Anyone who knew me circa 2005 knows I haven’t been the biggest proponent of DC. It’s an odd city to live in and I always felt like a grade-A weirdo wearing my best party clothes in a sea of Anne Taylor. Still, I love going back as a tourist, so when I found out that Daniel’s work was taking him to DC I had to tag along for the weekend. Here were some of my highlights.

Every trip I take, I start out with one primary mission: who makes the best macarons here? I do a little digging on the internet, and I’m off. The first place I tried was a bakery called Sweet Lobby. It’s a tiny bakery in the Capitol Hill neighborhood with a focus on macarons, cupcakes, and macarons on top of cupcakes. I got a  range of macarons including my standbys of rose and caramel, and I also tried one called “Ponche De Créme.” After pestering the woman at the register, I found out that Ponche De Créme is a Trinidadian specialty similar to eggnog. Very festive.

As it turns out, the owner is a Trinidadian scientist-slash-baker who works a job as a biochemical engineer at the NIH in addition to running the bakery. It might sound like an odd combo to most, but I get it. I always say I love baking because it’s a fun, creative science experiment that you get to eat. Truthfully, they weren’t my favorite macarons, but I feel like I might have been there on an off night. There weren’t that many macaron flavors to choose from, and while some of the flavors (like the Ponche De Créme!) were great, the texture was off and they were dry. The chocolate caramel crunch cupcake, on the other hand, was really great. I can see why they won Food Network’s Cupcake Wars. I’d definitely give the macarons another shot if I were in the neighborhood again.

While Sweet Lobby wasn’t everything I dreamed it would be, Olivia Macaron was! I’ll have to do some more macaron exploration next time I return, but so far this definitely is my pick for best macarons in DC. I have a little bit of a grudge towards Georgetown for being inaccessible from the train and possibly too adorable. But after a really heavy brunch, Daniel and I decided we needed to walk it off by trekking to Olivia Macaron by foot, where I would then counteract all of the walking by stuffing my face full of macarons.

When we got there I was drawn in by the pretty macaron holiday display in the window and the floor to ceiling wallpaper of jumbo sized macaron photography. I wasn’t the only macaron enthusiast, as there was a tour group there learning about macarons and the store. Is there such a thing as macaron tours? Because if there is, sign me up. (Say macaron again!)

I got rose and caramel macarons again, in addition to blood orange, vanilla, and – my favorite – pink peppercorn! Sounds a bit out there, but it was still sweet and delicate, just with a little kick. The texture and flavors for all of the macarons were spot on. Can’t wait to return on my next trip! Note that although it’s address is on M Street, it’s actually on the little side street that runs alongside Dean and Deluca.

Macarons aside, there were a few other highlights. One of DC’s best qualities, aside from the scintillating political conversations, is the free museums. Since we only had a weekend, I didn’t get to museum hop as much as I’d like, but I did check off a couple of boxes – pandas and Julia Child!

As a fellow tall woman and butter enthusiast, I was excited to see Julia Child’s kitchen at the National Museum of American History. It was moved into the Smithsonian after she sold her house and moved to a retirement community. Here’s a fun fact: she had custom counters made to accommodate her height, and she was deemed too tall to join the army. She filmed several of her later shows in this kitchen, where she passed on wisdom such as, “With enough butter, anything is good.” Words to live by. My life motto.

I think anyone who has lived or spent any time in DC knows its best quality, and that is its pandas. The National Zoo is free and riddled with pandas. When I lived there, DC was at the height of Butterstick fever. One of the crowning achievements of my life is winning the ticket lottery to see Butterstick before he was officially out for public viewing. He ROLLED DOWN A HILL and It. Was. Glorious.

Anyway, China repoed Butterstick, but we have been blessed with Butterstick II, also known as Bao Bao. Here is is lounging and eating bamboo. Pop quiz: would you rather be a panda or a koala bear? They are both globally beloved and have no natural predators. It’s a tough call.

And last but not least, my favorite meal. I did stop by Lauriol Plaza for chips, salsa, and enchiladas for old time’s sake. Luckily it lived up to my nostalgia, though my brunch at Georgia Brown’s, not so much. I think my memories may have been clouded by mimosas. But the best restaurant was a new one named Graffiato, run by Mike Isabella from Top Chef. We ate everything, including:

• Carolina Gold Ribs, mustard BBQ, compressed vegetables, hush puppies
• Broccolini with red pepper relish, walnuts, feta
• Bucatini Cacio e Pepe with parmesan, cracked black pepper, butter
• the Goodfellas pizza with meatballs, tomato, provolone, chili flake

All in all, not a bad weekend.