Baltimore, Moron Eels, Sharks, Spaghetti and the Seahorses' Wedding

In all the Internet, in all the blogosphere, I wonder if that exact title has ever been used before? Especially the Seahorses' Wedding part. And the Moron Eels. Read on.

The Aquarium

Anyway, this weekend proved to be a really great one. Last weekend I was out with gout; this weekend we hit two homeruns. Both days were gorgeous: 80s, low humidity, Mediterranean/California sort of day. Yesterday, as noted earlier, we went out to Great Falls Park. Today we headed to Baltimore to visit the National Aquarium there. It's truly one of the great aquariums, and Sarah is very interested in marine life of all kinds. She did an extra credit report on green sea turtles last year.

We finally joined as members. If a family of three goes and wants to do the dolphin show as well as the main aquarium the whole thing can run close to sixty dollars, whereas a family pass for a full year is only $124 and you don't have to wait for timed-entry tickets, so if you go only twice a year -- and we're in Baltimore more often than that, it's only 45 miles away -- you might as well be members. We're also members of the Science Museum in Baltimore, and (in the marine life line), the Calvert Marine Museum in Solomons, Maryland, and the Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center in Virginia Beach. In different ways the Baltimore and the Virginia Beach aquariums are both tremendous. Tam and I are both midwesterners -- she a Nebraska Cornhusker and me an Ozark ridgerunner, so neither one of us exactly grew up around oceans. We're glad we have these resources so close. (Washington does not, really, have an aquarium as such, except for some fish in the basement of the Commerce Department (really). So it's pretty much Baltimore and Viriginia Beach and Solomons.)

Sarah loved it. She loves sea turtles, as I noted, and sharks always give her a certain thrill though after a while she starts to get a little scared. When she was a toddler we first took her to the Baltimore Aquarium, paid (then, when she was younger and rates were cheaper) something like $45 and then halfway up the second level (of five or six) she announced she was finished and wanted to go home. No more: we can't pry her away.

We saw quite a lot, though we skipped the dolphin show. She's seen it before but says she doesn't remember, though I think she would if she went. Then we wandered about the Inner Harbor for a bit, had ice cream (well, she did), and at 5 pm (after insisting all day she didn't want to go on any of the historic ships, take a water taxi, or even ride a paddleboat: "No way," was the comment) she announces maybe she'd like to go on a boat after all. Okay, next time. Or we'll be in Norfolk for vacation. (Earlier she had been hesitant to say why she didn't want to go on a boat. I assured her they were perfectly safe. "That's what they thought about the TItanic," she responded. Well, true, but I would be absolutely dumbfounded to see an iceberg in Baltimore's Inner Harbor in July, I commented. "How was I supposed to know it hit an iceberg? I'm only seven."

The other great line of the day came even before we left. There's a new Australian exhibit at the Aquarium, which is quite interesting (have you ever seen a blue crayfish? The Aussies call them yabbies. They look like something you'd see after too many Fosters at the local.) Anyway, one of the TV ads for this features a Moray Eel. This morning Sarah says, "And did you know they have a Moron Eel?"

One of the breakthroughs in the past year is that museums, aquariums, and such are not just places to buy new stuffed animals (though we still do that: see below), but places she actually looks at everything (tries to read what she can), watches videos, etc. She is really becoming engaged with learning. Okay by me.

Spaghetti in Little Italy

But today we also had a breakthrough in a new direction. When Sarah was a toddler, and small enough to just tell what to do, we ate out where Mom and Dad wanted. Now she usually wants to eat at home. On the road, McDonald's. Or Hard Times Cafe, also a comfort food place for Mom and Dad. Or if McDonalds is out, she has become adventurous enough to try KFC or Burger King, though the latter alienated her by giving her the wrong order. We really have to bargain to get to go to someplace nice, and she insists she doesn't like Mexican (which she won't try). The Hunan Pepper Genes just haven't kicked in yet, despite her being from Hunan.

