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Category Archives: Washington D.C.

The World’s Biggest Library and Autumn Brussels Sprouts

26 Tuesday Nov 2019

Posted by slvrhawk2014 in Photography, Side Dishes, Travel, Washington D.C.

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DC, Family, Food, Travel

We recently took a trip to Maryland to visit our grandson…and his parents, too! Our son’s family lives about thirty miles east of Washington DC, so more often that not, we take one day of our stay to visit our nation’s capital. Our primary aim on this visit was the Library of Congress.

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The library was established on April 24, 1800, an integral part of the new nation’s move to its new capital city in Washington, DC.  At its opening, the library was housed within the Capitol building, and held a total of 740 books and three maps.

In 1814, during the War of 1812, the British burned the Capitol, and with it the Library of Congress, destroying most of its collected 3000 books. To refill the shelves, Congress appropriated the funds to purchase the library of Thomas Jefferson which contained 6,487 books, and represented a large number of  topics from many disciplines.

The library suffered another destructive fire in 1851, which destroyed all but 2,000 of the 35,000 books that had been collected following the first fire. Many of the books lost were from Jefferson’s original library.

The Library’s current building opened in 1897. Its architecture draws on the Beaux Arts style, known for its ornamentation and theatrical atmosphere. It was built to last, using marble, granite, iron, bronze and mahogany. It seems that Congress and the architects wanted to do whatever they could to avoid another disastrous fire.

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The dome of the new building is plated with 23 karat gold. The plated dome is inside the library’s Main Reading Room, open only to scheduled tours, members of Congress, and government officials.

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While we were not able to arrange a tour of the Main Reading Room, we were able to visit the library of Thomas Jefferson.

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Our grandson was so excited all day, and could hardly wait until he could see the library of his “favorite” President. As you can see by his picture, he was devastated to find that, for their own protection, all of the books in Jefferson’s library are kept behind glass.

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He perked up when he helped his dad find the books that were actually owned by Jefferson. Tabs within the books tell which are his original books, and which are replacements the library has found to replace the many that were lost in the fire. Those that have not been replaced are represented by empty white boxes bearing the name of the missing book.

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The Library of Congress is truly a national treasure, as can be seen by the pictures I could not stop taking. I have included but a few in this post…

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In 2018, the library reported holding 168,291,624 items, with its more than 90 million books held on a total of 540 miles of bookshelves, making it the largest library in the world. This number is always changing, and these are the latest figures I could find. The items in the library represent more than 450 languages.

Items in the library can be checked out only by Congress, government officials and employees of the library.

My favorite items in the library were the Gutenberg Bible, and the Waldseemüller map of 1507.

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This Bible is one of only four remaining original Bibles printed on vellum by Johann Gutenberg, and completed in 1455. The other three remaining copies are located in London, Paris, and in Gutenberg’s native country of Germany.

gutenberg bible

In 1507, Martin Waldseemüller created this map of the world. It is the first map to depict the New World as a completely separate land mass. Waldseemüller named this new land mass “America”.

After leaving the library we walked to a nearby restaurant and had that all-American dish, pizza! I love eating in Washington, and strolling its streets just as comfortably as I walk the streets in my own hometown. But the best part is to feel how open and free we are, and can be, in this big, wide, wonderful country. We have our problems right now, but as I watched my son read to our grandson on the lawn of the Capitol, then watched as Luke did somersaults in the shadow of its governing bodies, I felt renewed hope that we will find the resolve to come back together and feel the shared pride of being Americans.

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On the Top of the Kennedy Center

For our Birthday and Christmas presents, our son and daughter-in-law sent us to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to hear the Washington DC Symphony following dinner at the Roof Terrace Restaurant atop the Center. What a magnificent evening! The acoustics in the hall were amazing,  and it was a truly special night.

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Our son told us to bring some dressy clothes...I forgot how handsome Jim looks in a white shirt and tie!
Our son told us to bring some dressy clothes…I forgot how handsome Jim looks in a white shirt and tie!
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dennedy centere

The dish I had at the restaurant was salmon with Brussels sprouts in a brown butter sauce. It was amazing, so I tried to make a similar side dish at home. My recipe is slightly adapted from one I found on the Challenge Dairy site.

