"You are the butter to my bread, and the breath to my life" - Julia Child

A quick note about butter: please use it with abandon.  

Salted butter is the only way.  And for heaven's sake, if you can't get your hands on butter, don't substitute with margarine, spreads or other horrid imitations.  No one wants a fake 'buttery taste' - they just want the butter.  The only exception is that in certain cakes (like my banana bread) a flavourless vegetable or sunflower oil is a decent alternative.  And if you love butter as much as I do - try making your own.  It's surprisingly easy and a great party trick.  

Pour a tub or two of double cream into a mixer.  Using the whisking attachment, whisk the cream at a medium speed until it's thick.  Continue whisking but keep a close eye on it and suddenly the magic will happen: buttermilk will start spurting out of the whipped cream and sloshing around the mixing bowl.  You may need to take cover with a tea-towel.  And there you have it - buttermilk and butter!  Separate the two and be sure to keep the buttermilk for using in other recipes.  Then squidge the butter together and rinse several times until the water runs clear (this stops any residue buttermilk souring the butter).  It's easiest to shape the butter into a ball in a bowl of cold water, and then pat it dry before salting (preferably with sea salt).  

I like to press my butter into tiny wide-lipped pots, smooth the top and garnish with yet more sea salt for an elegant accompaniment to home-made bread for a gathering but you can get even more fancy with stamps or flavourings - monogrammed herb butters anyone?  In the unlikely event you have any left over, the salt should preserve it in the fridge for a couple of weeks. 

Being such a greedy child, most of my memories are food-related and I distinctly remember being in kindergarten and having grown mustard and cress in old yoghurt pots filled with soggy wads of kitchen roll.  After waiting patiently for the cress to grow, we were finally able to harvest our straggly cress and our teacher showed us how to make butter for our cress sandwiches.  We were seated in a circle and a jam jar of cream was passed round and round for each of us to shake. My memory gets hazy at this point but I seem to remember after a long time we finally had butter.  I tried replicating this recently while away from my mixer but didn't have much luck.  It might just have been my lack of patience or 20 other willing hands!