Food Porn.

Friday night, Ben and I tried a new restaurant: Blue Agave Restaurante y Tequileria in Federal Hill. (The link takes you to the menu, which is well worth browsing.) This is not your $5.99 combination platter, shredded iceberg lettuce, deep fryer heavy, refried beans straight from the can kind of Mexican restaurant.

I had duck. Excuse me, I had pechuga de pato a la parrilla con mole de Xico. Chargrilled duck breast, medium rare, in a pool of deep rich nutty mole sauce, served with what looked like mashed potatoes, but turned out to be mashed roasted corn. And nopales (cactus) cut in strips, marinated, and grilled. I'd never had cactus - it tastes like aloe vera smells, refreshing and astringent.

Ben had lamb colorado, a sort of a lamb stew that had been baked overnight in banana leaves and then served with chile sauce. It was good, but I think I made the better choice. I've never seen duck in a Mexican restaurant, but once I'd taken a bite it seemed as if nothing in the world suited duck better than mole sauce.

We shared an appetizer platter: homemade chorizo and loganiza sausages, a grilled quail in mole sauce, a goat quesadilla, cactus salad, tortillas, and two kinds of cheese: one sharp and crumbly, one soft and mild.

We'll have to go back, because I didn't get the chance to try the mahi mahi veracruzana, seared mahi mahi with a sauce made from tomatoes, poblanos, lime, Spanish olives, garlic and Mexican oregano. And we'll have to go back with someone who likes tequila, because they have eighty different varieties. Any takers?

Borrowing trouble.

Went to church this morning - it was Springfest, which meant lots of songs and stories and people dressed up and adorable children in a dragon costume. As soon as we sat down, curiousangel called my attention to the list of upcoming services in the bulletin:

April 21 Fidelity in an Age of Pleasure Rev. John Manwell
In this seventh in our occasional series on the Ten Commandments, we ask what the commandment against adultery can mean for us in an era when we more and more justify the pursuit of pleasure. What shall be our ethic of sexuality?

Well.

This is, after all, a Unitarian church - it's a liberal faith. It embraces diversity. Our church in particular has a very strong LGBT outreach program. The whole basis of Unitarian-Univeralism is for members to support each other in our own spiritual journeys, recognizing that the paths we each take will be different. But. As we learned in the UU church in Iowa City, when we said we wanted to be married by saoba, Wiccan priestess... there are hidden illiberalities.

We talked about it, tentatively, in the car on the way home. Neither one of us is much inclined to the Big Speech method of coming out; we'd always intended to eventually be out at church, but we wanted it to happen naturally as people knew us better. And yet I found that I really didn't like the idea of sitting in a pew listening to a sermon about monogamy being the sine qua non of fidelity. Misha is hopeful that the sermon will focus on the true meaning of fidelity - being true to the vows one has made - and won't equate fidelity and monogamy. I don't know. I wish I thought I could be sure.

At this point, we're thinking that we'll e-mail Rev. Manwell and ask him if he can find time to meet with us before next Sunday. But I'm uncomfortable about doing this now. It feels rushed, and it's also... well. If we're not welcome because we're poly, that's something we need to know. And yet it's something I'd hate to find out, because I feel so happy there.

Gosh.