Tag Archives: spring

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed, We Love Drinks
By

Friday Happy Hour: Top Drink Picks for Spring

Núria

Pay no attention to forecast of snow, spring is upon us. Now is the time to start thinking about what you’re going to be drinking. I get excited about a few very specific things once the weather warms up, mainly wine and spritzes. Weird, I know, but don’t knock it until you try it.

Winter is the time for brown spirits and red wine. Come spring and summer I do a total 180 and switch almost exclusively to white wine. This season I’m most excited about the whites coming out of Greece. Last month I was raving about a crisp assyritko from Santorini, since then I’ve been exploring whites from all over Greece and the eastern Mediterranean. Turns out they’re damned good and easy to find in DC. My favorite spots have been Iron Gate in Dupont and Dunya in Shaw, which has one of the best roof decks in the city.

The rocky soil and salty sea breeze make for great wines to pair with light springtime fare. Look for a wine with light citrus notes and a great minerality to pair with a golden beet and goat cheese salad. Or that salty assyritko with any seafood. My favorite is fried oysters. Totally non traditional, but it’s the best fried oysters and white wine you’ll ever have. And albeit the first fried oysters and white wine you’ve ever had.

Continue reading →

Downtown, Entertainment, Essential DC, Interviews, People, Special Events, The Features, They Make DC
By

As Blossoms Arrive, a Moment with Diana Mayhew

DSC_2585

The National Cherry Blossom Festival kicks off tomorrow, commemorating Japan’s gift of 3,000 Yoshino cherry trees to the city 99 years ago. The Festival is a grand two-week affair that draws over a million people annually, with a diverse range of events all across the District.

Key to the success of this yearly event for the last decade has been NCBF President Diana Mayhew, who took over the helm in 2000 as Executive Director and then in 2007 as President. When she arrived, the Festival was an all-volunteer organization (begun in 1927) and its vision was to ensure that there was year-round, consistent staffing to ensure the growth, quality, and consistency of events. “We also help show the world that Washington, DC is synonymous with spring,” Mayhew told me. “There was a need to provide consistent services to residents and visitors interested in attending Festival events and there was no central communication.” The Downtown DC Business Improvement District (BID) donated the salary of an Executive Director for three years until the Festival got up on its feet, implementing fundraising and sponsorships to support itself and the cost of programming, which is offered free to the public.

Continue reading →

Featured Photo
By

Featured Photo


Woman Watching PDA by Matt.Dunn

When the drab days of winter finally yield to the refreshing days of spring, we see a transformation in our fine city.  The gray skies turn blue, the barren trees sprout leaves and flowers, and people swap their grumpy attitudes with feelings of love.  It makes you wonder, why is spring such a catalyst for love?  Does warmer weather encourage the production of hormones?  Is it because members of the opposite sex are wearing less clothing?  Or is there just something in the air?  Whatever the answer, there seems to be an awful lot of love going on in our Flickr pool.  We have people loving their cameras behind the bushes, gorillas spooning at the zoo, people loving their pooches, couples getting it on under the cherry blossoms, people hooking up on the ice, and even people making out where they’re supposed to, in a Make Out Room.  The couple above, clearly victims of love, just can’t get enough of each other.  But if Cupid’s springtime arrow hasn’t pierced your heart just yet, as may be the case for their onlooker, I have but one piece of advice for you: find a mate, don’t hate.

The Daily Feed
By

Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang

Photo courtesy of
‘Leaves of Grass’
courtesy of ‘Kevin H.’

I love reading Chelsea Handler‘s books – they never seem to disappoint. I frequently find myself being ‘that person’ who is laughing obnoxiously loud on the airplane, Metro, or any other public mode of transportation while reading them. Handler’s latest book Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang, which I read in about one day, is hilarious and truly might just be the perfect guilty pleasure for lounging around this Spring.

Chelsea Handler will be signing her book at the Borders on L Street this Saturday at 3:00 PM.

News, The Daily Feed, We Green DC
By

Has Spring Sprung?

Photo courtesy of
‘coming soon…’
courtesy of ‘philliefan99’

We’re one week away from springing forward, three weeks away from cherry blossoms, the temperature is above 50 and I’m pretty sure I’ve seen some flowers poking up from the ground.  I think that it’s almost safe to call it: spring has arrived.  What’s more is that mild temperatures will prevail for the rest of the week.  It looks like the sun will give way to rain in the coming days, but hopefully that will melt the brown snow in my yard.  Even if winter rears its ugly head once more (God forbid) I’m still going to enjoy what we’ve got going.  So, I’m off to lunch outside, suckas.

Featured Photo
By

Featured Photo

PKR_6506 by Spodie Odie

When I first saw this photo pop up in the WLDC Flickr pool, I couldn’t quite figure out what was going on.  Did someone stage some miniature people and fake plastic trees on a putting green?  Did someone build a diorama of some tiny sunbathers, complete with tiny little beach towels?  I couldn’t figure out what I was looking at, and well, I liked it.  It’s refreshing when things aren’t immediately obvious.

It turns out that the photographer took this shot from high above in the National Cathedral’s tower, a place I’ve never ventured to (at least not with my camera).  Given the absolutely perfect weather we had on Saturday, I’m sure the view was pretty amazing from up there.  The sunbathers on the lawn had the right idea though.  Soak up the sun while you can, but please, don’t forget to repair your divots.

Adventures, The Features, The Great Outdoors, Weekend Flashback
By

Weekend Flashback: 3/27 – 3/29/09

Photo courtesy of Somewhat Frank
Cherry Blossoms in DC, courtesy of Somewhat Frank

It’s here, our ‘official’ herald of spring in the DC area – the Cherry Blossom Festival! Despite a narrow window of peak flowers this year, thousands of photos will be snapped by throngs of tourists in and around the DC area. And finally, the weather is beginning to cooperate, with a nice and somewhat warm weekend behind us (despite the rain).

Katie and Jasmine have much of this past weekend’s festival covered with kites and opening ceremonies; Flashback steps back and takes in the great photogenic city we live and work in every day, as captured by you. Enjoy.

Continue reading →