Day and Night

Today we visited the Washington Monument, Union Station, the National Postal Museum, and the Lincoln Monument.







John is on his own tomorrow as I begin the reason we are both here; corporate training.

Smithsonianpalooza

John and I spent another day in and around Washington D.C. We first went to the Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture where hang all those famous paintings of our past presidents. I saw an eerily realistic carved marble bust of Andrew Jackson. I felt like he was going to come to life and speak at any moment. We then attempted to visit the International Spy Museum. The line was so long we shopped the store instead. After lunch we ventured over to the white house.

Isn't he cute?



The Natural History Museum was our next stop. The Hope Diamond was our first stop. Then we ventured further into the gems and minerals exhibit. There we saw every mineral, metal and ore imagineable. We even saw rocks from the moon. There was also a Nature's Best Photography exhibit that we purused at quite a fast pace. We were hungry.

Dinner and adventure back to our room was the end to our day.

Good night.

Happy Dancing

This morning before venturing out into the world I browsed YouTube with the intention of looking into something I heard about on the radio. The Evolution of Dance is cool. Watch it.

Also, check out the website listed at the end of the video.

Day One in Our Nation's Capital

Monday I begin corporate training to learn the nuances of L-3's financial database/system/software at the Chantilly, VA headquarters office. Before I started working full time I was able to travel with John on business trips. He jumped on the chance to accompany me when I told him my assignment. Because we had no other plans for the Thanksgiving holiday we decided to travel early and spend a few days in the area. We arrived last night and had dinner at 2941 Restaurant. It was a full buffet offering all the usual trimmings.

With the big day out of the way, John and I ventured into the city and visited The Mall. Below are two pictures from the day, which weatherwise couldn't have been better. Look at that very blue sky! You'd think we were stillin California.





After browsing through part of the park, the National Gallery, the Hirshorn Museum and a Smithsonian we headed for Adams Morgan for dinner. Adams Morgan is a neighborhood known for it's murals and is also the home of the Swedish Embassy. After walking up and down the streets sightseeing we decided on a restaurant called The Diner. It's a bar and diner in one. Serving breakfast all day. We shared something called The Holiday Stuffer. It also was a traditional Thanksgiving meal with all the trimmings. It was like having leftovers without having leftovers. Below is a picture of a bridge in the Adams Morgan area.



Tomorrow ~ Another Day in Washington D.C.

I'll keep You posted. :)

Bunco Night

I joined a different Bunco group recently. In September we had a "pilot" game to see if we would want to committ to playing the entire year; we did and I was the first to hostess the new group at her house.




I hosted the group at my house last Friday night. There were twelve girls over. I made two quiches, one ham and swiss, the other broccoli and cheddar. I also made a veggie tray, hot Italian sausage with peppers served with toasted sourdough, zucchini bread, dark chocolate brownies, pecan bars, sparkling cranberry and apple juices and coffee. Everyone had a great time. Even though I hosted I won the "big" prize for getting the most Buncos; four ceramic appetizer dishes in the shapes of different fall leaves. I picked it out to give as a prize so the winner could use it for Thanksgiving. I'm not even going to be here to serve anything for Thanksgiving. The girl who organized this Bunco group encouraged me to take it even though I bought it so no one else the rest of the year would feel funny about taking their own prize if they win. Maybe next year I'll be able to use them or later this season, but I really don't think I'm going to be hostessing much anymore this year. Posted are pictures of the three tables and the buffett table at the end of the night.

Shake Shake Shake

I've been craving kettle corn. Alton Brown says don't buy anything you can make at home so . . . I searched for a kettle corn recipe and found Sugared Popcorn on page 115 of my very old Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book.



This is it:

Sugared Popcorn

1/3 cup unpopped popcorn
3 tablespoons cooking oil
1/3 cup sugar

Combine popcorn and 1/4 cup water; set aside. In a 3-quart saucepan heat oil. Add 2 or 3 kernels unpopped popcorn; cover and cook over medium-high heat till kernels pop. Carefully add sugar and popcorn-water mixture; cover. Pop corn over medium-high heat, shaking pan constantly. Remove pan from heat to prevent sugar from burning. Makes about 6 cups.



I used peanut oil because that's what I have that isn't olive oil or almond oil or flax seed oil or sesame oil. Of course I followed the instructions diligently. I turned the pot's lid away from me and used it as a shield while I added the popcorn-water mixture so I wouldn't get splattered. The water seems to make the popped corn a little more delicately crispy than usual oil popped corn. Next time I'll add a little salt while cooking to get sweet and salty tastes together. I added some after it popped, but think it would be better as an incorporation. The process made a little mess of splatted oil on the stove top, but not a major clean up; just a couple of swipes with a hot, wet, soapy sponge. Some of the popped kernels turned brown from over cooked sugar; throw those away. I thought they would be good and taste like burnt sugar, but they don't. Overall, sugared popcorn made at home is pretty tasty.

Hey! Kat's eating popcorn!




. . . and cats like it.

Coming Home

Brent recently came home with a picture of himslef and his friend Ellen. They went to this year's Homecoming Dance together.



He's gotten a hair cut since then.

It Works . . .

I added a Wishlist link.