Fourth Annual Coffee & Tea Festival: NYC

Fourth Annual Coffee & Tea Festival: NYC

April 18, 11:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.
April 19, 11:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
Metropolitan Pavilion New York, New York
Celebrate everything coffee and tea with enthusiasts from around the world. Indulge your taste buds with tea sampling and coffee fare, and witness cooking demonstrations, all while enjoying a unique artistic atmosphere and musical entertainment. Hundreds of exhibitors will offer a plethora of herbal teas and gourmet coffees throughout the afternoon. For more information, call 631-940-7290, or visit http://www.coffeeandteafestival.com/.

The Ensemble Theatre of New Jersey Presents “Pride and Prejudice”

The Ensemble Theatre of New Jersey, a performance arm of Franklin Theatre Works, is proud to present “Pride and Prejudice”. All the wit and romance of Jane Austen”s 1813 novel comes to life in this refreshingly fast-paced and engaging adaptation by Jon Jory. “Pride and Prejudice” tells the story of life and love among the English gentility during the Georgian era, and focuses on the Bennet family whose future happiness and security are dependant on the daughters making good marriages. With the arrival of several eligible bachelors in their neighborhood, the five Bennet sisters find their lives turned upside down, as pride confronts prejudice, upward mobility encounters social disdain and hasty judgments challenge good sense.

“Pride and Prejudice” will be performed on Friday, April 3 and Saturday, April 4 at 7:30 p.m. at the theatre of North Hunterdon High School on Route 31 in Annandale, N.J. Tickets are $15 for adults and $6 for seniors and students, and will be available at the door or may be purchased in advance by calling 908-310-0041. Refreshments will be sold at intermission.

Recipe for Lemon Curd-Yum!

Lemon Curd
Makes 2 cups
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice2 tablespoons lemon zest3 egg yolks1 1/2 cups sugar1/2 cup butter, cut into pieces
1. In a double boiler over medium-high heat, whisk together lemon juice, lemon zest, and egg yolks. Add sugar and continue whisking for 8 to 10 minutes until lemon curd thickens slightly. Remove from heat, and gradually whisk in butter until melted. Cool mixture slightly; pour into container, and chill.

From Teatime Magazine

Montgomery Woman’s Club to Hold Gala Spring Tea April 18th

“Jane Austen’s Time: The Regency Period,” will be the theme of a gala historical tea to be hosted by the Montgomery Woman’s Club on Saturday, April 18, from 2:00PM to 4:00PM at the Harlingen Church in Montgomery Township.

Alisa Dupuy, professional storyteller, will present tea traditions, life and customs of England’s Regency Period. Ms. Dupuy, an area resident and teacher, has become well known for her entertaining and historically accurate presentations.

The public is invited to attend the tea. The entrance fee is $15.00. For more information and reservations, please contact Ellen Parravano (609) 466-4903.
Organized in 1967, Montgomery Woman’s Club focuses on the educational, social, recreational and philanthropic interests of its members through a combination of community services and special interest groups.

The Club is affiliated with the New Jersey State Federation of Women’s Clubs – the largest volunteer service organization for women in the state.

Crystallised Beauty music

Philip Sheppard is a composer specialising in film and television soundtracks. He is also a solo cellist and professor at the Royal Academy of Music. He composed some beautiful music which is being used in a JA trailer. There is a trailer on the website as well as sheet music coming soon.
For more information: http://radiomovies.wordpress.com/about/crystallised-beauty/

Elizabeth Aston does it again!

Favorite author Elizabeth Aston has added a sixth novel to her series on the Darcy's. This edition is about a Bingley niece who is in need of assistance and the hijinks that ensue. Another promising novel!

Austen's Dangerous Books for Boys

As seen in the NY Times, Austen does prove to be good reading for boys as demonstrated throughout literary history with some of the manliest of men turning to Jane. Here is the link to this very insightful article: http://papercuts.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/17/austens-dangerous-books-for-boys/#more-1093

P&P the Musical

Lawrence Rush wrote to tell us that there is now a website for his musical adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. The website has information both for Janeites and for those interested in producing the play, including a selection of songs that Mr. Rush has composed for the play, which we suspect will be the most interesting part to our Gentle Readers.

http://www.prideandprejudice-themusical.com/index.html

His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik

This wonderful novel is now available legally in a free PDF format at this link: http://a1018.g.akamai.net/f/1018/19025/1d/randomhouse1.download.akamai.com/19025/freelibrary/hismajestyfinalsuv.pdf

Both Connie and I can attest that this is a wonderful series! You will fall in love with Temeraire, Capt. Lawrence and the whole crew!

