Perfection

Yesterday was one of those days that was so beautiful you don't want it to end.  A day when you feel like God was smiling, and things fell into place for a reason.  A day to celebrate and twirl on the sidewalk, not caring who saw.  

G and I made the mistake of not doing enough when in England.  You know how it goes, you get busy, or you tell yourself you'll do it another time.  You tell yourself it costs too much, but never save for the type of adventures you may only have the chance at a few times.  So when we found out we were moving to Maryland, we decided to make plans, to see things, to live here, not just exist.  

So we've been exploring.  We've been here a little over a month, and while most of our exploring has been learning the area, drinking lots of coffee, and hitting up a market, we have bigger plans.  Oh yes, we do.  Like heading to D.C. sometime soon to hit up the monuments and museums.  We also want to take the train to NY and see the city.  I've never been, for reasons that are too hard to explain right now without wasting time.  Oh yes, there is much we want to do.

But today we woke up late, really late.  G got up and showered and then came back to bed and snuggled down with me, quietly tapping away at the computer, making plans.  So when I awoke, we got ready and headed to The Baltimore Museum of Art.  We walked around that place for a couple hours, taking in paintings, hitting up the Edgar Allan Poe exhibit.  We took the time to read the descriptions, I pointed things out to Garret, made him look deeper at some sculptures.  

And for dinner we went to a restaurant another blogger, Mercedes over at Desert Candy, had gone to recently called Helmand.  It's an Afghan restaurant, and it was by far the best meal we've had since coming home to the US.  We took a couple hours and just relaxed, conversed, and laughed, something I will admit has been missing lately as we deal with all the things to do with a new job and buying a home.  We would have taken longer there, but they are definitely a well oiled machine!  Our cooked appetizers came out nearly as soon as we ordered, even though it was a packed house, so who knows how they managed this magical feat? (I'm assuming they have a bunch of house elves in there!)

The restaurant was packed, which surprised me with it being a Sunday night.  The lighting was perfect, warm, intimate, but not dark.  We tried foods we had never heard of, and fell in love.  As we drank down a bottle of Pinot Noir, we ate fried eggplant and ravioli stuffed with leeks.  G had a salad of kidney beans, chickpeas, tomato and red potato with cilantro sauce that was enough to send me to ecstasy, it was that good. (we plan on making it at home sometime soon)  

G's main was lamb and mushrooms in a tomato sauce with challow (basmati rice with cumin) and spinach on the side with a hint of cinnamon.  I had a salad with red pepper, tomato, cucumber, blacked corn, and tenderloin steak that melted in my mouth (which caused quite the debate since G's lamb was melt in your mouth delish too, and we couldn't decide which was better).  

For dessert I chose a vanilla and cardamom ice cream with figs, dates, and mango.  G chose a paneer (homemade cheese) dish that had pomegranate syrup and raisins, and the texture was so amazing I've already looked up a recipe!

Afterwards we sang our little hearts out in the car on the way home.  We felt alive, invigorated, recharged.  And the best part?  Today is Columbus Day and so I have G all to myself again.  It will be a slower day, but I hope no less perfect.