It was barely possible for superstar chef José Andrés to eat, drink, or talk at his 20th anniversary party, because so many well-wishers crowded around to give him hugs and kisses. They included Supreme Court justice Sonia Sotomayor, US senator Mark Warner, Spanish ambassador Ramón Gil-Casares, and DC mayor Vincent Gray. The party, held Tuesday night at Andrés’s flagship Penn Quarter tapas restaurant, Jaleo, was described as only the beginning of a yearlong series of celebrations.

Working the room along with Andrés was his business partner, Rob Wilder, and other members of Think Food Group, which owns Jaleo, Oyamel, Zaytinya, and Minibar in DC, in addition to several other restaurants in Beverly Hills, Las Vegas, and Miami. But Jaleo came first, in 1993, setting a new standard for Spanish cuisine in the capital.

The party was virtually all Spanish—the food and the drinks. The evening’s cocktail was a gin and Aperol concoction, the red and white wines were from Spain, and the passed food included oysters in gin and tonic and cones with salmon roe. Midway through the party, the kitchen staff brought out a jumbo dish of paella.

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The exceedingly messy lawsuit between Arthur “Terry” Newmyer and Sidwell Friends School is headed for trial—and the circle of high-profile Washingtonians wrapped up in the case is expanding. At a hearing last week, DC Superior Court judge Michael Rankin set a trial date of November 18, 2013.

Newmyer first filed suit against Sidwell and its former psychologist in May 2011. He claims the psychologist had an affair with his wife while treating his daughter, then five, and that Sidwell took “flagrant and outrageous actions” that allowed the “open sexual relationship.”

For Sidwell—an elite private school in DC with an annual tuition of around $34,000—the lawsuit is an embarrassing airing of dirty laundry, something it normally goes to great lengths to avoid. The school’s parents, students, and alumni include many members of Washington’s most prominent families. President Obama’s two daughters attend Sidwell, as do Vice President Biden’s grandchildren; Chelsea Clinton and Al Gore III both attended the school, as did the children of cabinet secretaries, journalists, business leaders, senators, and congressmen, among others.

Newmyer’s lawsuit always had the potential to rope in some of the high-profile families who knew of the affair or whose children had been in the care of the accused psychologist, James Huntington, who also taught sex education to sixth-grade students during the year one of the Obama daughters was in that grade. That potential turned into a subpoena for Elsa Walsh, wife of journalist Bob Woodward.

Last April, Newmyer subpoenaed all of Walsh’s communications involving Huntington and Sidwell—especially those related to Huntington’s handling of a bullying incident. Walsh and Woodward have resisted the subpoena.

At a hearing last month, Newmyer’s lawyer, Kerry Scanlon, argued that the Woodward/Walsh e-mails would show that Sidwell administrators knew Huntington was conducting himself unprofessionally.

Judge Rankin has ruled that Woodward and Walsh have to turn over some of their e-mails.

Newmyer’s lawsuit has had the scent of scandal from the day it was filed on May 12, 2011. Newmyer’s complaint included e-mails with intimate details of the affair between Huntington and Tara Mehrbach, then Newmyer’s wife. They have since divorced.

And from the start, the case has raised two questions:

First, why would Terry Newmyer bring a case that could breach his child’s privacy and expose graphic details of his ex-wife’s infidelity? Newmyer is a Sidwell alum and comes from a prominent Washington family that has given generously to the school. His complaint asks for $10 million in damages.

And second, why would Sidwell not settle the case rather than allow the seamy story to play out in court? Newmyer, according to sources, attempted to settle the matter before he sued. Sidwell declined. Once Newmyer filed, the school then moved to dismiss the suit in favor of arbitration. The school requires parents to sign a student-enrollment contract that includes an agreement that any disputes between the student or family and Sidwell will be handled by a neutral arbitrator. Moreover, the contract says, “Any material filed with the arbitrator, the contents of all depositions or testimony, all documents produced during the course of the arbitration, and any remedy imposed or damages awarded by the arbitrator shall remain confidential.”

