No, it’s not the cherry blossoms that blanket Washington, D.C., where I live, in white petals. It is actually something so simple, but something so important. The return of the farmers’ market! Tucked between four of my restaurants, the National Archives and the Smithsonian Portrait Gallery, this Penn Quarter farmers’ market brings everyone in the neighborhood out of their office buildings, hotels, museums and restaurants onto the street—every Thursday from April to December—to see what our farmer friends have in store.

Now, I am a regular at the year-round farmers’ market across town in DC’s Dupont Circle, which like the one near my restaurants, is run by my friends at FRESHFARM Markets. Throughout the winter months, I take my daughters