Happy Monday! Did you have a good weekend? After keeping a low profile last weekend and throughout most of the week (I've had the worst cold!) I made up for lost time and had quite a wonderful 3-day weekend. It all started with rosé and flowers on Friday. One of the best part about having friends from different parts of the world is learning about their culture and traditions (oh, and the amazing food too!) On Friday, my friend Bianca showed us how the Finns celebrate summer solstice. Midsommar is one of the most important national holiday in Finland (and it's a big deal in many other Nordic countries too.) While her rooftop does have a fire pit, we didn't light any kokko (bonfires) to ...
Road Tripping
Pick Your Own Tulips at Burnside Farms
Tulips are a beautiful symbol of spring. In Washington, tulips typically bloom right after the cherry blossoms have come and gone, but they were a little late this year, probably because we've had such a cold spring. Over the past 2 weeks though, their vibrant colours have been on full display across the city. And just outside of the District, a quick 45 minutes drive away, a farm in Haymarket, Virginia, plays host to one of largest pick-your-own tulips festival in the United States. Nicknamed "Holland in Haymarket," the festival typically runs late April to mid-May, depending on when the flowers actually bloom. Visitors pay an entrance fee of $3.00, and then there's a cost per stem ...
Postcard from France: Visiting the Louvre-Lens
Lens, a small town in northern France, boasts a football stadium with a capacity larger than its population, but doesn't have a movie theater. A former mining strong hold, its main touristic and cultural attractions used to be world war I cemeteries and Europe's tallest slag heaps (known by their formal French name of base et terrils jumeaux du 11/19.) That all changed in 2012. That year, one of the world's most famous museums, the Louvre, opened an outpost in Lens, attracting some 900,000 visitors its first year of operation. While that's barely anything compared to the 8 million visitors that go through the Parisian museum each year, that's still very impressive. Lens is easily ...
Giveaway: Chevy-style dinner at Restaurant Nora
Chevrolet is sponsoring a Chevy-style blogger dinner at Restaurant Nora, the nation’s first certified organic restaurant, on Thursday, August 15, 2013 (6:30pm to 8:30pm). Not only is Chevrolet providing transportation in the fuel efficient Chevy Equinox but they're also footing the bill! And I'm inviting one lucky (local) reader to join me for the evening. If that sounds like something you'd like to do (and you live in the DMV area), there are two ways to let me know: by leaving a comment on this post or by emailing me at FrenchTwistDC@gmail.com. Just tell me about a road trip that resulted in one of your favourite food experiences. Just make sure I get your name and contact information ...
Wine Wednesday ~ Vintage Virginia
Thanks to The Hill is Home (and to my friend Lisa who drove us to Centerville) I attended Vintage Virginia last weekend. The annual wine and food festival features the Commonwealth's best wine (there were 40 wineries representing!), food and music each year during a fun-filled festival at Bull Run Park Special Event Center. Here are a few things I took away from the event: I loved seeing that some of my favourite food trucks (Red Hook Lobster Pound, DC Curbside Cupcakes, DC Empenadas or Big Cheese among others) drove all the way down from DC for the event. I toyed with the idea of trying Grapevine, a Richmond-based food truck, but ultimately couldn't resist a hot bowl of pho ...
Postcard from France: Metz-merized by Pompidou-Metz!
Like many Parisians, I suffer from a bit of a superiority complex. Growing up in the most beautiful city in the world, I sometime forget that there is more to France than its capital. What we Parisians typically lump together as "la Province" (ie. everywhere outside of Paris) is actually comprised of 21 independent regions, each with its own history, traditions, gastronomy and tourist attractions. Lorraine, in the North East of France, is one of these regions. Until recently it was mainly ignored by pretty much everyone but die-hard quiche lovers. Today, however, even the snobbiest Parisians are planning weekend or day trips to the capital city of Lorraine: Metz And yes, that includes ...
Road Tripping: Naked Mountain Vineyard
It's easy to get people to flock to your vineyard when your slogan is "Drink Naked"! This small Virginia winery says it sells almost more t-shirt with their motto than they do wine. Nonetheless, Naked Mountain Vineyards and Winery is a lovely mom-and-pop kind of shop, with delightful views of the Blue Ridge Mountains, a small but charming tasting room and an inviting wrap around deck where you can soak up the sun, while overlooking the vines and sipping a glass of chardonnay. The winery only produces a few different kind of wines, so sampling all of them wasn't too hard. I personally preferred the 2008 Cabernet Franc Rosé but my friends walked away with a few bottles of Raptor Red. Naked ...