Had the court granted Sidwell’s motion, much of the information that now sits in public records would have remained private. But the motion was denied—Newmyer neither signed the contract nor authorized his then-wife to do so on his behalf, so it was determined that he was not bound by its terms.

Huntington has countersued Newmyer for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress, among other things. He requested compensatory and punitive damages totaling $13 million. Portions of the countersuit have been dismissed.

Details of the affair and the lawsuit are recounted in court documents filed in DC and Florida—where Newmyer and Mehrbach were legal residents. They were married on September 16, 2001; Newmyer is 20 years older than Mehrbach. Though they lived in Palm Beach, they had “multiple houses” in the Washington area and a house in Maine, according to Florida court documents. Newmyer filed for divorce in 2009. At the time, the couple had two daughters under the age of five.

Instead of divorcing, they signed a settlement agreement that would allow Mehrbach and the children to move to Washington while Newmyer remained in Palm Beach. They agreed to have a commuter marriage, according to Newmyer.

In September 2009, their older child started pre-kindergarten at Sidwell. Though Newmyer was an alumnus and a financial supporter of the school, he didn’t think the school would challenge his daughter. According to court documents, he was concerned she would be bored and “lose her advanced learning abilities at a young age.” But Mehrbach wanted to send her to Sidwell. Newmyer suggested Mehrbach meet with school administrators to insist they provide activities suited to her advanced skill level.

In January 2010, Sidwell’s staff psychologist, James Huntington, came to Mehrbach’s house to evaluate her daughter. He watched her play and read and asked Mehrbach a series of questions, according to court documents. The next day, a Saturday, Huntington and Mehrbach met over drinks to discuss his recommendations. Mehrbach then e-mailed Newmyer to report that Huntington had advised that their daughter needed an enriched curriculum.

Sometime between the end of January and the beginning of February, Huntington and Mehrbach began a sexual relationship. Huntington, who was divorced, had a daughter at Sidwell in the same class as Mehrbach’s child. They would arrange play dates, according to Newmyer’s complaint, so Huntington could professionally evaluate Merhbach’s daughter. The play dates also gave the psychologist a chance to play around with Mehrbach. Their relationship, according to Newmyer’s complaint, became public knowledge at Sidwell.

Huntington’s ex-wife, Liza Himmelman, questioned the affair. A child and adolescent psychologist, she warned her ex-husband that his relationship with Mehrbach was harming both of their daughters. Huntington even repeated his ex-wife’s concerns in an e-mail to Mehrbach:

“Do you really want that, Jack?” he quoted his ex-wife as writing. “When there are so many women out there, safer women, that might not cost you your reputation and job to have a relationship with? Is sex with her and are her blowjobs really worth that much risk you are taking?”

“I said yes,” Huntington wrote to Mehrbach.

During the course of the affair, Huntington sent a number of sexually explicit e-mails to Mehrbach from his Sidwell account—sometimes in the middle of the workday. His e-mails, according to Newmyer’s complaint, graphically recounted their encounters, including oral and anal sex, role-playing, and “manic rubbing and touching when [Huntington is] under the influence.”

In a March 4, 2010, exchange excerpted in Newmyer’s complaint, Huntington e-mailed Mehrbach expressing his desire “to be busy with [her] body,” and when she called to discuss it but didn’t reach him, his follow-up e-mail explained why: “Your call enabled me to kick out some 8th grade girls from my room. They were winners from Twin Day, so they were eating their prizes in here and talking about male P.E. teachers that try to hit on them.”

At the time of that e-mail—and for much of the duration of the affair during the 2009-2010 school year—Huntington taught sex education to Sidwell sixth graders, during which time First Daughter Malia Obama was in the sixth grade. Typically, the class is mandatory for all sixth graders, according to former students.

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Area Costco shoppers will soon be able to get a taste of what has made the Edwards family a sensation among chocoholics at the Pentagon. That is where they have their only area chocolate shop, Edward Marc, which because of the location is off-limits to most of us.

