For the Landragins, wine is more than a business. It's a family affair that dates back to 1772. Dominique Landragin was literally born in wine, or to be more exact, in Champagne. Dominique's grandfather was the manager of the Veuve Clicquot vineyards and his father was the vineyard manager at Heidsieck Monopole. Dominique followed on their bubbly footsteps but took his chance with "new world" wines. He moved to Australia where he co-founded Yellowglen, Australia's first methode champenoise winery, with his wife Anna. The couple currently resides in the DC area with their family where they run two successful wine shops in Gainesville, VA and Bethesda, MD. Anna explained that their goal is to ...
Local DC
DC-To-Do List For 2010
There no shortage of things to do in the District. From the must-see tourist sights to off the beaten path spots, there's enough to keep you occupied or coming back. I have lived in D.C. for 6 years and have crossed a lot off my check list already (see the Oval Office, check; eat a hot dog at Ben's Chili Bowl, check...). Instead of New Year's resolutions this year, I decided to make a check list of 10 things I haven't done or seen in D.C. yet. 1) Sit in on a Supreme Court hearing. 2) Visit the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. 3) Run the Cherry Blossom 10-miler. 4) Have dinner at Marcel's. 5) Attend a performance or concert at the Barns at Wolftrap. 6) Tour through the 446 acres of the U.S. ...
Streetcar Desired in DC
With Cate Blanchett in town for the Kennedy Center's production of "A Streetcar Named Desire" and the launch by the DDOT of a series of town hall meetings to explain their plans for the return of tramways to D.C., streetcars are a hot topic in the district! Streetcars used to be THE way to get around town, first drawn by horses, then electrified. Then automobiles and buses came around and the streetcar system was dismantled in the early 1960s, with the last streetcar running on January 28, 1962. There isn't much left of these streetcars. One can be seen in the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History and some tracks are still visible on the cobblestone streets of Georgetown. A few ...
Better Know The District: Islamic Way
With the first day of Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting, just around the corner, I decided to explore a little bit of Islam's cultural heritage in Washington as a way to Better Know The District. The Washington, D.C. area has among the highest percentage of Muslim-origin residents in the country. After Los Angeles, New York and Detroit, it ranks 4th, though the majority of them reside in the suburbs. Nonetheless, an estimated 16,000 muslims reside in downtown D.C. with 6 mosques or masjids providing prayer and other services for the community. Far away from the grand mosque of the Islamic Center with its tall minaret lies the smaller yet historically important Masjid Muhammad. Located ...
Whose Rickey Reigns Supreme
There isn't a lot that is considered native of Washington D.C. though perhaps one can consider lobbying as a profession that. If it wasn't invented in Washington D.C., lobbying was at least perfected here and is strongly associated with the District. So it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that D.C.'s "native" drink, the Rickey, can trace its roots to a lobbyist. Lobbying was said to have truly started in the United States during the administration of Ulysses S. Grant. A smoker, he found himself banned from the White House by his wife and was said to have enjoyed his cigars in the lobby of nearby Hotel Willard where politicans and others started to approach him for favours while he was ...
It’s Like (French) Music to my Ears
I’ve never seen so many French artists in the D.C. papers all at once! That’s probably because so many seem to be in town this weekend! From jazz chanteuse Madeleine Peyroux (at GWU’s Lisner Auditorium this Saturday) to musical collective Nouvelle Vague (at La Maison Française on Thursday), indie-rock groupe Phoenix (performing to a sold out crowd at Rock and Roll Hotel on Sunday) or former tennis star turned reggae singer Yannick Noah (also at Maison Française but on Friday) there’s a little something Français for everyone. It’s fitting that French music would take center stage this weekend since Francophiles around the world are celebrating La Fête de la Musique on the 21st. This ...
Learning to Fly
Charlotte: "I could never! I have the most terrible fear of heights!" Carrie: "Well, I do not... you've seen my shoes." SATC's episode #82, "The Catch," generated unprecedented interest in the flying trapeze all over the country. 6 years later, D.C. finally gets into the action with its own flying trapeze school. Jonathon Conant, President and Co-Founder of The Trapeze School New York, was inspired to start the school after visiting a Club Med while on vacation in 1998 though it took him quite a few years to get his business (literally) off the ground and into a permanent space in Manhattan. Now thrill-seeking Carries and fear-facer Charlottes alike can experience this exhilarating sport ...
Welcome to Mali!
If you haven't gotten your tickets to see Amadou & Mariam at The Birchmere yet, there is still time! The Malian husband and wife duo will perform tracks from their world acclaimed albums; "Dimanche a Bamako", "Journees maliennes" and "Welcome to Mali" on June 10th. Amadou and Mariam met and fell in love thirty years ago, at Bamako's Institute for the Young Blind . Their story is a Malian Cinderella story, with Manu Chao as the fairy godmother, proving that love and music can truly change one's life. The former Mano Negra frontman fell in love with their music and produced album for Universal music, "Dimanche a Bamako" in 2003. After a-25 year musical career in west Africa, they broke ...
Pitango 1 – Vida 0
It's official! Whole Foods has a new ally in its fight against me losing any weight ever. Together with newly opened Pitango Gelato they await me as I leave my Yogalate class at Vida, taunting me with free samples of cheese and now gelato. Not cool! Luckily, unlike Whole Foods' selection of bread and pastries, Pitango's offering are of a healthier nature (sort of...) and both focus on organic ingredients. Pitango's owner, Noah Dan, is a real stickler for fresh produces, uses raw (yet pasteurized) milk and refuses to use artificial colors, flavors, or stabilizers. He opened his first shop in Baltimore's Fells Point in 2007 and seems intent on continuing his expansion in the region with a ...