Want to read JA on your Blackberry?

Mobipocket Reader, a free software download (at mobipocket.com) allows you to display and navigate e-books on your BlackBerry. Amazon now owns the formerly French company, and it offers not only many titles in its native file format, but also many options for annotating books, customizing their appearance, remembering your place and more.

Following links to e-book stores from the Mobipocket site, one can buy a complete works of Jane Austen for about $8 and downloaded it to a web-based phone, all in less than five minutes. Don't forget, the free online library Project Gutenburg (gutenberg.org), you can find thousands of free books, including "Pride and Prejudice," in a variety of formats.

Hold the date: April 18 Monmouth Historical Society

The CNJ JASNA Chapter will visit and tour the historic collections at the Monmouth Historical Society. Our tour will begin at 1:30 on April 18.

Please follow the link for more information and directions: http://www.monmouthhistory.org/index.php

Extract of interview with GL&PPPS author

Listen to extracts of an interview with author Annie Barrows of the Guernsey Literaty and Poato Peel Pie Society at YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7FBcYKl7RA

Featured in Guernsey Literary Society:Wilfred Owens

Clovis Fossey finds a voice in the poetry of Wilfred Owens' experiences in WWI. pg. 72

Featured in Guernsey Literary Society: Rainier Rilke

In the novel GL&PPPS, Christian gives Elizabeth a book of collected poems by Rainier Maria Rilke. The inscription in the book reads, "For Elizabeth, who turns darkness into light." pg. 259

Featured in Guernsey Literary Society: Letters of Seneca

On page 88 of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, character John Booker states that Seneca's letters keep him from getting drunk.

Annie Barrows' Potato Peel Pie Recipe

Here’s a recipe for a potato peel pie, but I warn you, it tastes like paste. The more authentic it is, the nastier.

These ingredients will make a very small pie (expand at will):1 potato 1 beet 1 Tablespoon milk

Peel the potato and put the peelings in a pie pan. Don’t cook the peels, because you’re in the middle of an Occupation and you don’t have any fuel. Boil the potato and the beet together in salty water, but not for very long, due to the fuel problem. Just until you can stick a fork in the potato. Take them out and mash them up with the milk. Pour the glop in the pie pan. Bake at 375 for as short a time as is consonant with digestion (fuel again), say, fifteen minutes.

The finished product will look quite attractive and pink. If you squint, you can almost imagine raspberries. Don’t be fooled. It looks a lot better than it is. However, if you forgot that you were in the middle of WWII and added a bunch of butter and milk and salt, it could be quite tasty.

http://www.guernseyliterary.com/bkRecipe.html

Extremely rare letters by Oscar Wilde found in Guernsey

One of the stories in the novel "Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" revolves around finding letters written by Oscar Wilde about the many lives of a cat. These "letters" perhaps were inspired by the real short stories written by Wilde and published as fairy tales for children. Another interesting note: Wilde had a sister named Isola-one of the characters in our featured book.

Meeting Guernsey Dawsey Adam's muse: Charles Lamb

Wikipedia reports that Charles Lamb Charles Lamb (London, 10 February 1775 – Edmonton, 27 December 1834) was an English/Welsh essayist, best known for his Essays of Elia and for the children's book Tales from Shakespeare, which he produced with his sister, Mary Lamb (1764–1847). Lamb has been referred to by E.V. Lucas, his principal biographer, as the most lovable figure in English literature, and his influence on the English essay form surely cannot be overestimated. Charles Lamb was recognised greatly by The Latymer School; it has six houses, one of which, "Lamb", is named after Charles.

Book Suggestion: Chronology of JA

For more than thirty years, Deirdre Le Faye, one of the world's leading authorities on Jane Austen, has been gathering and organizing every single piece of information available about the Austen family before, during and after Jane's lifetime. She has now collected all this material together to produce a unique chronology, containing some ten thousand entries. The entries, many taken from hitherto unexplored and unpublished documents, are presented in a clear and readable form, and each item of information is linked to its source. The volume includes family trees for the extended Austen and Knight families from the sixteenth to the twentieth century.

http://www.cambridge.org/us/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521810647

Learning about Guernsey Island

In preparation for the 3/21 Book Discussion, Janeites may want to learn more about the Channel Islands, especially Guernsey. Here are a couple of links: http://www.visitguernsey.com/guernsey.aspx

http://www.islandlife.org/history_gsy.htm