Christian Edwards, who runs the Pentagon store with his sister, Dana Manatos, and brother, Mark Edwards, says they are known for their signature “turtles,” with caramel, pecans, and chocolate. For Costco they’ve redesigned the recipe, combining the chocolate and caramel with salty pretzels to create bite-size treats called “snappers.” They are sold by the 24-ounce bag and will become available at 26 Costco stores, including all the stores in the metro Washington area, starting April 16.

We first met Chris last year, at the premiere of Game Change, which he attended because he is portrayed in the film for his role on the McCain-Palin campaign. Edwards is both a politician and a chocolatier, and we visited his Pentagon shop thankful, in a way, that a security clearance is required to enter. Costco, alas, only requires a membership card.

Photograph of Thatcher and Reagan via Wikimedia Commons.

There’s no doubt that Washington is experiencing a rush of sentimentality as the news spreads of the death of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher. At times in the 1980s it seemed she was as much a part of this side of the pond as the other, since she visited so often and intersected with so many Washingtonians. One of them was Gahl Burt, who met her first when she was deputy chief of protocol and then again as White House social secretary for President and Mrs. Reagan, a period of time that spanned most of the ’80s. Burt’s memories are interesting and often amusing, and while they largely have to do with important matters of state they also include hairdressers, towels, and whiskey.

On Monday, when news broke that Thatcher had died in London at the age of 87, we reached out to Burt, who was on a trip to New York and called us back between appointments. “What I remember best about her,” Burt says of Thatcher, “was she was incredibly tough but at the same time incredibly feminine.” She was the first head of state to pay an official visit to Reagan, making the trip soon after his inauguration. “One of the first things she asked for was a hairdresser.” Burt can’t remember the hairdresser’s name at this point, because he’s long gone, but whoever it was had a salon near the Madison Hotel.

During the visit, as on other visits, Thatcher resided at Blair House with her husband and daughter. “She was very concerned about her husband, making sure Dennis had a good time. He was a groundbreaker in that he was the spouse and a man. We organized golf for him.”

On the other hand, Thatcher had a project for her daughter, Carol. “She instructed her to go out and buy towels for number 10 [Downing Street]. She thought the quality of the towels at number 10 were not very good.” So off Burt went with Carol Thatcher to buy towels for the British prime minister’s official residence.

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It turns out billionaires can be just like everyone else—they want to be up front when the big act hits the stage. This particular event was not a rock concert but the Opera Ball, and the big act in question none other than Vice President Joe Biden. A handful of Washington-area billionaires pressed to the front of a virtual black-tie mosh pit to be closest to the Vice President when he made a surprise appearance at the ball Saturday night. Standing just yards from Biden and listening closely as he praised Italy and the Italian ambassador, the ball’s hosts, were Kennedy Center chair David Rubenstein, Mars candy heiress Jacqueline Mars, ball chair Connie Milstein, and philanthropist Adrienne Arsht—who combined are worth approximately $20 billion.

Word spread quickly among the 550 guests that the Vice President and his wife were at the Villa Firenze in a holding room meeting privately with ambassador Claudio Bisogniero and his wife, Laura, and would be on the stage at any moment. It was the first time in recent memory that anyone could recall a Vice President attending the annual gala, which costs upward of $1,000 a ticket and raises money for the Washington National Opera. There was no clue in advance, because unlike most appearances by the Vice President—for example, last week at the Kennedy Center for the Vital Voices award ceremony—there were no security checks, no Secret Service agents operating walk-through magnetometers, looking inside handbags or asking for IDs.

Maybe there were special security screening devices in the flower-festooned golf carts that shuttled guests from valet parking on Albermarle Street, four to six to a cart, up and around the long, curving driveway to the impressive Italian residence, which, while bathed in bright colored lights, was still somewhat upstaged by the two luxury Italian roadsters parked out front, a Ferrari and a Maserati. They were there to be admired and to remind us the Italians know how to make hot cars. Indoors, and under a massive marquee out back, the WNO re-created an Italian town square, adorned with lemons—in cachepots large and small and even hanging from the ceiling intertwined with votive candles—plus enough pasta, risotto, cheeses, meats, olives, cakes, cookies, chocolates, and other desserts to easily feed everyone. As with last year, when the ball was at the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates, Susan Gage provided the catering. There were bars in every direction and a special table dedicated to sampling notable Italian wines, plus a self-serve limoncello bar with three brands of the liqueur available on tap. The evening’s specialty cocktail was a creation of limoncello and Champagne served in a flute.

