Last Chance To Enter Tysons Galleria’s Holiday Sweepstakes!
Posted by The Editorial Desk / Thursday, December 15th, 2011
Hello, shoppers!
Don’t forget to add your name to Tysons Galleria’s The More The Merrier Holiday Sweepstakes on or before Dec. 17! This is the last week to win a prize! The prize is a $5,000 Shop Etc. gift card!

Enter the Tysons Galleria The More The Merrier" Holiday Sweepstakes to win the last weekly prize, a $5,000 Shop Etc. Gift Card! (Photo courtesy of www.tysonsgalleria.com)
Enter on facebook. After all, everyone could use more money for their Christmas present fund.
– Lexie Ramage
Posted by The Editorial Desk / Tuesday, December 13th, 2011
Egg nog: the famous holiday drink that you either love or hate. Personally, I love it. The heavy sweet and nutmegy flavor is a must-have for me every year. And because it has such a distinct, powerful taste, it works amazingly as a front-stage ingredient in other recipes.
Today I’m bringing you a special recipe from the kitchen at Wildfire: Egg Nog Bread Pudding. This holiday dessert special is luscious and rich, served with an espresso cup of freshly made egg nog. It’s a spoonful of holiday cheer times two!
Egg Nog Bread Pudding
(Serves 12)
-1 cup brown sugar
-1 cup granulated sugar
-4 eggs
-1 tablespoon vanilla extract
-pinch of nutmeg
-1 quart egg nog
-2 cups whipping cream
-1 loaf (1 pound, 12 ounces) challah bread, cut ¾-inch thick
Mix brown sugar, granulated sugar, eggs, vanilla, nutmeg, egg nog and cream in a mixing bowl to make a custard. Cut bread slices into 16 cubes per slice. Gently fold bread into custard. Let stand 20 minutes. Place the mixture into a 9×13-inch pan. Smooth the top and cover with plastic wrap and foil.
Place bread pudding pan into a bain marie (water bath) and bake at 350 degree oven for 45 minutes. Uncover and continue to bake for 15-20 minutes until done and temperature is 190 degrees.
Let rest for 15 minutes, then cut into 12 squares. Serve at room temperature.
Thanks, Wildfire, for sharing the recipe!
You can find this egg nog bread pudding on Wildfire’s dessert menu — theirs is served with warm caramel sauce and whipped cream and a small cup of freshly made egg nog, as pictured.
Wildfire is located on the 3rd floor of Tysons Galleria in McLean. Call 703-442-9110 for reservations.
-Julia Harbo
Jean Louis Palladin Tribute Menu and Cookbooks
Posted by The Editorial Desk / Tuesday, November 29th, 2011
It’s now officially the holiday season, with Christmas less than one month away. Need a gift idea?
Jean Louis Palladin cookbooks are now available for sale at MICHEL in Tysons Corner. The cookbook was originally published in 1989, with recipes that revolutionized the way chefs and food lovers viewed fine dining in America, and is now out-of-print. The book includes photographs by world-renowned photographer Fred Maroon and a limited quantity will be on sale for the whole month of December.
The Jean Louis Palladin cookbooks are $50 each and 100 percent of the proceeds will be donated to the James Beard Foundation so you can help support the mission to celebrate, nurture and preserve America’s diverse culinary heritage and future. Both Jean Louis Palladin and Michel Richard have received the James Beard Outstanding Chef Award.
And in collaboration with the cookbook deal, MICHEL will serve a Jean Louis Palladin tribute menu from December 6-10. Michel Richard honors the legendary chef with a six-course prix-fixe menu, featuring: Quail Eggs with Smoked Salmon in Brioche; Chestnut Soup; Terrine of Foie Gras with Black Truffle Tricolor Pasta, Prosciutto and Fresh Herb Tomato Sauce; Fricassee of Snail with Crispy Sweet Breads, Mirepoix, Chanterelle Mushroom and Shallot Sauce; Roasted Duck Breast with Date Puree and Date Sauce; Chocolate Pasta with Mocha Sauce and White Chocolate Curls and Petits Fours.
And, of course, Jean Louis’ famous Brioche with Anchovy Butter will be served with the meal. After the tribute menu’s completion on December 10, special items from the menu will remain on the regular a la carte dinner menu through the rest of December.
The Jean Louis Palladin tribute menu is $150 per person and is available from 5:30-10 p.m. Tuesday, December 6-Sunday, December 10.
MICHEL by Michel Richard is located at The Ritz-Carlton in Tysons Galleria (1700 Tysons Blvd., McLean; 703-506-4300; www.michelrichardva.com).
-Julia Harbo
The Turkey Day & Black Friday Cheat Sheet
Posted by Natalie Kaar / Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011

