If you missed Champagne Day on October 21, don't worry! Champagne shouldn't be celebrated in a day anyway, it clearly deserves its own week! At least that's what my friends Jess and Alison thought. These two wine pros are throwing DC's first ever Champagne Week, from Sunday November 6 to Thursday November 12. The idea for DC Champagne Week started off small. Jess runs Young Winos of DC, a group that connects people in the District with wine tastings and events. She reached out to Alison, who runs her own wine consulting business Bon Vivant DC, to partner up on a champagne focused event. Jess jokes that Alison took a small idea and blew it up, but Alison retorts that Jess never would've ...
French in DC
Les 5 Produits Français que j’Achète à World Market
Vous connaissez World Market? J'adore!! C'est une chaine de magasins ici où l'on trouve un peu de tout que ce soit pour le décor, les meubles, mais aussi des bijoux et de la nourritures venus ou inspirés des quatres coins du monde. Le mien est un peu plus petit, on n'y trouve pas de produits alcoolisés (certains ont un super choix de vins et de bière) ni de meubles, vaisselles etc. En fait, c'est juste un petit rayon dans mon Bed Bath & Beyond local près du Verizon Center. Mais c'est le rayon le plus important! Celui de l'alimentation ;-) Voici quelques uns de mes produits français préférés que j'achète à World Market. LE SEL DE GUERANDE Le sel de Guérande est un sel de mer naturel ...
What’s the Best Baguette in Washington, DC?
I've lived in the District for over 10 years now and as the French expat one of the top question I usually get asked is "where can I find good bread?" Usually it's recent transplants from France asking... The answer partially depend on where you live I guess. I mean, Bread Furst probably makes the best baguette in the city. But I live in Shaw. It's bad enough I have to spend close to $3 for bread, I'm not trekking all the way across town on top of it. So I get my baguette mostly at A Baked Joint now, and occasionally at Paul or Le Pain Quotidien. Two places where I would never buy bread back home...but hey, I have limited options here ;-) Of course, Parisians take their bread very ...
Bon Quatorze Juillet / Have a Tasty Bastille Day
I just got back from a week of holiday back home. Other than that tiny little event when France lost the UEFA championship to Portugal, everything was absolutely wonderful. If anything, I feel like I got an early taste of the Quatorze Juillet since there were flags absolutely everywhere and I sang the Marseillaise like 50 times (it's kind of the de-facto soccer chant for supporters of the French national team.) Seriously, my instagram feed (<-- follow me!) turned completely bleu blanc rouge over the last 2 weeks ;-) At least I get to pretend I'm back in Paris a little longer because tomorrow is our national holiday (you say Bastille Day, and that's ok, I say Quatorze Juillet... ...
Christine and the Queens at the 9:30 Club
Have you heard of Christine and the Queens? Yes!? Then you know how awesome she is! You can skip the rest of this post and just click on this link to buy tickets to see her perform at the 9:30 Club on May 31. French musicians don't grace US stages very often, and when they do, we - Frenchies and francophiles - have a responsibility to go cheer them on. Otherwise, they won't come see us anymore ;-) If you have no idea who Christine and the Queens is then let me introduce you to the best French band you're not listening to right now. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rs40yxHjTxQ Christine and the Queens is the androgynous alter ego of Héloïse Letissier, a stylish 27-year-old Parisienne who ...
Life Goes On~Celebrating Beaujolais Nouveau in Washington, DC
I'm not exactly in a celebratory mood these days, but life goes on. Paris is about life, about being at a terrasse right now etc. Life has to go on and this week life includes the release of the Beaujolais Nouveau, which always takes place on the third Thursday of November (or midnight that Wednesday!) Here are a few, selected spots where you can partake in some Gamay-drinking in Washington, D.C. BITRO DU COIN Still THE place to be at midnight when Beaujolais Nouveau is released. It's probably too late to get reservations for dinner, but show up around 10PM when they start clearing out the tables. The Beaujolais typically starts pouring 11PM, which technically is well past midnight in ...
13 Novembre 2015 – When Words Fail
Friday night's attacks in Paris hit home. Very close to home. It's hard to process my own feelings right now, let alone find the words to express them. My aunt and cousins used to live across the street from the Bataclan. One of those cousins was at the Stade de France for the France-Germany match. I have two sets of friends, both with young children, who live rue de la Fontaine-au-roi. The images I watched on newscasts that evening and throughout the weekend were not the Paris of tourists that's typically shown in the United States, with the obligatory accordion background music. This was my Paris. These were my streets. This was my home. I wish I could be home in times like these. But I ...
Gad Elmaleh in DC – Part Trois, Now All In English
Le revoici, le revoilà! Gad Elmaleh repasse au Birchmere, avec un petit changement qui n'est pas négligeable: le comedien fait son show en Anglais!! It's hard enough being funny in your native language, let alone in a foreign one. Seinfeld, for example, was notoriously bad when dubbed in French, and the humour didn't quite translate. And yet, that’s exactly the personal challenge that French funnyman (and Seinfeld BFF) Gad Elmaleh has set for himself. After performing sold-out shows in Washington, DC twice in 2013 (in April and September - you can read my recap from the September show right here), the comedien is back for a third time. This fall, he’ll try to branch out of the ...
Save the Date: Screening of Full Moon in Paris at the National Gallery of Arts
I've got an idea for you: travel to Paris without leaving DC. Actually, without leaving the National Gallery of Art... On September 20th, the National Gallery of Art is hosting a 4PM screening of Les Nuits de la Pleine Lune/Full Moon in Paris, a masterful comedy of manners by new wave film maker Eric Rohmer that was recently restored. You can read a summary of the film here. Also on view at the National Gallery of Art right now (and through October 4th) are 50 of the most important and beloved paintings of Paris and its environs by impressionist Gustave Caillebotte. Never heard of Caillebotte? You're not alone ;-) "Known" as the “unknown Impressionist” in light of Cézanne, Degas, Monet ...
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 ...
