Mini-Break: Hot Tea Spot in London pt. 2

High-Fashion Tea
Name a swank hotel -- the Ritz, Brown's, the Dorchester -- and you can count on finding a lavish tea. But for my money, and we are talking major money at top hotel teas, the Berkeley's "Pret-a-Portea, a fashionista's afternoon tea," wins hands down.
At 4:15 on a drizzly fall Monday in the Knightsbridge area, the Berkeley's Caramel Room is full. A lively group of business-suited men and women appears to be enjoying an early escape from the office; two elegant men to my right, in seamless succession, turn first to each other, then to their PDAs, then to their teacups. My window-front seat overlooks the driveway, where doormen in bowler hats gracefully open the doors of arriving Jaguars.
In my cup is a most delicious sip of pear-caramel tea. The waiter presents a tier of tiny canapes, identifying each: crust-less sandwiches of ham, cheese and cucumber; cherry tomatoes stuffed with couscous; salmon in a snaillike curl. Finally, the waiter offers what I'm here for: a fanciful array of cakes and sweets, whose colors and shapes replicate the creations of top fashion designers for the season. Framed photos display each item's inspiration. The pink-iced, chocolate-sashed cookie-dress is a Michael Kors; the sky-blue-iced, lemon-sponge, handbag-shaped concoction, an Anya Hindmarch; in all, nine delectable works of art. And truly, the sight of my proper Englishman at the next table biting into a pastry shaped like a Manolo Blahnik stiletto is quite worth the price of the tea on its own.
The Berkeley (Wilton Place, Knightsbridge, http://www.the-berkeley.co.uk/). Pret-a-Portea daily 1-6 p.m., about $60. Reservations recommended.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/12/AR2008091201622.html?hpid=travelpromo

We're on Facebook!

You are invited to join the Facebook group "Central New Jersey Chapter of the Jane Austen Society of North America".

To see more details and confirm this group invitation, follow the link below: http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=1096503160&k=Y2LU4ZPYVZXM5FM1PDX5S4

Everyone can join Facebook. To register, go to:

http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=1096503160&k=Y2LU4ZPYVZXM5FM1PDX5S4&r

Looking For Artist to Draw Map of Bath for the JASNA Web Site

The following request came from the JASNA Web Master, Carol Moss. From Carol Moss:
I hope you've seen the new section of the JASNA website that we launched last month featuring maps of the Austen novels. It has one map for each of the novels showing both fictional and real locations referenced. In case you missed it, it's at: http://www.jasna.org/info/maps.html
Click here for Link
I would really like to add a map for Bath (and eventually London ). I have a 1803 map of Bath that I bought many years ago during a trip there. But, it doesn't scan well and isn't limited to places and streets mentioned in the novels, making it very busy to look at. I am looking for a JASNA member with some drawing abilities to work with me to create a proper Austen map of Bath that we could post on the JASNA website. The artist would be credited for the map and have an opportunity to add an important page to our website. Thanks!
Carol Moss
JASNA Web Site Manager
If interested contact our e-mail and I'll send you Carol's contact info.

REMINDER: Royal Oak Foundation's October 15 lecture

Our sister chapter, JASNA-NY is honored and excited to co-sponsor the Royal Oak Foundation's October 15 lecture, "I Ask Only a Comfortable Home -- Jane Austen and Regency Domestic Interiors."

Space is limited and tickets are selling fast. JASNA-NY's special member price of $30 includes a lovely post-lecture reception. If you plan to attend, you can order your tickets from the Royal Oak Foundation (see below).

'I Ask Only a Comfortable Home': Jane Austen and Regency Domestic Interiors. A Lecture by Lisa White, Director, Attingham Summer School for the Study of Historic Houses, England

Jane Austen's novels contain very few actual descriptions of domestic interiors, but there is much in those books that informed the author's own generation, and informs ours now, about her attitude to contemporary ideas of 'the ideal home.' Frequently without a permanent home in her own life, Austen appreciated the concept of a happy, settled, comfortable family existence in a country house, easy social exchange with kind neighbors, sufficient income and freedom from insecurity, even at the cost of an embarrassing husband: hence the words she put into Charlotte Lucas's mouth in Pride and Prejudice (1813). Indeed, at the time that Jane Austen was writing, during a lengthy period of war, ideas about domestic comfort, and the concept of 'home' were achieving a new significance in Britain. In this lecture, Lisa White explores these ideas through contemporary writing, multitudinous furnishing pattern books and the visual record of English houses during the Regency period.

