Poetry Teatime: Homemade butter and cinnamon toast
Today was our first Poetry Teatime. I didn’t know how my children would like a “formal” teatime, but they loved it. They raced to help me set the table (something they don’t do for a normal mealtime). We used my grandmother’s battenburg lace tablecloth and her silver. We had fancy store-bought cookies and homemade butter (which we’d made for a history/science lesson this afternoon) for cinnamon toast.
For our poetry, I chose to read some of Lewis Carroll’s silly poetry. My son, 7, who is a beginning reader, asked me to read “The Sneetches.” My daughter, 10, picked out a poem from A Child’s Garden of Verses, but she didn’t want to read it aloud. As this was supposed to be a pleasant experience and not a lesson in “do it because I said so,” I told her she didn’t have to.
Both kids were excited to find out I want to do this every week. And maybe my daughter will become more comfortable with the idea of reading aloud.
Thank you for introducing our family to Poetry Teatime!
Andrea
P.S. Instructions for making homemade butter:
We let 1 cup of heavy whipping cream sit at room temperature for a little while, then we put it in a glass jar with a tight fitting lid. The kids took turns shaking it for about 10 minutes (making sure they had a good grip on the jar!). We noticed it got really thick and we couldn’t hear it sloshing anymore. Then we started to see butter granules on the sides of the jar and, all of a sudden, there it was! A lump of butter floating in the buttermilk! We poured it into a (non-metal) bowl, then poured off the buttermilk. We worked the butter with a wooden spoon (metal makes the butter taste funny) under cold water, until the water ran clear (it takes a little while). Any milk left will turn the butter rancid. We worked some salt in to help preserve it. By the way, shaking the cream breaks the protein casing on the fat, allowing it to form a lump, i.e. butter!
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Andrea, What a neat surprise to see you published here! I had never heard of Poetry Teatime and you made it sound very doable and fun. Not only are you getting great quality time with the kiddos (cookings, reading, etc.), but the kids are learning skills (maybe without even knowing it) – that’s a cool extra bonus! Your explanation of how to make butter was very detailed, a must for newbies. Thanks for sharing and may the fun continue!