She does like Italian as long as it's 1) spaghetti, 2) pizza, 3) ravioli, 4) various other pastas so long as the sauce is marinara or you just pile a lot of parmesan on top. But last night (Saturday after Great Falls) we managed to get her to a Bertucci's pizza, and were talking about planning to go to Baltimore today and noted that real Italian cooking is the sort you get in Baltimore's Little Italy. Little Italy is just a few blocks east of the Inner Harbor and we decided to have an early dinner in Baltimore before driving back to DC. She was fascinated by the idea of Little Italy and once we parked and set out we passed a nice new restaurant, then went on up to the older strip of restaruants Tam and I were more familiar with: the old family places, the sorts where you figure Frank Sinatra might drop in or there might just possibly be a hit one evening (Michael Corleone going into the bathroom for the gun, you know the type of restaurant we mean). But Sarah wanted to try the newer place we had passed. Okay: you aren't going to survive in Little Italy in Baltimore if you don't do good Italian.

It was a new-looking place called Petalo's. [UPDATE: SEE NOTE AT BOTTOM. I hope it's not gone.] It had a lovely terrace but Sarah insisted on eating inside, despite it being a perfect day. (Have I mentioned yesterday and today were both in the 80s and low humidity? Those of you who know Washington know that's not normal in July. This would have been a great day in California. Or Greece.) But the boss had spoken and so we ate inside.

It was an interesting menu: not only high-end Italian, but also kabobs and other Middle Eastern (they called it "Mediterranean," but trust me, I know Arab: they even had foul mudammas) stuff. (Perhaps "Arab" is too politically sensitive. Anyway we had the Italian so I can't judge the Arab.) Sarah got as far as Kid's Spaghetti and Meatballs and looked no further. Tam and I -- who don't get to good restaurants as often as we'd like but know all the varieties of Happy Meal -- decided to splurge on the house special: $25 bucks a shot, but a veal scallopini in a very rich cream sauce (up the dose of lipitor) topped with pepper rings stuffed with crab meat. Whoa. It's the "Petalo's Veal" on page four of the online .pdf menu, [UPDATE: This link has failed twice and I don't know why. If you get a generic ad page, go back to the Petalo's link above and find the menu there.] and I heartily recommend it, provided you other high-cholesterol folks eat nothing but lettuce and carrots for a week afterwards. (In case my doctor is reading this.)

Sarah announced that the spaghetti and (one very large) meatball was the best spaghetti she had ever had. Then she got apologetic and said that she hoped Mom wasn't offended. I noted that, whereas Mom makes sauce by opening a jar from Safeway (though she does usually throw in some extra basil and oregano), I was pretty sure this place made its own sauce. Impressed (doesn't everyone get it from Safeway?), Sarah actually asked the waitress, who assured her the chef made the sauce and she would pass on the compliment. At one point Sarah announced this was the best weekend ever. Photos of Sarah with the spaghetti appear on our Flickr site for those with access.

The Seahorses' Wedding

Well, I guess I have to get to the seahorses' wedding and it's midnight and tomorrow's a work day so I'd better do it now. Sarah has one of the largest collections of stuffed animals imaginable. Dragons are her favorite (she was born in the year of the dragon), and unicorns are big, and she has a fair number of pandas (people can't resist giving them to her), the usual teddy bears, etc. Sea animals are also big: one huge turtle, several smaller turtles, even some stuffed jellyfish (yes), and a fair number of seahorses. Today she wanted another sea horse. I said I'd get her one animal and after weighing the seahorse against a dolphin, she chose the seahorse. Driving home to DC she decided that she would marry the new seahorse to one of the older seahorses, and as we made our way back over an hour or so's drive she cranked up the libretto for this wedding. Once home she dressed the bride-seahorse in a bridal outfit not designed for a seahorse, got out necklaces (no rings: Seahorses don't have fingers) and so on. A video of the bridal gown and a full video of the ceremony are at our private YouTube site if you have access. It is possibly the only video on YouTube with the tags "seahorse wedding," but I haven't confirmed this. When I posted "Rats Playing Basketball" I not only discovered how many Rats Playing Basketball videos there are on YouTube, but how many rat fanciers then start asking to exchange videos. I don't respond.

The ceremony is elaborate and well-staged, but the officiant (Sarah) tends to dissolve into hysterical giggling while trying to lead the seahorses in their wedding vows. Wouldn't you?

The happy couple eventually went on a honeymoon in a carriage (which is either a Barbie carriage or a Cinderella carriage, but I'm not sure which: Barbie and Disney Princesses seem to be slowly merging together). But I didn't get video of that.

UPDATE: As of mid-September, 2007, the Petalo's links aren't working at all. I hope it didn't go out of business, and will try further updates later.