mint, oregano, sage & basil) I'm trying my hand at tomatoes. (*cough, again*) This time I'm growing them from seed, and only growing cherry varieties, with which I've had better luck in the past. Today they finally sprouted!! Yes, I know I'm starting late, but things have been busy, kay?

One kind I have growing is Sungold, which are the scrumptious orange gems we had on Salt Spring Island last fall. Sean's pretty excited. Mr. 'I hate vegetables' actually said that these tomatoes were the best thing he'd ever eaten. EVAR!!! With any luck, we'll be up to our eyeballs in tomatoes this summer, so anyone want to come for a visit?

Speaking of visits... drum roll please... Just 9 more days until the arrival of our first house guest from home- Tara!! Stay tuned for details.

We have a pretty full weekend planned, which may or may not include a gathering at Sean's boss's house. This is where the 'playing nice' comes in.

While I relish the opportunity to converse with people other than myself and the cats (haven't been doing much of the people meeting just yet), especially since from the sound of things, there may be some pretty cool people to meet, we may have a problem.

Those of you that know me understand that if you ask me a straight question, I will give you a straight answer, often before considering the repercussions. In other words, when you ask "How do I look in this colour?" I will honestly reply; "Terrible. Blue is NOT your colour. Makes you look like a figure from a wax museum. And better stay away from the white too- you KNOW you'll just spill something down your front."

So yeah, not big on the tact. Or the white lies. I personally prefer the direct, sugar-free approach and I'm (slightly) aware this sometimes makes me come across as... well, a bitch. I'm supremely lucky to have friends and family who love me anyway.

I am capable of playing nice, so long as I concentrate and don't drink too much. That is the plan. However, I really dread those questions like;

"So, how do you like living in Maryland?"

The answer is too complex for polite company. Or for first impressions. I guess what I'm saying is I'll be spending my Friday night coming up with a list of questions people might ask me, and then rehearsing the corresponding good girl answers. Help me Grilled Cheesus.

I'm Afraid of Baltimore... I'm Afraid of Baltimore...

Today Sean had the day off, so we decided to make our first trip into the big city.

Things did not go as planned.

First off, on Friday Sean mentioned to a coworker our plans for exploring the city. The coworker made one of those half restrained 'ouch' faces when he heard we'd planned to walk around, and delicately suggested we keep an eye on our surroundings as neighbourhoods can be very different from one street to the next.

As we first entered the city, we drove by nice green parks, college campuses and tidy row houses. The very next street over, the row houses had ply board for windows, chain link over the doors and people outside actively stealing cars as we drove by at 11 am on a Monday. This is when I started singing my 'I'm afraid of Baltimore' song, and rocking in my seat.

The rest of the drive was more of the same; a couple of nice streets that you could see yourself living on, then a couple of streets that looked like Vancouver's downtown east side, if you threw some guns into the mix. Ok, I didn't see any guns, but then again, if I had, would I be blogging right now? I don't know.

Today we'd decided to explore the neighbourhoods of Hampden & Homewood on the North Western side of Baltimore. We'd mainly decided on this because we had dinner reservations nearby at arguably the best restaurant in the city, and figured we could find more than enough to do in the area for a day.

Everything was closed. Every museum, art gallery, cool specialty shop, historical landmark- hell, even Baltimore's Washington Monument is closed Mondays. As it happens, everything in the County is closed on Sundays, and everything in the City is closed Mondays.

What an spectacular mix of bad luck and poor planning.

We stopped at Hampden's iconic Cafe Hon to regroup and have some lunch. This is the cafe made famous by the 'Hon's' of the area's signature rockabilly hybrid look & attitude. Apparently, in the summer months it's not uncommon to see droves of tattooed ladies in 50's dresses with wicked beehives, often sporting props (in the cafe there was a pic of a lady who had a tin of Old Bay- Baltimore's favourite seasoning- in her hive.). The cafe's atmosphere was fun, but the food was horrible and overpriced- not a good combination. While picking at our lunches, we combed through our guidebook to find that pretty much anything we'd want to see elsewhere in Baltimore... was also closed on Mondays. The only things open were the aquarium and the zoo, and we weren't really in the mood. We thought about walking around the inner harbour- a very touristy area that would definitely have shops open, but we weren't feeling very confident in our ability to stay on the good streets, and decided to leave our wandering until we could learn more about the city.

So... we went to Ikea.