Time: 6 PM.
Location: Abigail Adams Smith Auditorium (Colonial Dames),
417 East 61st Street (between First and York)
Cost: $30 for members of JASNA-NY & the Royal Oak Foundation
$35 for non-members

Register with the Royal Oak Foundation in the following manner:
Identify yourself as a member of JASNA-NY to receive the lower price.
ONLINE: http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001-eWJBTqbOilMpNkZLFftwqxW0el3l06_Xc4PaU0EoZv3F0I0GGvOLAL8Q5w-5LANKRfXBbn-9ZuNsLOaYUbr1QbeoHSBDKuL5FKjf1IhOG3IdnLbi_JwaMxO60VCyrXO or email: http://us.mc564.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=lectures@Royal-Oak.org

History, history, and more history!

Best of History Web Sites is an award winning portal containing annotated links to over 1000 history websites. This is a great place to start a search on your Regency history research. http://besthistorysites.net/

Bookmark this site

Do you love bookmarks? Mirage Bookmark maintains a web site that houses, in addition to its retail shop, an online museum dedicated to this portable but potent art form. Lots of related links will keep bibliophiles meandering through the internet in a happy daze. http://miragebookmark.ch/

Mini-Break: Hot Tea Spot in London

Tea in the Garden
At the other end of the kettle from fancy is the tea at the Chelsea Physic Garden's Tangerine Dream Cafe. The cafe's vaguely hallucinogenic-sounding name hints at the original and continuing purpose of the garden, which was founded in 1673 by the Society of Apothecaries of London: to grow and study medicinal plants. Situated near the Thames in the quiet back streets of Chelsea, these wall-enclosed 3.8 acres are home to 5,000 plants and flowering shrubs carefully labeled by name and botanic purpose, such as the Aloysia triphylla (lemon verbena) used in aromatherapy.
On a warmish early autumn afternoon, most people are here for the garden. A tour is in progress, gathered around the statue of Sir Hans Sloane, whose intercession in 1712 ensured the garden's survival. I'm no gardener, but I know what I like, and I like sitting on the terrace, sipping my Earl Grey tea, slathering my lavender scone with clotted cream and jam, admiring the taste of the Tunisian citrus almond cake and casually observing other visitors. At a nearby table, I overhear women my own age discuss a fashion trend among teenage girls, tights with minuscule shorts. "It's a rather curious look, and I'll be glad when it's past," muses one of the mums.
You order inside, in the church-basement-like tearoom (you can also dine there, but you won't want to, unless it's raining), and carry your meal out to the terrace. Everything is made on the premises, and you can tell -- in a good way. The menu is a la carte and presents savory choices, such as crostini of buffalo mozzarella and tapenade, and sweet choices, including scones, cakes and tarts.
Tangerine Dream Cafe (Chelsea Physic Garden, 66 Royal Hospital Rd., Chelsea, http://www.chelseaphysicgarden.co.uk/). Open mid-March through Oct. 31, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday 12:30-5 p.m. Admission to the garden is about $12; cake and tea about $9 more. From http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/12/AR2008091201622.html?hpid=travelpromo

Field Trip to Red Bank to see Duchess on hold!

Our field trip leaders- BJM and SWM-- have reported that the Clearview does not have the Duchess scheduled as yet. Once we have some news as to when it will be showing, it will be posted.

Brilliant Women: 18th Century Bluestockings

Brilliant Women: 18th-Century BluestockingsElizabeth Eger and Lucy Peltz

The National Portrait Gallery in London organized an exhibit about the bluestockings this year, and published Brilliant Women to accompany it. Not surprisingly, Elizabeth Eger, who teaches English at King‘s College, and Lucy Peltz, a curator at the gallery, did a brilliant job. Portraits from the Gallery‘s collection illustrate the scholarly, yet accessible text. The book also explores the bluestocking legacy, with the inclusion of a bas bleu lineage from Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley to Germaine Greer and other contemporary figures. Full of color plates and other images, Brilliant Women celebrates the historical import and social impact of its remarkable and fascinating subjects. From Bas Bleu Booksellers.

Mobile Books

Since 1954, Book Aid International has provided more than 25 million books to underprivileged people in Africa and Asia. The organization is dedicated to the idea that literacy is fundamental to eradicating poverty. By rehabilitating libraries in war-torn countries and creating mobile libraries that reach isolated communities, Book Aid is proving that "books enable people to make a real change to their lives." For more information visit http://www.bookaid.org/

Duchess is great!!!

