whip it good.

Do you know you can make whipped cream?

And I'm not talking about pushing the white thing down on top of that can and wham! whipped cream on pie! I'm talking about honest to goodness homemade whipped cream.

OK, so maybe I didn't do it -- but I saw it, with my own eyes, happen this weekend.

This is what the lovely whipped cream making lady did:

Freeze a stainless steel bowl (just stick it in the freezer for at least 15 minutes or so). Then, using a mixer -- throw in a few tablespoons of sugar (yum). Pour in a good amount (about a half pint) of heavy whipping cream (good for the heart) and start mixing - on high. After a minute - throw in a capful or so of vanilla. Mix for a few more minutes - enough that it starts to have some form, but not so that it gets too thick.

Then, put a spoon in your mixture and eat. a. giant. spoonful.

Or, you could do what most people do and put it on your pie or your pudding, but I highly recommend the spoon thing. Yum. Even better than the can. Can you believe that?

We've had a nice weekend away from home, with lots of eating, a little hiking, a little shopping, more eating, a lot of sitting in front of the nice, cozy fire and then, a little more eating.

I remembered how much I love nature + the noise of walking on the leaves. I also remembered that as a general rule, I should stay away from scrabble. I feel like that game exists only to out my limited vocabulary under pressure.

Weekends away are so lovely.