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Meet DC’s tiniest resident, the Little Heart Man.

He’s the brainchild of Lorie Shaull, a government consultant by day and pipe cleaner sculptor by night. Inspired by street artists, Shaull began placing the men around the District this past summer.

You’re most likely to catch him hanging out around Dupont Circle or Capitol Hill, says Shaull, who puts her creations in places she thinks they will be easy to spot.

Her goal? Simply to make DC residents smile.

“I happened to notice someone walk by one of them once and just saw them react positively to it,” she said. “And I thought that was really sweet.”

You can see more photos of the Little Heart Man in action on Facebook.

The cherry blossoms at the Tidal Basin, which had been forecast by the National Park Service to open last week, and then this week, now are expected to achieve peak bloom next week. The NPS says the date change is due to the continued cold spring weather that has gripped the region and won’t seem to let go. We made another unscientific sunrise visit to the cherry trees on Friday morning, and while less tightly closed than last Friday and showing just a hint of color, they were still more bud than flower.

The new predicted peak bloom dates are April 6 through 8, and Mother Nature may oblige, but slowly. Friday is expected to be in the 60s, Saturday in the 50s, and Sunday, at last, in the 70s, with the warm temps forecast to last through next week. What this means is it’s probably safe to start planning your trip to the Tidal Basin, whether it’s for a walk, a run, a bike or boat ride, a picnic, or—a particular favorite of longtime Washingtonians—a visit at sunrise or after sunset. Parking can be a challenge, but there are spaces available on the edges of West Potomac Park near the river.

For Metro riders, the Smithsonian stop at 12th and Independence is the recommended stop, with a walk along the Mall to the Tidal Basin. Another option, with a longer walk but maybe fewer people, is to get off at Foggy Bottom and walk down 23rd to the Lincoln Memorial and across to the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, which is adjacent to the Tidal Basin and the blossoms. For more information, visit WMATA.

Photograph by Carol Ross Joynt.

About the only professional definition Hillary Clinton owns up to right now is “former Secretary of State.” She doesn’t talk of or even hint at the 2016 presidential race. But Washington is a city of political watchers and speculators, and Clinton gave them a lot of fodder this week. On Tuesday she made her first speech since leaving the cabinet, with an appearance at the 2013 Vital Voices Global Leadership Awards at the Kennedy Center. At the same time it was revealed that she will make her first paid speech on April 24 in Dallas to the National Multi Housing Council.

The Dallas appearance is interesting because on that same day, and in the same city, another “non-candidate,” former Florida governor Jeb Bush, is also making a speech—to the World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth. The next day, Clinton and Bush will appear together at Southern Methodist University for the dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Center, along with President Barack Obama and the former presidents Bush (W. and H.W.), Bill Clinton, and Jimmy Carter. In the realm of political speculation, a Clinton-Bush presidential contest is beguiling.

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Photograph courtesy of Tom Schieffer.

Recent speculation about whether Caroline Kennedy will be nominated by President Obama to become ambassador to Japan has focused attention on that particular high-profile diplomatic post, especially since it has never before gone to a woman. Still, the list of past ambassadors is impressive and emphasizes strong political and diplomatic skills. John Roos, a Silicon Valley lawyer and Obama friend, is the current ambassador. His predecessor was Tom Schieffer, a Texas businessman who had also been ambassador to Australia. Schieffer, the younger brother of CBS News correspondent Bob Schieffer, served in Tokyo from 2005 to 2009, and though a Democrat he was appointed by a Republican, his friend President George W. Bush.

