Out of all the quintescential American food (I'm thinking burger, hotdog, apple pie...) donuts have got to be my absolute favourite. I've learned when I was on the campaign trail in upstate New York that I can actually live pretty happily on a diet of coffee, donuts, pizza and beer. Don't judge me ;-) I have pretty simple tastes when it comes to donuts. I love the glazed ones from Krispy Kreme, the jelly-filled donut at Dunkin' Donuts and Tim Horton's Canadian Maple Donut. So today is National Donut Day and I am more than happy to oblige by eating as many donuts as I can... but this blog is called French Twist D.C. and so on this wonderful holiday I would like to bring your attention to ...
Americana
L’Heure de l’Apéritif – Grand Margarita
Last July 14th I was surprised to see Grand Marnier serving "French Margaritas" at the French Embassy. In this orange-flavoured variation of the margarita, Grand Marnier adds a French Twist to the classic Mexican drink. So on National Margarita Day I thought I would share the recipe for the Grand Margarita. Ingredients: 1 1/2 oz Grand Marnier, 3/4 oz premium tequila, 1 1/2 oz fresh squeeze lime juice, 1 1/2 oz simple syrup (equal part sugar and water boiled until the sugar dissolves, then cooled), 2 lime squeezes, 2 orange squeezes. Mix all of the ingredients with some ice in a shaker. Pour into a margarita glass and enjoy! Happy Margarita Day!! ...
Americana ~ Cooking with SPAM
I'm not sure what possessed my husband to pick up some SPAM during a recent trip to our local Safeway. But there it was in his grocery bag. A can of SPAM. I don't know what, if anything, he intended to make with it, but I immediately took it as a personal challenge! Could I whip out some gourmet dinner using SPAM, à la Top-Chef quick-fire gas station or vending machine challenge? I proceeded in my typical fashion: a little internet research to find what was SPAM exactly (I had actually never heard of it... I just quickly got a sense given that it was "meat" in a can that it wasn't exactly gourmet...), a visit to the official SPAM website to see what kind of recipes you can find there and a ...
Classic Cars & Cocktails
Spotted on Pennsylvania Avenue this weekend: some sweet classic rides like vintage Rolls Royce, Morgans and Aston Martins. Also spotted: a sweet deal on some classic cocktails! On Thursday, April 28th, the Occidental Bar & Grill kicked off the return of its Classic Cocktail Hour. Offered Monday-Friday (3-7PM) on the patio lounge, bar and the indoor dining room bar, the Classic Cocktail Hour is bringing back 5 timeless cocktails: the Cherry Blossom, the Cable Car, the Last Word, the Pimms Cup and a Real Old Fashioned (sans lime.) The sweet deal is that, to celebrate The Occidental's 105 anniversary, your first cocktail -with the purchase of a food item from Chef Rodney Scruggs' menu- ...
Hockey Night in Canada Washington
While I like to think of myself as a proud cocorico-ing French woman, my nationality is apparently not as obvious to everyone as I would like to think it is. Maybe it's because I speak fluent French and English. Love soccer and hockey, wine and Molson Export. Perhaps the confusion come from the fact that did I spend 4 years living in Montreal. Or it might be due to pictures like this floating on the internets: Among other things, my time spent in Montreal has introduced me to hockey. They say a woman never forgets her first love and that's definitely true for me and my first hockey love. Don't get me wrong, I love me some Caps but I'll always feel a little something for the ...
♫ My kind of town hot dog Chicago is ♪
Appropriately, I had my very first Chicago-Style Hot Dog in the Windy City. I had met up with my roommates from college for a fun girly weekend there and on our last day, we decided to try something typical of the city: the hot dog. We headed to Gold Coast Dogs and I have loved Chicago-style hot dogs ever since. I think one of the reasons I like it so much compared to other dogs is that it is loaded with veggies. A typical one includes a steemed kosher-syle all-beef frankfurter on a poppy seed bun topped with yellow mustard, chopped white onions, sweet pickle relish, a pickle spear, tomato wedges and pickles sport peppers with a dash of celery salt, earning it the nickname of hot dog that ...
Fall 2010 White House Garden Tour
Working a few blocks away from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, I often take the sight of the White House for granted. It is nonetheless, one of the world's most famous buildings and is visited each years by hundreds of thousands of Americans. On occasions they even let foreigners in and a few years back, I not only got to go on the regular East Wing tour I also had the opportunity to visit the West Wing and see the Oval Office. Now that was pretty cool but until today I still had some unfinished business with the White House. I had never actually been in the White House garden. Tours of the garden are organized for the general public twice a year and I was so confident I would be able to go on ...
Namaste National Mall
Today was BYOM (Bring Your Own Mat) on the National Mall. In conjunction with the 2010 National Cherry Blossom Festival, Lululemon led a yoga class on the National Mall. Of course, with the cherry blossoms at their peak this weekend, the nearly 1000 yogi of all levels which participated provided additional photo op for the hoards of tourists around. ...