Black Friday & Thanksgiving Day are both promising big bargains this year! (Shutterstock.com/Johnkworks)
Hello there, shoppers! If you’re bent on bagging some big-time bargains during the unofficial start of the holiday shopping season, to commence in just a few days, here’s hoping you’re resting up now. Black Friday starts a day early this year at many stores — yup, Turkey Day, before many are even expected to come out of their food comas.
That includes Leesburg Corner Premium Outlets; while Midnight Madness is planned, as in years past, some stores will be opening as early as 9 p.m. on Thanksgiving. Other stores opening on Thursday include Walmart, which will be opening at 10 p.m.
While it would be virtually impossible to send you all of details on the deluge of deals, here are the high points, including a few pointers on staying ahead of the pack:
The city streets, anti-mall experience:
Head to Old Town Alexandria. Many stores in the Old Town Boutique District are offering 30-percent savings from 6-8 a.m., 20-percent savings from 8-10 a.m. and 10-percent savings the rest of the day. And every OTBD shop has something very special in store. Some discounts are even bigger; for instance, Treat is offering 40-percent savings from 8-10 a.m. Plus, the city is offering free parking on Black Friday at all city-owned garages and lots, with many opening at 6 a.m. Stick around until 7 p.m. for the tree lighting and other fun holiday festivities.
FREE PARKING HOURS: Market Square Garage, 108 N. Fairfax St., open 6 a.m. on Friday until 6 a.m. on Saturday; Courthouse Square Garage, 111 S. Pitt St., open 6 a.m. Friday until 3 a.m. Saturday; Thompson’s Alley Garage, 10 Thompson’s Alley, open 6 a.m. until 11 p.m. on Friday; N. Union St. Garage, 220 N. Union St., open 6 a.m. on Friday until 2:30 a.m. on Saturday; S. Henry St. Lot, 112 S. Henry St., from 6 a.m. until 5 p.m. on Friday; Cameron/ Saint Asaph St. Lot, 210 N. Saint Asaph St., from 6 a.m. until 9:30 p.m. on Friday.
The mega-mall experience:
Here are your Black Friday sale hours (click on the mall links for the deals):
Fair Oaks Mall: 6 a.m.-10 p.m.
Fashion Center at Pentagon City: 5 a.m.- 10 p.m.
Dulles Town Center: Some stores will open as early as 5 a.m. (the rest at 6 a.m.) and as late as 11 p.m. (the rest at 10 p.m.)
Tysons Corner Center: Midnight madness, baby!
Tysons Galleria: Even the Galleria is opening early for the super-sale action, at 9 a.m., will be open until 9 p.m. And don’t miss the opening of the Gingerbread Wonderland Store, brought to us by The Ritz-Carlton Tysons Corner, at 2 p.m. The life-size Gingerbread Boutique will have a variety of delights, special gift ideas and exciting culinary creations to browse while shopping.
Something in the middle:
As far as other huge sales, don’t forget about Amazon, especially if you’d like to shop in your PJs. And for something that falls between the mega-mall experience and shopping in the OTBD, don’t forget about places like Reston Town Center, Fairfax Corner and Market Common in Clarendon. Regarding the big-box stores like Walmart, Target, Best Buy and hhgregg, you might want to take a peek at theblackfriday.com, which has links to all of the associated sales flyers. And, shoppers, make sure to have your smartphone scanners ready — mucho importante!
Oh, and how could we forget about Apple! They’ll be doling out their own Black Friday deals, but don’t expect miracles. We’re usually not talking nearly free Macs or anything like that.
Happy shopping! Stay classy!
–Natalie Kaar
S.W.A.G’s All Access Fashion Wrap-Up
Posted by The Editorial Desk / Monday, October 3rd, 2011
All Access: Fashion was a three-day event that was on Sept. 22-24 at Tysons Galleria. It benefited the Make-A-Wish Foundation of the Mid-Atlantic. Sept. 22 was a roundtable discussion about contemporary luxury retail business and the impact technology has on the industry. On Sept. 23, Saks Fifth Avenue hosted a silent auction for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, red carpet runway presentation of the Fall 2011 Designer Evening wear Collections and a cocktail hour. Sept. 23 was a day full of runway shows, in-store presentations and more fundraising for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Now to the good stuff.
In case you didn’t make to the fashion shows, here’s the wrap-up of the latest trends from the Fall collections.