We checked in with Tom Schieffer on Thursday to find out more about what it means to be ambassador to Japan. He calls it “a great experience” and says he’s “never found anything quite as satisfying as serving your country in a foreign land.” Now based in Fort Worth and running his own company, Envoy International, he considers Tokyo unique in the modern diplomatic corps, because “you are it” and if you are a “substantive person who wants to play a larger role in the American foreign policy, Japan is a good place to do that.” While he would not disclose any inside information about whether Kennedy is in line for the position, he does say he thinks she would be a good choice and one that would be popular with the Japanese.

What’s the learning curve like in switching from a job outside the diplomatic corps and into an ambassador post?

It’s pretty steep, but fortunately you have a lot of people who are very helpful. It’s very interesting, and that’s one thing that makes it fun. You get to talk to a whole lot of people about a whole lot of things. The State Department is very good about that. You go all over the federal government, and they give you briefings and tell you what their particular department is concerned about.

They have “charm school,” a two-week briefing—they bring in eight to ten nominees, both political appointees and career diplomats, and they go through what it means to be an ambassador. They tell you, “This is going to be the most interesting job you’ve ever had in your life.” Anybody who has done it will say at the end that it was.

Do you become involved with a large staff?

The thing about a foreign post—and a lot of people don’t know it—is that there are so many federal agencies present at the post. In Japan there are about 27 federal agencies that have some sort of representative there. It’s very interesting because there’s such a broad range of issues and you’re talking to people who are very smart and about subjects that are intellectually fulfilling.

It’s a place of action. Sometimes people think being an ambassador means going to receptions. You do a lot of that, but it’s the least of what you do. It’s a hard job. I started at 7:30 in the morning and was done at 10 at night, practically seven days a week, because something is always going on.

Why did you leave diplomatic life?

The President appoints, and when presidents change you go.

Would you return?

Sure. It’s a great experience.

What are the central issues in which a US ambassador to Japan would have to be well versed?

The US-Japan Alliance. It is the lynchpin of our whole foreign policy in Northeast Asia and Asia as a whole. It is the thread that runs through the stability of the region. We have 50,000 troops in Japan. That’s more than anywhere else in the world. Everybody depends on those troops being there and the American presence being there.

What you have in Asia is the last place where great powers can reasonably collide—the Taiwan Strait and the Korean Peninsula. As dangerous as it is, the day has passed when you would have a superpower confrontation that would lead to war in the Mideast. That doesn’t mean you wouldn’t have a war in the Mideast, but not between two nuclear powers.

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Amid the 35 proposals to relocate the FBI’s headquarters on Pennsylvania Avenue—the area’s biggest economic development gem in years—is a surprising plan that might just keep the Bureau in downtown Washington, constructing a new building close to Union Station and answering the dreams of many senior FBI leaders.

The Union Station proposal—not previously reported—is backed by Republic Properties and renowned DC architect Arthur Cotton Moore and would provide the FBI with the full required 2.1 million square feet (2,107,242 to be exact) of new space. Republic Properties proposes to build on an empty lot—bordered by North Capitol Street, Massachusetts Avenue, Northwest, and New Jersey Avenue—currently used as parking for the Government Printing Office, which occupies the eastern portion of the block. The neighboring GPO building, which handles the printing of the Congressional Record and passports, among other projects, is underused and in need of renovation itself. Republic Properties is proposing renovations to the GPO facility, the addition of underground parking, and the construction of a new FBI headquarters.

While much of the attention around the headquarters move has focused on the suburbs—suggested sites include Springfield, Virginia, and Greenbelt, Maryland—many senior FBI officials have longed for a viable solution that would keep the Bureau’s 11,000 headquarters staff in downtown DC. The Hoover Building, built nearly 40 years ago and aging badly, has forced the FBI to split its headquarters staff across more than 20 annexes in Washington. Yet FBI officials are wary of moving to the suburbs, which would complicate relations with Congress, the White House, and especially the Department of Justice—currently just across Pennsylvania Avenue from the existing Hoover Building. FBI officials also hope to reopen its public tour, closed since 9/11, in a new headquarters, allowing the building to once again be a major stopping point for tourists.

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