Cookbooks for creativity in the kitchen
The Bibliophile Relax and rest easy this season. Here’s expert advice on preparing your holiday feasts. Delicious Gatherings: Recipes to Celebrate Together, by Tara Bench, 260 pages, Shadow Mountain hardcover, 2022 This cookbook offers 105 recipes for brunch, dinner, cookout and buffet-style meals. Occasions such as Thanksgiving feast, mezze dinner party and Tex Mex fiesta are... READ MORE
Former lobbyist lampoons his profession
“He was a morally vacuous human being, but he came by it naturally. As a descendent of a long line of grifters, [he] was perfectly suited for a life in politics.” And away we go in the satirically realistic novel about Capitol Hill, A Feeding Frenzy in Washington, published in September by former longtime Bethesda resident George Franklin. This is Franklin’s fourth... READ MORE
‘Fat Ham:’ A joyful, intense spin on ‘Hamlet’
Time’s a-wasting; get thee to Fat Ham, James Ijames’ Pulitzer-prize winning party of a play, at the Studio Theatre through January 14. Taylor Reynolds, an OBIE-award winner, directs a stellar cast with a special shoutout to Marquis D. Gibson as Juicy and Thomas Walter Booker as Cousin Tio. If you know Hamlet, you might imagine that you know where this multi-Tony- nominated play is... READ MORE
Jewelry store keeps family tradition shining
Diamonds may be forever, but neighborhood jewelry stores have been fast-fading — except, perhaps, for those generationally owned, like St. John’s Jewelers. The Ellicott City store is celebrating its half-century as a family business this year. “I started working in the store when I was 16, a student at Randallstown High School,” said Linda Miller, 62. She now owns and operates... READ MORE
Innate creative urge drives late-life artist
Fantasy, surrealism and whimsy infuse the paintings, drawings, prints, storybooks, YouTube videos and soon-to-be-released films of Baltimore artist Craig Haupt. Haupt, 74, whose exhibition of oil paintings opens November 2 at the Katsea Gallery in Towson, said his art is influenced by masters like Salvador Dali, Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky and Pablo Picasso. “These artists gave me... READ MORE
You can take your senior discount and…
Senior privilege is all around us. Dedicated seating on buses and subways. Discounts at the movies. Youngsters who offer to walk us across the street — well, sometimes, anyway. This old guy has always been ambivalent about such tilts. On the one hand, we oldies have earned them. On the other hand, we should be the ones who say “no, thanks,” because younger people often need the... READ MORE
Experts provide sound advice on aging
The Bibliophile Here are several helpful books that focus on health and wellbeing as we age. Keep Sharp: Build a Better Brain at Any Age, by Sanjay Gupta, MD, 336 pages, Simon & Schuster paperback 2022; 12 Weeks to a Sharper You: A Guided Program, by Sanjay Gupta, MD, 190 pages, Simon & Schuster paperback, 2022 Many of us are familiar with the reassuring, no-nonsense approach ... READ MORE
New and old musicals come to National
Another season of top Broadway shows on tour is coming to the National Theatre in downtown Washington, D.C. “We’re always thrilled to give Broadway fans a wonderful night out in the heart of the District,” said Ryan Baker, marketing director of the National Theatre. The first, Mrs. Doubtfire, known as “everyone’s favorite Scottish nanny,” will run October 10 to 15. Based... READ MORE
Stirring ‘Evita’ revival tells riveting story
Evita, at the Shakespeare Theatre Company, opens with a beautiful image of a dress — aloft, pristine and sparkling — in the center of a spare, dim stage at the death of Eva Duarte Perón. Over the course of this absorbing, engrossing production, the complex, stylish heroine fills her dress — indeed, more than one — as she becomes first lady of Argentina. The musical, a run of the ... READ MORE
Shaking the rafters in Toby’s ‘Sister Act’
This fall, the beloved Toby’s Dinner Theatre in Columbia, Maryland, is presenting Sister Act. Featuring engaging characters and songs by the Oscar-winning composer Alan Menken, the show will please most any theater-goer. Based on a popular 1992 film starring Whoopi Goldberg, the plot revolves around one Deloris Van Cartier, a rebellious singer living in the 1970s disco... READ MORE
Arts 2024
