Butter-Making, Mystery Trees, DC, and a Dog Named Steve

See, I told ya I was gonna make butter. There it is, all fluffy and delicious. I highly recommend this activity, especially if you have kids. All you have to do is get some heavy cream, let it get to room temperature, put it in some kind of sealed container (mason jar), and shake the aiche out of it until it turns to butter (it only take about 10 minutes if the cream isn't too cold). Pour off the liquid (which you can keep and use to make buttermilk biscuits or pancakes), and spread it onto whatever you have handy: bread, crackers, your fingers...

I actually did use the buttermilk to make biscuits, but they weren't really that great. Just a vehicle for the butter, really. I whipped some honey into the butter, which was good. Next time I will probably put in some honey and cinnamon and make pop-overs to put it on. Mmmmm...

(Hint: Just make a little bit and use it up quickly. If you plan to make a lot and keep it, you have to get all the water out or it will turn rancid. Loads of info on butter-making on the internet if you Google).



One of the nice things about moving to a new house in the winter is that your yard in the spring is a total surprise. This tree is growing in my front yard. I have no idea what it is. It has just been sitting there since we moved in, completely bare, and then suddenly THIS happened. It's so pretty. I feel kinda dumb not knowing what it is. I have been seeing these trees everywhere, so it must be pretty common. So let me know if you know what it is. There might even be a prize.

Yesterday, we loaded up the car and went into DC to hang out with Jeff. It was a beautiful day - sunny and in the 60s. Just perfect. We went to the Smithsonian Museum of American History, which has a lot of cool stuff including the Puffy Shirt:

We also got to see Abe Lincoln's hat and the Star Spangled Banner flag, which is HUGE and very cool. Daphne didn't last very long in the museum, so we took her to the carousel on the mall and let her run around a little. Then we went to Eastern Market, which is a weekend flea market in a really cool neighborhood near the Capitol. We got some good food at Mr. Henry's, walked around a little, and then headed back because we were WAY past naptime and some of the group was cranky. On the way to the metro, we met a really good Mastiff puppy named Steve. You should have seen the size of Steve's feet. His owner really knows how to name dogs!

In all, it was a good day out. I really love Washington DC. We will never ever run out of stuff to do. And it's so pretty in the spring. Thanks to Jeff for taking us all around. Hope y'all had a good weekend.