Enjoy as Alice partakes in a race where everyone wins, a mad tea party, stolen tarts and her dream-filled escape to a strange land of amazing creatures, including the Madd Hatter, King and Queen of Hearts and the grinning Cheshire Cat.

The World Premiere of Alice, at Round House Theatre in suburban Bethesda, blends the childlike fantasy with a wildly imaginative theatrical experience that should delight both children and adults alike. 

Alice
Round House Theatre
4545 East West Highway
Bethesda, MD 20814 (map it)

Dates and Times – Wednesdays – Sundays, November 26 – December 28, 2008.

Tickets – $50.00 – $60.00 and are available online.  Appropriate for children 6 and up.

Nearest Metro Subway Station – Bethesda, Red line, then a 1-block walk.

Parking – Paid parking ($4.00) in the attended underground garage across the street from the theatre. Entrance is on Waverly Street.

Image – Alice – public domain
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Post from: The DC Traveler

The test kitchen chefs select a couple dishes to perfect, then try dozens, and sometimes over a hundred versions of the dish until its perfect, easy for the home cook and as easy as possible.

The resident chefs show step-by-step instructions making recreating their dishes simple and stress free.

The show also tests cooking equipment and gadgets, and has a food tasting segment where supermarket foods are rated after being tested by a panel of tasters.

The show’s host, Christopher Kimball is also the publisher of a great hands-on and mostly advertising-free cooking magazine, Cook’s Illustrated and recently launched a second publication, Cook’s Country Magazine.

Kimball is hitting the road to promote his new cookbooks, The America’s Test Kitchen Family Baking Book and The Cook’s Country Cookbook.

Christopher Kimball of America’s Test Kitchen
Friendship Heights Village Community Center
4433 S. Park Avenue
Chevy Chase, Maryland 20815 (map it)

Date and Time – Thursday, November 13, 2008, 7:00 p.m.

Tickets – Free, but reservations are required by calling 301-656-2797

Nearest Metro Subway Station – Friendship Heights – Red line, then a 4-block walk.

Parking – Limited free street parking, with paid parking at the mall across the street.

Image – Flickr – Kimball
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Post from: The DC Traveler

This year, about 70 well-known authors, illustrators and poets will talk about their books and offer autographs in the following outdoor pavilions:

• Children
• Teens & Children
• Fiction & Fantasy
• Mysteries & Thrillers
• History & Biography
• Home & Family
• Poetry

Some of the noted authors (click here for the full list) include Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David Kennedy; Ken Burns; M.T. Anderson, the winner of the 2006 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature; Joyce Carol Oates and more.

This year’s U.S. Poet Laureate will also be named near the Library of Congress.

2007 National Book Festival
National Mall – between 7th and 14th Streets
Washington, DC (map it)

Date and Time – Saturday, Sept. 29th, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m

Tickets – This event ifs free.

Nearest Metro Subway Station – Smithsonian – line, then a  block walk

Parking – Mall parking will be tough that day, as this event usually attracts 10,000+ attendees.  Best to take Metro.

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Post from: The DC Traveler

Jim Toole, a retired navy man, took over Capitol Hill Books about 12 years ago.  With a classic dry sense of humor that he shares freely with his customers, he’s also always ready to display a rather broad knowledge of books and authors. 

His shop is literally crammed from floor to ceiling with roughly 20,000 reasonably priced used books, from first editions to more current popular best sellers. Covering three floor plus a couple staircases and even a bathroom in an older Capitol Hill row house, the shop can seem a bit claustrophobic.

He told me he sources quality used books by spending a good deal of his time at estate sales and at book auctions.

On my most recent visit, I eavesdropped on a conversation between Jim and a customer where he displayed a rather deep knowledge of Winston Churchill biographers. Later at the counter while helping a different customer, there was an interesting exchange with a “Capitol Hill insider” who told a story about how Watergate reporter Bob Woodward was able to get past White House policy and interview Donald Rumsfeld for his latest book.  

I asked Jim about the most requested author. Without hesitation he stated, “Kirt Vonnegut, his books fly off the shelves”. He describes his shop as “disorderly and confused”, when in fact it’s fairly easy to find just about any of the dozens of genres he stocks. 

You can get a glimpse of Jim’s sense of humor by reading various signs around the shop, especially at the front counter where he displays some popular best sellers. 

For an example, see the above photo over the law books section.  He even makes a statement about foreign language books by storing them in one of the shop’s bathrooms because, as he put it, “…the state of foreign language in the U.S. is in the toilet”. 

It’s an enjoyable place to browse and get lost in a great book…that is, if you’re not claustrophobic. 

Capital Hill Books
657 C Street SE, Washington, DC 20003 – Across from Eastern Market
Phone: 202-544-1621
Hours: Mon. – Fri. 11:30-6:00, Sat. & Sun. 9:00-6:00

Post from: The DC Traveler