The Duchess by Amanda Foreman (at left with MB) was recently turned into a movie with Keira Knightly. Tonight, the JASNA-NY and Byron Society hosted a special screening of the movie with a discussion with the author afterward in NYC. The movie was deliciously rich and luxurious, as well as moving. It is a must see for all Janeites.

Book Suggestion: People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks

From Publishers Weekly: Reading Geraldine Brooks's remarkable debut novel, Year of Wonders, or more recently March, which won the Pulitzer Prize, it would be easy to forget that she grew up in Australia and worked as a journalist. Now in her dazzling new novel, People of the Book, Brooks allows both her native land and current events to play a larger role while still continuing to mine the historical material that speaks so ardently to her imagination.

For more of this article: http://www.amazon.com/People-Book-Novel-Geraldine-Brooks/dp/067001821X

Copyright 2007 Publishers Weekly.

He looks so familiar...

Starring in the new movie, "The Duchess," Dominic Cooper was recently in Mamma Mia (see Wet White Shirt Alert for more on Colin Firth) and in the highly recommended History Boys (as suggested by CP).

Thanks to BJM and CP for the info. :)

Eastern PA JASNA cordially invites you...

“The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.”
On Saturday, September 27th, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., we will tour the Rosenbach Museum and Library, home to many Jane Austen first editions, as well as a wonderful rosewood chest that once belonged to the Prince Regent. The tour will be conducted by staff of the Rosenbach. We have arranged for a curatorial tour and a special presentation of additional first editions of novels admired by Jane Austen.The Rosenbach Museum and Library is located at 2008-2010 Delancey Place, Philadelphia, PA.

Luncheon is on your own, following the tour. There is a wonderful choice of restaurants in this area. Parking is available in the area, and includes limited on-street parking as well as parking garages. Directions may be found at the Rosenbach's website: http://www.rosenbach.org/visit/directions.html

The cost for this event is $15 per person for members or guests.R.S.V.P to Kelly Fineman, Regional Coordinator, at the Region's address: P.O. Box 3526, Cherry Hill, NJ 08003 Due to the Rosenbach's requirements, no refunds will be possible after September 13, 2008.

Regis & Kelly tomorrow-Keira Knightly

Keira Knightley will be on the Regis and Kelly show tomorrow morning (Tuesday) promoting the movie.

Thanks SWM

English Country Dance: Austen and Beyond

An English Country Dance class is being offered at the Princteon Day School. There are 8 Session(s) running Tues 7:00-9:00 pm, starting October 7. For more information or to sign up-please follow this link: http://www.ssreg.com/princeton/classes/results.asp?code=048

Little-known fact about Jane #12

A new version of Persuasion, re-named Me, I Don't Take Much Persuasion and scripted by Andrew Davies, is soon to be filmed, with Pamela Anderson as Anne and Mickey Rourke as Captain Wentworth.

In an arresting new opening, Anne and Captain Wentworth are seen making love in a Regency bed; the middle scenes also see them in bed together, and they are in bed together, too, in the final scene, only this time the bed is of a slightly later design, to emphasise the passage of time. "It's what Jane Austen would have wanted," says Andrew Davies, who is now working on his next adaptation, this time of EM Forster's Howard's Bottom.
By Craig Brown The Telegraph 26/01/2008 www.telegraph.co.uk

Duchess in NJ on Sept. 19

The Duchess movie will be playing at Clearview Movie Theatre, Red Bank, NJ 9/19/08. http://www.theduchessmovie.com/ and http://www.clearviewcinemas.com/

We will be going as a group on Friday the 19th. More details to follow by separate e-mail.

Thanks BJM for info.

Jane Austen Engagement Ring

A Portland, Maine jewelry store is advertising the "Jane Austen's English Ivy Diamond Engagement Ring". The ad copy reads: "From the era of lace and love, grace and honor. This is a ring that is both romantic and perfectly logical. The romance is in the details...it always is. Our Austen style is...twelve graduated diamonds, and English ivy exquisitely engraved down the sides...made for a lifetime of love. The Jane Austen English Ivy Ring is a ring for the romantically inclined. 1/2 carat to over 2 carats. Your choice platinum or gold."

http://www.crossjewelers.com/style/austen.htm