Have you been roaming the streets of Washington searching for Pikachu? I returned from Paris to find that Pokémon Go had taken the United States by storm (and of course promptly downloaded the app as well). Over the past week, small business owners and restaurants around the city have been trying to cash in on the popular augmented reality game, advertising their status as Poké Stops, enticing shoppers and dinners by setting up lures and, of course, coming up with pokemon inspired drinks and food. Duffy's Irish Pub near U Street has been particularly keen on all fronts offering Pokémangorita, lures, free wifi and phone chargers. Meanwhile, ever one to give into fads, I made my way to ...
Just desserts
A Taste of Spring: Cherry Blossoms Everything
Cherry blossoms season is almost done here in Washington. The actual blossoms faded away late last week. Who can blame them? It's been barely 40 degrees for the past two days... and don't get me started on the wind! But officially, the festival ends on April 17 so there's still more than an entire week to celebrate our city in boom and enjoy festival events, like the fireworks on the 9th, the Sakura Matsuri street festival and the official parade on the 16th, or all the different themed eats, which let's be honest are my favourites anyway! Now, I'm not a huge fan of the official "cherry picks" gimmick co-sponsored by the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington that sees ...
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 ...
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 ...
A Rainbow of Colourful Treats from Olivia Macarons
Ever since it opened back in 2013, Olivia Macaron has been my go-to spot to grab my favourite French treats! I love the way these turned out as a rainbow of delightful pastries, with, from top to bottom, red velvet, rose (always my fave!), lemon-basil, almond (close runner up!) and honey-lavender. Not pictured are some of their current seasonal offerings: passion fruit (a local take on Pierre Herme's famous mogador combo that pairs the tart fruit with milk chocolate - I'm allergic to cocoa, so I've never been a fan) and black sesame. What's your ultimate favourite macaron flavour? Please share in the comments and have a wonderful #MacaronMonday! ...
Postcard from Wisconsin: Babcock Hall Dairy Store
Did your alma mater produce its own amazing ice cream on campus? I'm gonna guess no, unless you went to UConn, Penn State or the University of Wisconsin at Madison. One of my best friends, Cecile of The Worldly Bite, comes from a long line of Badgers, so ahead of my recent trip to Wisconsin, she gave me the scoop on everything I couldn't miss while visiting her campus, starting with getting a scoop of delicious ice cream at Babcock Hall Dairy Store, bien sur. Wisconsin is known as America's dairyland so it's not that surprising that UW-Madison would offer the best Dairy Science major in the country, host the Wisconsin Center for Dairy Research (CDR), and operate its own dairy plant on ...
Happy St. Honoré to all the bakers & pastry chefs
The Catholic Church has a long tradition of assigning saints as special guardians and protectors of different trades and professions, and bakers and pastry chefs are no exception! Saint Honoré, the former Bishop of Amiens in the North of France, is revered by bakers as their patron saint, in part due to a church that was built in his honor in 1202 that became the site of the bakers' guilt. Technically, the patron saint of pastry chefs is St. Michel. But the line between boulangers (bakers) and pâtissiers (pastry chefs) is often blurred in France, with most boulangeries selling pastries in addition to bread. The St. Honoré also happens to be a delicious dessert made of cream puffs, puff ...
A Recap of Art & Soul’s Second Biscuit Bash
Biscuit Bash, a biscuit-themed friendly cook-off benefiting D.C. Central Kitchen and Share Our Strength's No Kid Hungry campaign, returned to Art and Soul's patio last night. For its second year, the fundraiser sold out quickly (obviously, word got out that this is a can't-miss delicious event for an awesome cause!) prompting the organizers to close off the restaurant for the evening to allow more people to attend. Chef Hamilton Johnson of Vidalia, whose biscuit took the top prize last year, returned to defend its title. Otherwise all the restaurants and chefs biscuit bashing yesterday were new to the friendly competition. This year, Vidalia's biscuit was slightly less messy, though is was ...
Saint Paddy’s Day Treats at The Sweet Lobby & Olivia Macaron
Two of the best macarons shops in Washington have cooked up special Saint Patrick's Day treats! Obviously both are going green, though Olivia Macaron's Irish Cream macaron has a hint of gold dusting too! What would your ultimate Saint Patrick's Day macaron flavour be? I love Bailey's so I think that's be a great flavour... but I also think an Irish Whiskey Caramel macaron would be pretty awesome! Images courtesy of Olivia Macarons' instagram and The Sweet Lobby's Instagram. ...
Ici Urban Bistro Joins Thousands of Restaurants Across the World to Celebrate Goût de France
This Thursday, March 19, some 1,300 chefs will cook up special dinners at restaurants and embassies in 150 countries across all five continents for a worldwide celebration of French cuisine and gastronomy. Under the patronage of France’s foreign minister Laurent Fabius and famed Michelin-starred chef Alain Ducasse, "Goût de France / Good France" was inspired by Auguste Escoffier’s Dîners d’Épicure (Epicurean Diners), in which one menu was served to as many guests as possible worldwide in one day. This time, however, the chefs have some creative freedom to come up with their own menus, though they must adhere to a strict traditional degustation format and serve, in this order, a French ...