As you can tell, bold colors is one of Fall's new trends. Photo courtesy of allaccessfashion.com.

Sequins were another big Fall trend, especially in evening wear. Photo courtesy of Vithaya Phongsavan.

Furs, like this outfit from Elie Tahari, were another huge Fall trend at All Access Fashion. Photo courtesy of www.elietahari.com.
So we’ve got bold colors, sequins and fur. Update your closets!
Still want more? Check out All Access Fashion’s Tweets or their website.
– Lexie Ramage
AT&T Betters Cell Service in Tysons Malls
Posted by Natalie Kaar / Tuesday, September 27th, 2011
Hello there, shoppers! Great news for those of you with AT&T cell coverage. The company announced today that it has expanded its mobile broadband coverage at Tysons Corner Center and Tysons Galleria by completing the installation of a new Distributed Antenna System (DAS).
DAS has the ability to provide enhanced wireless coverage to customers in indoor or outdoor spaces where geographical limitations or crowd density might otherwise prevent an optimal wireless experience (think of any lunch hour, or Friday or Saturday afternoon/evening in Tysons, not to mention holidays like Black Friday). The additional capacity is expected to help improve call reliability and enable more consistent network access.
“We want our customers to have a great network experience whatever they’re doing – whether that’s making a call, checking email, downloading apps or surfing the Internet,” says Rob Forsyth, vice president and general manager for AT&T in the greater Washington/Baltimore area. “We’re committed to our investment in the local wireless network, and providing enhanced wireless coverage at Tysons Corner Center and Tysons Galleria is just one way that we’re investing in Northern Virginia.”
So, has anyone already noticed an improvement? Sounds like good homework to do over lunch.
Happy shopping!
–Natalie Kaar
This Weekend’s Shopping Soiree Mega-Mix
Posted by Natalie Kaar / Thursday, September 22nd, 2011

Expect the runways to be rocking at this weekend's All Access Fashion event at Tysons Galleria! (PHOTO: allaccessfashion.com)
Hello there, shoppers! If you know NoVA, you know it knows how to do shopping events! This weekend is certainly no exception.
This weekend-long style spectacular begins tonight with an invitation-only fashion panel event. Then tomorrow and Saturday, there will be runway shows from many of our favorite Galleria shops and fabulous in-store experiences like designer appearances, cooking demonstrations and more (with a portion of sales in participating stores going to Make-A-Wish). And Sunday brings branded lounges and more haute happenings.
Basically show up at the Galleria just about any time this weekend, and you’ll feel like you’ve been transported to NYC. For the latest, keep your eye on Twitter.
Vintage Fashion Week Fun at Gossip on 23rd:
Get ready to make your Friday night (7-9 p.m.) fabulous, celebrating vintage fashion at its finest. As we told you a few weeks ago, Goodwill of Washington, Spicy Candy DC and Gossip on 23rd have teamed up for “Mad Men”-inspired fete to show off fashions from the “House of Goodwill”! A silent auction will benefit the charity, light refreshments will be served, a favorite local DJ will be spinning, and the first 20 guests will receive a Vintage Fashion Lookbook courtesy of Spicy Candy DC. Kat and Carlis previewed a bit of the book this week … amazing!
Scavenger hunts are just about always fun. Throw shopping in the mix, plus a chance to win one of 30 $100 gift cards or a $3,000 shopping spree, and free gifts just for browsing … sweet! That’s what’s in store for you in the Old Town Boutique District this weekend. See their website to download the map and passport, and win, win, win!
Happy shopping!
–Natalie Kaar
PS. If you find some time to be in the District, say hi to the Susan G. Komen 3-day walkers!
More Details on 2011 All Access Fashion
Posted by Natalie Kaar / Thursday, September 8th, 2011
Hello there, shoppers! So, you’ve saved the date for this year’s All Access Fashion Event at Tysons Galleria, Sept. 22-24. Well, great news: Now the schedule and all the other details you’ve been dying to see are online!
That is except for the celebrity guest info–follow All Access: Fashion on Twitter and Facebook to be the first to know when this year’s visiting fashion icon is announced.
Any guesses?
At any rate, it’s certainly time to get pumped!
–Natalie Kaar
More Fab Details on FNO at Saks, Other NoVA Shops
Posted by Natalie Kaar / Tuesday, September 6th, 2011