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Autumn Brussels Sprouts

  • Time: about 30 minutes
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A delicious, easy side dish for all those holiday meals coming your way

Ingredients

  • 4 Tbsp. butter
  • 1 pound Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved
  • 1/3 c. raw hazelnuts, chopped
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • freshly ground black pepper, to taste
  • 1/3 c. dried cranberries

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 450°
  2. Melt butter with the hazelnuts in a small pan over medium-high heat until the butter is browned and has a pleasant nutty smell, about 3-5 minutes. Watch this carefully, it can easily get too brown.
  3. Toss the Brussels sprouts, browned butter and hazelnuts, salt and pepper in a large bowl.
  4. Spread mixture on a foil lined baking sheet
  5. Roast in oven for 5 minutes.
  6. After 5 minutes, add the dried cranberries. Bake for 5 more minutes or until Brussels sprouts are tender. Don’t let them or the cranberries bake too long!
  7. Adjust the seasonings (I added more salt), sprinkle the top of the dish with about a tsp. of grated lemon rind and serve.

Enjoy!

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Cherry Blossoms, Arbor Day and Buttery Broiled Steak

24 Thursday Apr 2014

Posted by slvrhawk2014 in Beef Dishes, Food, Photography, Travel, Washington D.C.

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cherry blossoms, Food, photography, Travel, Wahington D.C.

The Cherry Blossoms and Their History

Seeing the cherry blossoms in Washington, D.C. has been on my list of things to do for a very long time. So this was the year, and figuring out the best time to go became a challenge because of our super long, super hard winter. We visited the Tidal Basin on April 11, and it turned out to be a perfect day, weather-wise and cherry-blossom-wise. The challenge for the day was to find a way to stay out of everybody else’s picture—and get a few good shots of my own. I have truly never seen so many people with so many cameras of every different kind imaginable, in one place, at one time. I found that the only way to get a picture without people in the shot was to aim the camera above their heads. So…

cherry blossoms with people, then...

cherry blossoms with people, then…

cherry blossoms without people!

cherry blossoms without people!

So, what’s the story behind the cherry blossoms? We have all been taught that the cherry trees were a gift from the nation of Japan to the United States. While this is true, it is only a small part of the story.

Long before the cherry trees appeared on the Tidal Basin, a woman named Eliza Skidmore was advocating their being planted along the Potomac River. When she returned from a trip to Japan in 1885, she approached officials of the United States government, asking them to purchase cherry trees from that country. She was unable to convince anyone in the government that it was a good idea, but the idea had indeed been planted!

In 1906, Dr. David Fairchild ordered two different varieties of cherry trees from Japan which he planted on his own property in Chevy Chase, Maryland. He found that the trees grew very well in the climate of the area, and he began to encourage the government to plant cherry trees along the avenues in Washington, D.C. On Arbor Day, 1908, Fairchild gave saplings of his cherry trees to each school in the District of Columbia to be planted on the school’s grounds.

This weeping cherry tree is one of the varieties planted by Dr. Fairchild on his private property.

This weeping cherry tree is one of the varieties planted by Dr. Fairchild on his private property.

When Eliza Skidmore learned of Fairchild’s plan for cherry trees, she sent a letter to the new first lady, Helen Taft. Mrs. Taft was very excited by the idea and made plans to purchase cherry trees to beautify the Tidal Basin area, which at the time was a huge swampland. At that same time, the country of Japan asked the United States if it would accept a gift of 2,000 additional trees as a gift from the city of Tokyo to be planted in the nation’s capital. The trees that were purchased turned out not to be cherry trees at all, while the trees sent from Japan were infested with insects on arrival and had to be destroyed. The city of Tokyo decided to replace the infested trees, and on February 14, 1912, Japanese authorities shipped 3,020 trees of twelve different varieties to Seattle, WA, where they were moved to freight cars and carried by rail to Washington, D.C.

A mistake was made when the trees were planted. The instructions for planting the trees were written in Japanese. Rather than find someone who could translate these instructions, the men planting the trees decided to plant them as they thought best. They should have been planted in groves instead of close together along the edge of the Tidal Basin. Planting the trees close together at the water’s edge caused them to be stunted in their growth. Ann McClellan, an expert on cherry trees, has said, “What that does is it creates this lovely cloudlike effect because the branches intersect but it means that they can’t grow to their full height…We’re all agog, so it’s fine, but that is one of the reasons they tend to be a little smaller here.”

In 1965, the Japanese government gave 3,800 more cherry trees to First Lady, Lady Bird Johnston. These trees were planted on the grounds of the Washington Monument.

In 1965, the Japanese government gave 3,800 more cherry trees to First Lady, Lady Bird Johnson. Those trees were planted on the grounds of the Washington Monument.

Today, the cherry blossom trees are cared for by the National Park Service. They bloom each year, any time between March 5 and April 18. The blossoms last for approximately fourteen days. They are beautiful and well worth a trip to our nation’s capital!

This is a view across the Tidal Basin to the city of Arlington, VA. The paddle boats are a fun way to view the cherry trees and can be rented for a reasonable fee.

