Rather than give you a French inspired recipe using summer's most refreshing fruit, pastèque, I give you one of the most colourful house in Washington, DC and one of my favourite piece of street art in the city: the Watermelon house!! The row house is located at 1112 Q Street near Logan Circle. Its exposed side has been painted in pink and green to resemble a has a watermelon slice, complete with seeds. Story has it all started with a bad paint job and since everything I know about Logan Circle's famed Watermelon House I know from this Washington Post article, you can read all about it there too. Oh, and if you really want some recipes, I do have two super refreshing ones for you right ...
Holidays
Bon Quatorze Juillet / Have a Tasty Bastille Day
I just got back from a week of holiday back home. Other than that tiny little event when France lost the UEFA championship to Portugal, everything was absolutely wonderful. If anything, I feel like I got an early taste of the Quatorze Juillet since there were flags absolutely everywhere and I sang the Marseillaise like 50 times (it's kind of the de-facto soccer chant for supporters of the French national team.) Seriously, my instagram feed (<-- follow me!) turned completely bleu blanc rouge over the last 2 weeks ;-) At least I get to pretend I'm back in Paris a little longer because tomorrow is our national holiday (you say Bastille Day, and that's ok, I say Quatorze Juillet... ...
April’s Fool: A fishy Fête in France…
The origins of April Fools are widely debated but the most commonly accepted explanation credits France for starting the holiday. That's right. It all always come back to the French somehow ;-) According to this theory, April's Fool goes back to 1564 when King Charles XIV changed the calendar around, moving the start of the year from late March to early January. Not everyone was quick to catch onto the change and some people kept celebrating New Year during the week that fell between March 25th and April 1st. And these people had jokes played on them. Pranksters would surreptitiously stick paper fish to their backs and so victims of the pranks were called Poisson d’Avril, or April ...
Tips for Enjoying Cherry Blossom Season In DC
Spring is coming! Every year the highlight of the season in Washington is, of course, the annual blooming of the district's 3,000 Yoshino cherry trees. The whole town gets cherry fever and hundreds of thousands of tourists (and locals too) descend on the Tidal Basin and the National Mall to admire the delicate white and pink flowers. This year, peak bloom will hit between March 18-23, 2 weeks earlier than originally anticipated due to the recent warm temperatures. This means most of the National Cherry Blossom Festival, which runs from March 20 to April 17, will probably happen sans-blossom. Regardless, here are a few tips for navigating this huge Washington, DC event. SET YOUR ...
Season’s Greenings at the US Botanic Garden
Every holiday season in Washington, I look forward to escaping the winter cold by taking a quick tropical break at the United States Botanic Garden. The dry heat in the desert environment and the warm humidity in the lush tropical rainforest immediately transport you hundreds of miles away. The colourful orchids also have a way of brightening up any grey day! Of course, this year, there's not much winter chills to be escaped, but I still looked forward to visiting the indoor garden for another reason: the annual display of National Mall landmarks made out of dried plant materials in the Garden Court. I'm always amazed at how detailed the ...
The White House in Gingerbread
One of my favourite "political" memoir, Sucré d'Etat*, wasn't written by a politician at all, but by a pastry chef. And not just any pastry chef: the longest serving executive pastry chef to ever work in the White House kitchen. And a Frenchie of course ;-) Chef Roland Mesnier made delicious desserts for 5 different presidents starting with Jimmy Carter in 1979 and wrapping up with George W. Bush in 2004. White House pastry chefs are responsible for the planning, managing and preparing of all desserts and pastries served at the White House, including for State Dinners and for the private entertaining by the First Family. Among the many confections that the White House pastry chef ...
Experience the sparkle of the season at Georgetown GLOW
Two years ago my friend Sylvain Cornevaux, then Cultural Director for l'Alliance Française, partnered with the Georgetown Business Improvement District and other groups to bring a week-long public art and light display festival to DC's oldest neighbour. Inspired by Lyon's renowned Fête des Lumières, the festival, now in its third year, has now evolved into Georgetown Glow, independently organized by the BID in parallel to their annual holiday window display competition. The 10-night light art exhibition puts a modern, artistic twist on traditional holiday displays and takes place nightly along the C&O Canal between December 11 and 20th (from 6-10PM). The event still has a bit of a ...
Holiday Spirit on Ice at City Center DC
I'm pretty sure the folks over at City Center DC didn't anticipate that it would be 70 degrees outside when they planned a live ice sculpting event for December 12th. Despite the unseasonably warm temperature, the event was a ton of fun! While two sculptors worked on an ice dress and a Christmas tree at the Park at CityCenterDC, additional sculptures were slowly melting away in Palmer Alley! My favourite was the Birkin bag, of course ;-) Check out some of my pictures below. And while I'm pretty sure none of the sculpture survived the evening, you can catch more icy action at the National Habor where ICE! at Gaylord National features 2 million pounds of hand-carved ice ...
It’s the Most Boozytiful Time of The Year
Mad props to my good friend Colleen who made this awesome wine advent calendar for her office. OK, yes, it helps that she works in the wine industry... but still, I think we all agree this is THE best way to countdown to Christmas day! I've seen a lot of super original and cute advent calendar inspiration online this season, but this one is by far my favourite!! Every day until the 25th, International Cellars will be highlighting a different wine and region with a bottle from their advent calendar so make sure to follow them. And if you're looking to make your own wine advent calendar (it's not too late right?) World Market has a great tutorial (and sells the wine rack you need to make ...
8 Ways Washington, D.C. Rocks the Holidays
Washington does Christmas pretty well! Here are some of the holiday displays I look forward to year after year. CHRISTMAS WREATHS AT UNION STATION In addition to the three large wreaths hanging in the three main archways in front of Union Station, there's other decorations including a giant Model Train exhibit inside in the West Hall and a 32 feet tall Christmas tree outside, both courtesy of the Norwegian embassy. In 2013, the tree was decked out with 700 shining replicas of Edvard Munch's famous painting The Scream. In 2014, the tree made a statement on the environment and was decorated with polar bears. I can't wait to see what the Norwegian embassy comes up with this year! (<-- ...
