Thanks for the positive feedback shell_knight. I noticed there are a lot of rules to opening principals. I was recently watching a video by gm Susan Polgar that explained about the exceptions to the opening rules. She basically shows a player trying for an early mate and failing because of bad opening moves. She gives an example where black moves a piece for a second time in the opening winning material.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HujWLARJyNY
As far as holding the tension. I really like the idea of having a strong pawn center and wasn't going to take unless it was necessary or it gave me an immediate advantage. One of the things I have noticed about a strong pawn center, is its not only useful for deploying pieces to there best squares but its something really useful to have in an end game. Typically, I want my king to be in the center in an endgame and if I also have pawns in the center.. it goes hand in hand. Plus there is an extra adding effect of it being enjoyable promoting my pawns right up the gut.
Again thanks a lot for your feedback :)
Oh, yes, as far as development, it's often a mistake to take, as the recapturing piece gets to move while the piece you moved disappears from the board!
But it was recapturing with a pawn, so not sure the rule applies here. And as with all rules of thumb, there are exceptions and you have to be concrete if you can. The way I saw it, trade b for e pawn can't be bad.
On that note, I was surprised and impressed you left the tension between the d and e pawns. If he takes, you get a lot of center, and if you take you lose your pressure on the e pawn and the ability to jump into the d file which could be important depending on the type of weakness he allows while defending (even if it's just a relative lack of development). At least that's how I see it.
They joke that the longest a non-master has ever left the tension is 3 moves haha, so again, good job :)