1. Statue of Freedom: on a recent lovely day I took a stroll on over to the U.S. Capitol Building Visitor Center and wandered around inside for a bit. I was very impressed by this full-size plaster model of the bronze statue that sits atop the Capitol dome. Just compare the size of the people in the photo to the size of the model. She’s quite grand, isn’t she? What a beauty.
2. Supreme Court: after the Capitol Building, I headed across the street to our country’s highest court. There were no arguments being held that day so the building was fairly quiet, though I did wait to get in behind a large group of high schoolers wearing Racists in the Making Make America Great Again hats (UGH UGH UGH UGH NOOOOOO). There’s a nice exhibit hall on the bottom floor, and you can go up to the main floor and peek inside the courtroom (they also hold lectures in there on non-argument days). The ceiling in the mail hallway is so gorgeous.
3. Julia Child’s Kitchen: I also recently paid a visit to the National Museum of American History, which has a ton of stuff to see! I’ll definitely need to return to in order to see more of its exhibits. One of the coolest things I saw during my first visit there was Julia Child’s kitchen. Seriously—she donated her full-on kitchen/studio to the Smithsonian in 2001. I don’t know how they managed to do it, but they transported the entire kitchen from her home in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The kitchen is part of the FOOD: Transforming the American Table exhibit on the bottom floor. I also highly recommend The First Ladies exhibit, which consists of inaugural gowns and lots of other memorabilia from First Ladies over the years.
4. This Fish Wallpaper: my husband and I had dinner at All-Purpose Pizzeria this week (which was good, but not quite as amazing as we’d been led to believe). Before we left I used the restroom and was so tickled by the wallpaper in there that I had to share it! I failed to snap a pic of my pizza because I was too excited to eat it, but I had the Sedgewick and it was tasty.
5. The Beyond Burger: I read about these vegan burgers on some food blogs awhile back, so when I spotted them at my local Whole Foods I had to buy them ($5.99 for a package of two). We had them for dinner last night and they were so good! When I opened the package, the aroma that wafted out made me worry they would taste too much like meat; I have never liked meat and don’t believe I’ve eaten more than a bite or two of an actual beef burger in my entire life. They were meaty-tasting enough for my husband but they weren’t too beefy—taste or texture-wise—for me. It’s pretty crazy how closely these resemble real beef from a visual standpoint! These burgers are high in protein but they’re also high in fat and sodium, and they contain pretty highly processed ingredients. However, they’ll make for a solid, easy dinner from time to time.
