By Eliza Berkon, Winn Duvall, Stefanie Gans, Beth Kellmurray and Lynn Norusis
This week, Northern Virginia Magazine editors are looking forward to a One More Page book talk, Torpedo Factory exhibit, a trip to Theodore Roosevelt Island and an apothecary workshop, plus what we’re watching right now.
Katy Upperman book talk
Aug. 5, 7-8 p.m.
In our August issue, we featured local author Katy Upperman’s book Kissing Max Holden. These are my initial thoughts on it, if you haven’t had the chance to read it yet: “It’s like reliving your first kiss: the pounding heart, the rushing pulse, the flushed cheeks and the goosebumps.” This weekend, Upperman is speaking at One More Page about her debut young adult novel. –LN // One More Page: 2200 N. Westmoreland St., Suite 101, Arlington
A Day in Paris: Brunch and The Art of Fermentation Workshop
Aug. 6, 3-5:30 p.m.
I have an idea. Let’s go to Paris. First, get a late brunch at The Ashby Inn’s restaurant and eat on the patio under the ceiling fans. (Hopefully it won’t feel like a swamp outside—it’s usually much cooler this far from the city.) Check out the Inn’s new Paris Apothecary, because don’t we all like to believe, if only sometimes, in mother nature’s healing power? Walk around the grounds, recline in Adirondack chairs, and then at 3 p.m., head back to the shop and learn how the ancient methods of fermentation are still relevant in making our body happy today. –SG // The Ashby Inn: 692 Federal St., Paris
Reality check
Through Sept. 3
I’ll be in Old Town Alexandria for an interview this Friday and hope to steal away for a few minutes to pop into the Sarah Nesbitt show, Making Sense of What We Have, at Torpedo Factory’s Target Gallery. Her mixed-media work focuses on means of obfuscating the truth, a topic that couldn’t be more relevant in the current political climate. –EB // Torpedo Factory: 105 N. Union St., Alexandria
Exploring Theodore Roosevelt Island
After being closed for a couple weekends for tree removal, Theodore Roosevelt Island is back open to the public, and I’ve been meaning to check it out since we wrote about it in the July 2015 issue. Though technically part of D.C., this island in the Potomac is only accessible from Virginia via the George Washington Memorial Parkway, and it offers a couple of short trails through forest and swampland that was designed in honor of the conservationist president. –WD
Movies are good again
After a dry spell that seemed to sprawl for months, all of the sudden, there are a ton of new movies I want to see. I’ve already seen The Big Sick and Dunkirk and couldn’t recommend them more, and this weekend, I want to check out Detroit and Landline. In Detroit, director Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty) applies her gritty, breakneck style to a retelling of the 1967 Detroit riots. Landline is Gillian Robespierre’s second movie following one of my all-time favorites, 2014’s Obvious Child, and like that movie, it also stars eternal girl crush Jenny Slate. Slate plays the older sibling in a sisterly duo that goes sleuthing to find out if their dad’s having an affair. (And John Turturro is the dad! And Edie Falco is the mom! What a lineup.) –BK
