Happy opening day, GBD Chicken and Doughnuts! GBD is the latest from one of our favorite bakers, Tiffany MacIsaac, also of Buzz Bakery and her husband Kyle Bailey, chef at the popular Birch & Barley. Happy (organic, hormone- and antibiotic-free) fried chicken and delicious doughnuts — maybe not the healthiest of meals, but perfect for the occasional indulgence. My college years were fueled by California’s famed Donut Man, and my hometown spawned the most delicious doughnut on earth — so I’m delighted that the doughnut craze has finally reached DC. (And that the GBD crew spell doughnut properly, at least outside of Twitter where you’ll find them at @GBDchixndonuts.)

The younger foodie tot and I sampled the chicken and doughnuts at a pre-opening pop-up. Here’s her review:

GBDchixndonuts pop-up from Colleen | GlassBottle on Vimeo.

That tres leches rivals my favorite from NYC’s Doughnut Plant, so I’m thrilled to be able to get my fix without commuting to the Lower East Side.

Find GBD — which stands for golden, brown delicious — in Dupont Circle, 1323 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington, DC.

A cold and steady drizzle didn’t deter the foodie tots from seeking out more delicious eats around town this weekend. This time, it was the Summer Picnic Spectacular at the coming-soon Union Market in Northeast DC.

We love this project, from development firm EDENS, for many reasons. Modeled after foodie meccas like the San Francisco Ferry Building, it’s bringing retail back to one of the earliest market sites in Washington. It’s gathering some of our favorite local producers and brands (Trickling Springs Creamery, Rappahannock River Oysters, Peregrine Espresso, to name a few) in one beautiful location. It will have a cheese shop. And on this wet weekend, it provided good eats, drinks and fun for the whole family. And it warmed this mama’s heart to see so many other foodie tots in attendance. It’s truly a delicious time to be a kid or an adult in Washington.

Click the slide show to see the foodie tots favorites, including fried pickles, corn salad, churros, ice cream worthy of a salute, and more.

Free picture slideshow generated with Smilebox

Union Market opens September 8.
1309 5th Street NE
Washington, DC
www.unionmarketdc.com

Disclaimer: Headline is a shameless rip-off of nod to the Washington City Paper’s Young & Hungry blog. Give me a call if you want to branch out to the younger and hungrier audience.

On Monday, the boy and I were thrilled to take part in the 134th Annual White House Easter Egg Roll, courtesy of Let’s Move and the White House’s . We’d been before, three years ago, and were pleased to see that there was some food this time around — drinks from Honest Tea while you waited in line and apples and oranges courtesy of Whole Foods at the “Farmers Market.”

There were so many activities my son wanted to do that I didn’t get to chat with the chef manning the garden (not my buddy Sam, this time), but the boy did want to watch Bizarre Foods host Andrew Zimmern‘s cooking demo. (I’m trying to track down his porcupine dumpling recipe. In the meantime, you can watch each chef’s demo here.) We then did the obstacle course, rolled the egg of course, and picked up our souvenir egg on the way out.

Read on to see the highlights …. and the surprise parting gift at the end. (Yeah yeah, everything in moderation, right?) And I also have to give a quick shout-out to Kaboom! and KidTribe, two kids’ fitness organizations who led activities at the event.

Washington, DC’s first ever Farm-to-Street Party takes place tomorrow, Saturday, July 16, on V Street, NW, between 13th and 14th Streets. (Right outside Busboys & Poets.)

Part of the inaugural Eat Local First DC local foods week, the Street Party will feature activities for kids, a chance to soak Busboys & Poets owner Andy Shallal in a dunk tank, a pie-eating contest, and of course, locally-sourced food, beer and wine. The event is sponsored by Think Local First, a coalition of locally-owned businesses supporting sustainable economic development in DC. Buy tickets online ($15, includes 2 food tickets) or at the door.

Happy April! There’s no worse time to be a locavore, in my opinion, than the month of March. I don’t mind winter, when potatoes and squash are roasted, braised and otherwise dished up along side comforting stews and other hearty meals. But by March, they’ve gotten old. Inevitably here in Washington we’ll have an unexpected warm day that prompts shopping for new spring clothes, and suddenly asparagus and strawberry recipes are popping up on blogs and websites. But you see, asparagus and strawberries aren’t actually in season just yet — no matter how much you try to will them into appearing at the farmers market. In fact, some of our seasonal markets don’t even open till May.

Now I’m not above buying a carton or two of Florida strawberries for my son (oh, how his eyes light up when he sees them at the grocery!), but the first thing that really reassures me that spring will eventually arrive are the cherry blossoms’ arrival. The key to surviving Cherry Blossom season as a local is to get down the the Tidal Basin on a weekday before the official start of the festival — though sometimes visiting relatives don’t always cooperate. I picked the kids up early last Friday and staged a (brief) photo shoot (on Hains Point, for you locals) as it was a brisk 40ish degrees, unfortunately. (That’s the other thing about spring in DC — one week it’s 40 with a chance of snow, and the next it’s sunny and 80 degrees.)

I was excited to find that we can order our own flowering cherry trees from the Arbor Day Foundation, so in future years we can take our annual spring photos right in our own backyard. (A portion of the proceeds benefits the National Cherry Blossom Festival, which in turn is fundraising for Japan relief efforts this year.)

You may know that Washington’s cherry blossom trees were a gift from Japan 99 years ago –  it’s hard to reconcile their ethereal beauty with the images of the devastation in Japan today. I’m pleased to share that I’m a contributor to Peko Peko: A Charity Cookbook for Japan. Visit the website for a sneak peak, and I’ll be sure to let you know when it’s available for purchase.

April will be Kitchen Garden month here at FoodieTots, so check back to see what we’re planting and share what you plan to grow this year!