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! ...
Around the USA
Save the Date~Two Fabulous Champagne Lanson Events Coming September 15th
Just last weekend I was dressed in white from head to toe and appropriately sipping some Champagne Lanson Brut White Label NV at Washington's second annual Diner en Blanc. You can read more about DC's 2015 Diner en Blanc here (and here and here and here.) If you missed Diner en Blanc or you just want to relive a part of this magical evening, the House of Lanson is coming to town and hosting two events in the District. The first, more casual, is a tasting of the entire champagne house portfolio at one of my go-to wine shop Cork and Fork (always trust a wine shop owner whose grandfather ran the Champagne Veuve Clicquot vineyards) between 6-8PM on September 15 (Tickets $20). The ...
Dîner en Blanc – Part Deux, DC Edition
When Washington played host to its first Diner en Blanc last year, the main complaints from participants concerned the location. Yards Park in Southwest DC was a beautiful venue, don't get me wrong, but it didn't strike anyone as particularly iconic. Compared to some of the other famous locations where the all-white diners have popped up across the globe -- Lincoln Center in New York, the Trocadero with the Eiffel Tower as backdrop or on 6 bridges over the Seine in Paris, Covent Garden in London, Rodeo Drive in Los Angeles to name a few -- the 42-acre development on the Anacostia River waterfront was a bit lacking in Washington monuments and recognizable sites. It was also a bit out of the ...
Off the Beaten Path: ToKi’s SYNTH SERIES 002 Yarn Installation
My (Southern Republican) husband always jokes around that he is very vanilla, and that I bring a little bit of spice, the rum raisin flavour if you will, to his life. I don't know about that, but I definitely bring him out of his comfort zone on a regular basis ;-) Like, the other day, for example, when I "dragged" him semi-willingly to an abandoned warehouse near the Rhode Island Avenue metro stop to check out an art installation by ToKi. Dragged him to this building: ToKi is a collaborative effort by two recent Howard University architecture graduates, Khai Grubbs and Toluwalase Rufai. Their latest work is a colourful art installation called SYNTH SERIES 002. Their main material: yarn, ...
Postcard from Philadelphia: 13th & Locust’s Rainbow Crosswalk
It was the day after the Supreme Court's landmark ruling legalizing gay marriage nationwide in the U.S. My parents and I were in Philadelphia to catch the Hermione tall ship while she was making her way up the East Coast. We were wandering around the city's Mural Mile, a 2.5 mile loop through downtown, to catch some of Philadelphia's most iconic street art. Suddenly, a pop of colour on the ground caught our attention for a change. At the intersection of 13th street and Locust, rainbow stripes had been painted on the pedestrian crosswalks, forming a bright and bold square. Turns out, this didn't just pop overnight following the Supreme Court decision. It had been planned long ...
Dîner en Blanc – New York Edition
Last night, I joined 5,000 revelers at Pier 26 in Tribeca for the fifth edition of New York's Dîner en Blanc. Being involved with the DC event, which this year will take place on August 29th and involve 2,500 guests, I can appreciate the sheer logistics of getting all of us, carrying our own tables, chairs, tableware, centerpieces and food, there! Our evening started at Washington Square Park, one of 24 meeting spots throughout the city. Well, really it started on a bus to New York... but let's not go there ;-) Following a quick glass of rosé on tap at Claudette (no it wasn't weird at all to show up there with 2 chairs, I swear...), my friend Caitlin and I met Katie, our very ...
Postcard from the Twin Cities: Peanuts Statues in Rice Park
I probably own one of the world's most traveled Snoopy. First, he made his way from China to France in my mother's suitcase. Then, I dragged him on all my trips as a kid, from Greece to Senegal... he even got to head back to China and see the great wall ;-) Many years later, as I visited Minneapolis-Saint Paul for the 2008 Republican National Convention I was stoked to be welcomed into the city by these two statues of my childhood bestie and travel buddy at the airport: These Snoopies, I learned, were part of Peanuts On Parade, a tribute to Minneapolis native Charles M. Schulz, that ran shortly after his death in 2000. 101 5-foot tall fiberglass statues of Snoopy were created, sponsored ...
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 ...
Cat-Ladying at Crumbs & Whiskers
This isn't my first cat café post - cue in my previous posts on New York's Meow Parlour and Paris' Café des Chats. It's not even my first post about Crumbs and Whiskers - see post on the launch of its kickstarter campaign. But it is my first post on DC's eagerly anticipated cat café since it opened. And it's my first post since actually going there!! My friend Cecile who writes The Worldly Bites has Gentlemeow Club member status so we snagged 2 weeknight spots during opening month and went to go play with the kittiens last night. Let me take you through our experience at Crumbs and Whiskers... Cat café is actually a bit of a misnomer when it comes to Crumbs and Whiskers. Yes, ...
When You Wish Upon a Star Tree
Have you made your wish yet? Yoko Ono’s Wish Tree for Washington, DC art installation is back on the mall this summer. Making a wish is simple: head to the Smithsonian Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden before Labour Day and find a dogwood tree across from Giacometti’s “Monumental Head.” Make a wish. Write it down on a piece of paper (pencil and white paper tags are provided). Fold it and tie it around a branch of the Wish Tree. I made my wish earlier this summer, though I’m still waiting for it to come true. Like the love locks in Paris, which are frequently removed by the city, museum staff will clear up the tree several times a week throughout the summer so that there is room for ...
