Multi-coloured ‘porcelain’ berries, cycle lane sharing in the DMV area

The DMV area – Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia – is rich in interesting sights.

All photos: Rashmee Roshan Lall

Porcelain Berry vine

The Porcelain Berry vine with its multi-coloured fruit is all over. We saw these near the Rock Creek Park, the pink, lavender, turquoise and blue berries looking as if they are plastic fruit on an improbably lush fake plant. The botanical name of the plant is Variegated Ampelopsis brevipedunculata Elegans.

With cities all over the world laying down miles and miles of new bicycle lanes, here’s a good way to encourage sharing (and mitigate pedestrian envy).

The farmers’ markets – Dupont Circle, Arlington, and many more – are a wonderful sight. We noticed the price difference between D.C. and Virginia. A pint of cherry tomatoes were $5 in D.C. and a buck cheaper in Virginia.

Purple Indian corn adds to the Halloween display at a market stall.

At the Pepper Palace in Pentagon City Mall, we learned (via the taste test) that the Bhoot Jholakia (Ghost Pepper) from northeastern India really wasn’t the hottest chilli in the world. (It’s time at the top was brief — just four years from 2007.) I tasted all the California Reaper sauces. By a vote of one, the mustard blend sauce (extreme right, labelled ‘Time’s Up’) was the most more-ish.