Spring is coming! Every year the highlight of the season in Washington is, of course, the annual blooming of the district's 3,000 Yoshino cherry trees. The whole town gets cherry fever and hundreds of thousands of tourists (and locals too) descend on the Tidal Basin and the National Mall to admire the delicate white and pink flowers. This year, peak bloom will hit between March 18-23, 2 weeks earlier than originally anticipated due to the recent warm temperatures. This means most of the National Cherry Blossom Festival, which runs from March 20 to April 17, will probably happen sans-blossom. Regardless, here are a few tips for navigating this huge Washington, DC event. SET YOUR ...
J'adore
Postcard from New York: Going to A Late Show Taping
Here's something free and unique to do if you have a spare afternoon in New York City: attend the live taping of a late (or late-late) night talk-show! I say afternoon, because a) while the shows air in the evening, tapings typically happen earlier that day b) even though you have to book your tickets in advance, there's a lot of waiting around in lines involved before you can actually take your place in the audience. Here’s what my experience attending a live taping of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” was like. But first, why The Late Show with Stephen Colbert? I actually watch the show every day and I absolutely love Stephen Colbert. I love his smart humour, and think his guests tend ...
The White House in Gingerbread
One of my favourite "political" memoir, Sucré d'Etat*, wasn't written by a politician at all, but by a pastry chef. And not just any pastry chef: the longest serving executive pastry chef to ever work in the White House kitchen. And a Frenchie of course ;-) Chef Roland Mesnier made delicious desserts for 5 different presidents starting with Jimmy Carter in 1979 and wrapping up with George W. Bush in 2004. White House pastry chefs are responsible for the planning, managing and preparing of all desserts and pastries served at the White House, including for State Dinners and for the private entertaining by the First Family. Among the many confections that the White House pastry chef ...
Holiday Spirit on Ice at City Center DC
I'm pretty sure the folks over at City Center DC didn't anticipate that it would be 70 degrees outside when they planned a live ice sculpting event for December 12th. Despite the unseasonably warm temperature, the event was a ton of fun! While two sculptors worked on an ice dress and a Christmas tree at the Park at CityCenterDC, additional sculptures were slowly melting away in Palmer Alley! My favourite was the Birkin bag, of course ;-) Check out some of my pictures below. And while I'm pretty sure none of the sculpture survived the evening, you can catch more icy action at the National Habor where ICE! at Gaylord National features 2 million pounds of hand-carved ice ...
8 Ways Washington, D.C. Rocks the Holidays
Washington does Christmas pretty well! Here are some of the holiday displays I look forward to year after year. CHRISTMAS WREATHS AT UNION STATION In addition to the three large wreaths hanging in the three main archways in front of Union Station, there's other decorations including a giant Model Train exhibit inside in the West Hall and a 32 feet tall Christmas tree outside, both courtesy of the Norwegian embassy. In 2013, the tree was decked out with 700 shining replicas of Edvard Munch's famous painting The Scream. In 2014, the tree made a statement on the environment and was decorated with polar bears. I can't wait to see what the Norwegian embassy comes up with this year! (<-- ...
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 ...
Meet the Real Instagrammers of Washington on “We The People DC”
I first heard about the We The People DC’s instagram account from my friend Christina of Just the Bottle. It’s been one of my fave account on the social network ever since! In a nutshell, it’s a community photo project that looks at the nation’s capital from the eyes of Washingtonians by handing over the instagram account handle to a different person every day. The project begun in February with a countdown featuring some of Washington’s most famous residents – or at least their statues ;-) Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., Thomas Jefferson and FDR urged followers to “see what DC is all about through the eyes of its humans – and Abe.” So who are the people behind We the People ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