Anticlimactic isn't it? Well, we needed a couple things that we couldn't order online (namely a coffee table and a full-length mirror) and it was only a 20 minute drive (45 minutes from home). Say what you like about Ikea, but I love it. Sure, I'd rather buy my furniture at a boutique, or from a craftsman, but not only can we not really afford it, but we have no idea where we are going to be in 5 years. Ikea furniture is easy to customize, and if you can't take it with you, then you're $200 in the hole and not $2000.

After 3 hours of Ikea we were tired and hungry. We headed back to Hampden for dinner at Woodberry Kitchen.

Dinner erased all evils.

WK is an extremely popular restaurant here, featuring local & seasonal meat and produce. It takes more that 2 months to get a weekend reservation (if you don't mind eating at 8:15pm). If you want prime hours, I have no idea how far in advance you'd have to book. Fortunately for us, Mondays are not quite as bad, and I was able to get a res for an early dinner only 3 weeks in advance.

The location is really cool; a re-purposed factory or warehouse. The walls are the original brick, and the ceiling is super high- maybe 4 regular stories. The kitchen is open, and even on a Monday we could see the Chef/Owner Spike Gjerde hard at work by the brick wood burning oven. There was a very impressive 2-story...? what the hell would you call it? Well it's function was to hold cords of wood for the stove, but it was big and beautiful and imposing. The place was decorated with old tools, but not overdone or cheesy. Just enough to give you something cool to notice. Behind me were giant floor to ceiling leaded glass windows letting in lots of light.

The food was simple, but (almost) perfectly executed. We started with brick oven roasted asparagus with a chopped egg & tarragon dressing. I can't explain to you how amazing asparagus is when you roast it in a freaking million degree oven. I roast it all the time at home, and grill it too, but it doesn't nearly compare to the results they got at WK. The flavour was rich and nutty, and tips were so crispy they almost disintegrated on your tongue. My only complaint was there was a bit too much pepper for my liking, which overpowered the tarragon in the dressing. Still, a very nice dish. Our meal came with complimentary water service (this means they bring you your choice of flat or sparkling water, and refill your glass for you whenever needed- usually something you have to pay for.) and 3 kinds of house made bread- an italian with sesame seeds (my favourite- the seeds get so nice and toasty! Yum!), a spelt and a boston brown. The bread was just the thing to sop up a little of that chopped egg dressing- such a simple but delicious sauce, I'm definitely doing that at home soon.

For supper Sean had Mac & Cheese (after talking all afternoon about eating more pig, he went with the pasta because it had been a long day, and it's one of his best comfort foods) from the 'Meatless Monday' special menu, and I had Scallops with ramps, hen of the woods mushrooms, radishes, pork belly and tarragon mayonnaise. Sean loved his Mac & Cheese made with aged gouda and a golden crispy breadcrumb topping. But...

MY SCALLOPS WERE AMAZING.

They really were. I've never had them so perfectly caramelized, or expertly cooked. They were a 10. (I'd give them an 11, but that would be ridiculous.) The outside was so crisp, and the inside soft, supple and sweet. The ramps were silky and smothered in butter. The radishes and mushrooms were lightly cooked, and lightly seasoned so they could speak for themselves and balance out the more powerful flavours of the pork and the ramps. I loved the tarragon mayonnaise; the perfect compliment to all the dish's components.

Hungry?

I got a really good laugh when I gave a taste of my scallops to Sean, who typically does not like seafood. I've been wanting to make a scallop recipe at home, and I hoped that the best scallops I've ever had might convince Sean he's missing something. He chewed thoughtfully, and then likened them to 'Sea Gelatin'.  Not in an entirely bad way though, so maybe there is hope.

For dessert, Sean had a wonderful parfait of malt flavoured ice cream, peanut caramel, and homemade marshmallow cream- they even bruleed the top. I had a couple bites, and it was marvelous. I could have had dessert (the dinner portions were small), but to be honest, nothing appealed to me and I was in a bit of a snit. I was cranky because several of the desserts featured cranberries, which I didn't think was appropriate since they are way out of season. I don't know why it ticked me off so much (even I could tell I was having an unreasonable reaction), but Sean suggested it was because subconsciously the thought of cranberries made me homesick. I think I'll go with that. Don't worry, I behaved myself- no plate throwing or filibustering- just no dessert :(

The best part- only a 25 minute drive from home, and free valet parking. We used to drive all the way to Seattle for a meal of this calibre (and we won't even talk about the price of parking). I look forward to going again... maybe we can get another reservation... September perhaps?