Welcome!
What a Saturday! I had a great day being a tourist. Sometimes you have to be a tourist in your own town, you know? But before I tell you about my tourist activities, I made an epic breakfast that I need to tell you about.
Come to mama…
I have always wanted to try a dutch baby. A dutch baby, or German pancake, is essentially a sweet popover to eat at breakfast. I found a recipe and went to town. It was so easy and turned out delicious! Basically you preheat the oven to 475 degrees. I used a 9 inch pie pan for this and put it in the oven while it was preheating. Once the oven is preheated, I dropped 2 tablespoons of butter in the pan and decreased the heat to 425 degrees. While the butter melted, I mixed 2 room temperature eggs, 1/2 c whole milk (warmed in the microwave for 20 seconds), and 1/2 cup flour. I whisked the eggs until pale before adding the milk and flour. I also added a pinch of salt and about a teaspoon of vanilla. Once the batter is mixed and the butter is melted, pour the batter into the pan. Don’t mix the batter with the butter. Bake for 12 minutes.
Deliciousness.
The dutch baby puffs up beautifully in the oven and deflates relatively quickly once you take it out of the oven. I slid mine out and sliced it into wedges. I guess these are traditionally eaten with fresh lemon juice and powdered sugar, but I doused mine in maple syrup. So good and a nice change to a weekend breakfast.
He behaved well enough to not be fed to a shark…
I met my sister, brother-in-law, and nephew at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History later in the morning. Can you believe I have lived here for over 1 1/2 years and this is my first trip to a museum in DC? Pathetic, right? It was kind of fun playing tourist today and it was especially fun wandering the museum with a 2 1/2 year old. He is a trip.
There is so much to learn!
Brady, my nephew, LOVED the museum. If it is an animal or construction equipment, he can name it, so the museum was right up his alley. The first exhibit we went to was the Mammals. Let’s just say someone was naming EVERY animal we saw. My favorite was when he told me the noise an elephant makes is “boom, boom” and when he pointed at a picture and told me it was a meerkat. Oh, and when I told him “Look buddy, it’s a monkey,” he proceeded to correct me and tell me it was an orangutan. Yeah.
I wear this under my cammies.
I really enjoyed seeing the Hope Diamond. Holy macaroni that is a big rock. But is was dusty. Which I found strange. Can’t they afford to clean the Hope Diamond?
Everyone has to eat.
One of the coolest parts of the museum is the butterfly exhibit. You have to pay to see it, but it was worth it. There were butterflies everywhere and it was fun seeing them. The one above was eating, which I had never seen before. My brother-in-law was especially attractive to the butterflies and had one sitting on him about half the time we were in there.
Go!
Brady enjoyed the butterflies as well. He spent a great amount of time talking to this butterfly. He told it “Go!” and “Flap your wings!” over and over again. The butterfly just chilled out on the ledge and didn’t take any of Brady’s directions, but it was adorable to see. I wish I would have taken video of it. He was so serious!
Thanks guys!
I’m glad I was able to spend a few hours with my sister and her family. I love that we live so close to each other now and I can get a little Brady lovin’ on a Saturday afternoon. A couple Brady kisses can make a persons day.
Sweets By Sarah 