This is a view across the Tidal Basin to the city of Arlington, VA. The paddle boats are a fun way to view the cherry trees and can be rented for a reasonable fee.

To learn more about the cherry trees in Washington, you can visit these online sites from which I got my information:

National Park Service–http://www.nps.gov/cherry/cherry-blossom-history.htm

Yahoo News–http://www.news.yahoo.com/blogs/power-players/complicated-roots-the-story-behind-washingtons-iconic-cherry-blossom-trees-214513117.html

To learn more about Arbor Day and how it can be celebrated, you can visit the Arbor Day Foundation at https://www.arborday.org

President Taft’s Broiled Buttery Steak

President William H. Taft was a big man and an equally big eater. He enjoyed good food and lots of it. During his years in the White House, he is said to have enjoyed an 8 oz. steak each morning for breakfast. In the book, The President’s Cookbook, by Cannon and Brooks (Funk & Wagnells: New York) 1968, the authors tell us of a typical lunch enjoyed by President Taft. It might include, “Bouillon, smelts with tartar sauce, lamb chops, Bermuda potatoes, green peas, and—for dessert—raspberry jelly with whipped cream, salted almonds, bonbons, and coffee”. And in her article of October 31, 1935, for the Washington Post entitled “Favorite Foods of Famous Folk”, Pattie Ellicott provides us with a recipe for Taft’s favorite food, broiled steak.

“Select a T-Bone, tenderloin, or sirloin. Wipe the meat dry, remove the outside skin and some of the fat if there is a large quantity of it. Then, with some of the removed fat, grease the broiler. Place the steak on the broiler over a clear fire or under the gas flame; sear quickly on both sides to prevent the juices escaping. Turn again and cook on both sides until done, 10-15 minutes for a medium thick steak if desired rare; allow a few minutes longer if steak is preferred well done. Remove to hot platter, sprinkle with salt and pepper and spread with soft butter.”

Buttery Broiled Steak

Buttery Broiled Steak

I would add that you should never pepper your steak before grilling or broiling. The black pepper may burn and become bitter.

We went to our Farmer’s Market shortly after returning from our trip and bought some beautiful radishes with their greens. The roasted radish side dish in the picture went great with our steak. You can find the recipe for the dish at http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/roasted-radishes-with-radish-greens.

You can learn more about the food various other Presidents ate, as well as the foods of many centuries by visiting http://foodtimeline.org

Enjoy a great steak and take an opportunity one spring to see the magnificent cherry trees in Washington D.C.!

 

 

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Working On My Bucket List

29 Saturday Mar 2014

Posted by slvrhawk2014 in Travel, Washington D.C.

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cherry blossoms, Wahington D.C.

to matts 227

I will not be writing my usual posts for the next few weeks. My husband and I are preparing to leave on a trip to check off an item on my bucket list. I have always wanted to see the cherry blossoms in Washington, DC. Though we have been to Washington several times, as teachers, we had never been able to make it in April. That is one of the things I love about retirement…anytime can be a good time!

While away, we will also be visiting our son and daughter-in-law…something to which we always look forward. I will continue to post while we are gone. While I will not be trying any new recipes, I will be eating in new restaurants and seeing new sites. I hope to post information on these things as we go. I also have chosen a vintage recipe that will go well with my trip to see the cherry blossoms. I will post pictures and the recipe when I return home.

Very excited about our new adventure!

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Reflections

24 Monday Mar 2014

Posted by slvrhawk2014 in Family, Photography, Washington D.C.

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photography, postaday

scan0081

Reflections can bring back beautiful memories…and they can bring to mind sad realities.

I took this picture of our grandson, oldest son, and youngest daughter during the second week of August in 2001. It is one of my favorite photos, even though it was taken with an old film camera and does not have the same sharp quality I can now achieve with my new digital camera.

I have always enjoyed watching my family as they walk ahead of me. They are not as aware of my being there, and I am able to watch the ones I love as they really are and as they really interact with one another when they do not realize someone is looking. My husband and my children laugh at me because of the number of pictures I have of their backs…but I cherish these special pictures, each and every one of them.

When this particular picture was taken, our son’s family was vacationing with us in Washington, D.C. As noted above, this picture was taken just one month before the tragic events of 9-11. The kids look so at ease, so comfortable, so normal. We walked and walked that whole day, from one end of the city to the other. The whole family had such a great time on that trip. Nowhere in the farthest reaches of our imaginations did we anticipate what would happen in but a few short weeks. It was a moment of innocence I will never forget and will always reflect upon as a very special time… a time in the life of our family, a time in the history of our nation I will always miss and wish we could recapture. Reflections.

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