"A Healthy Baby Begins With You" spokeswoman and wife of Spike Lee, Tanya Lewis Lee (tanyalewislee.com)
Hello there, shoppers! So, it’s unofficially fall.
The kids are back in school. The traffic is back to nightmarish levels. And the local shopping scene is hosting all sorts of events to get us excited about the new season — and help us forget all of that horrible traffic.
Of course this week things are really heating up on the shopping front with Fashion’s Night Out! While the FNO festivities are looking mighty fine in Georgetown, there’s no need to cross the river with what Alexandria’s BeautyFull Boutique (Fashion’s Night Out Plus for plus-size pretties), Tysons Corner Center stores (Quidam by Cirque du Soleil displays and music, plus cocktails, sweet treats, raffles, tons of store discounts and more) and Tysons Galleria stores (celebrity appearances, complimentary cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, gifts with purchase, sweepstakes, live music and more) have planned.
As for Tysons Galleria, we have more details on Thursday’s soiree at Saks, and they’re stellar.
So we told you there would be healthy cooking demonstrations with star chefs and a silent auction to benefit March of Dimes, but we haven’t filled you in that Oprah’s former trainer for her Life Your Best Life Tour, Laurent Amzallag, will be there along with chiropractor Dr. Jen Faber, who has helped keep the Lada Gaga dancers dancing.
Also, the event, taking place from 4-7 p.m., presenting by “A Healthy Baby Begins With You” celebrity spokeswomen Tanya Lewis Lee (wife of Spike Lee), Saks, The March of Dimes, The Office of Minority Health and DC Magazine will include makeovers and a photo booth in celebration of the new B Brian Atwood collection.
Hope you’re resting up!
Happy shopping!
–Natalie Kaar
2011 Fashion’s Night Out at Tysons Galleria
Posted by Natalie Kaar / Tuesday, August 30th, 2011
Hello there, shoppers! Hard to believe, but it’s almost time for the third-annual Fashion’s Night Out! This year, the special worldwide event for celebrating all things fashion (with festivities planned in 16 countries and more than 100 cities nationwide) is Sept. 8, and locally Tysons Galleria looks like the place to be (from 6-9 p.m.)!
All sorts of cool experiences, discounts and freebies will be featured in stores throughout the mall.
Just a few of the specific goodies you can expect at Tysons Galleria FNO 2011:
TASTY TREATS: Enjoy savory and sweet bites at Tory Burch, Vineyard Vines, Ralph Lauren, Elie Tahari, Cole Haan, Stuart Weitzman Boutique, Thomas Pink, Nicole Miller, Karen Millen and Bo Concept.
LIVE MUSIC: The Christopher Linman Jazz Ensemble will play at Center Court from 6:30-8:30 p.m.
COCKTAILS: Anne Fontaine, in tune with their Glam Rock theme for the evening, will feature Barock ‘n’ Roll cocktails.
FREE GIFTS WITH PURCHASES: While supplies last at FNO, get a free gift when you buy something at Tommy Bahama, Stuart Weitzman Boutique, Thomas Pink, Anne Fontaine and Nicole Miller.
SWEEPSTAKES: Enter to win a new pair of Cole Haan shoes every month for a year at Stuart Weitzman and a Gabro evening bag valued at $654, a $250 gift card and Nola credit card holder valued at $390, a shirt named after you and then gifted next season at Anne Fontaine.
HENNA TATTOOS: Get temporarily inked for just $12 at Lebanese Taverna.
COOKING DEMONSTRATIONS: At Saks Fifth Avenue shop the newest fall collections and bid on unique experiences and rare items while you sample gourmet goodies from Chima, Jack Rose Dining Saloon and vegan chef Levita Mondie. The store will donate 10 percent of the evening’s sales and all auction proceeds to March of Dimes.
SUSHI: It’ll be sushi night at Entyce Bar & Lounge at the Ritz-Carlton.
Save the date! And stay informed by following Tysons Galleria on Twitter.
Happy shopping!
–Natalie Kaar
