Celebrate Jane Austen with CNJ-JASNA!

Please join JASNA Central New Jersey for a birthday toast to Jane Austen at the Cranbury Inn, 21 South Main Street, Cranbury, New Jersey on Saturday, December 5, 2009 from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

We will celebrate Austen’s 234th birthday, plan and discuss the year’s upcoming programs together, and share our love of all things Austen.

Should you be so inclined, please feel free to bring a short reading selection of your choice to get us all in the spirit. Please RSVP by Dec. 1 to centraljerseyJASNA@yahoo.com. Thank you!

A short history of the Cranbury Inn: In the mid 1600's in the center of the colony of New Jersey by Cranberry Creek, a mill town began to develop along an old Indian trail that had widened into a road. This road connected the colonies and was becoming a main thoroughfare for colonial travelers. In 1697 Cranberry Towne received its charter from England. With increasing development, a need arose in central New Jersey for a place to eat and drink, get fresh horses, and spend the night; thus in the mid 1700's our taverns were built to meet these needs of the travelers passing through this area. After the colonies declared their independence from the motherland this business officially established itself in 1780. What is now The Cranbury Inn has been functioning as a place to eat and drink since the mid 1700's.

{Happy Thanksgiving}

Ah! on Thanksgiving day....When the care-wearied man seeks his mother once more,And the worn matron smiles where the girl smiled before.What moistens the lips and what brightens the eye?What calls back the past, like the rich pumpkin pie?~John Greenleaf Whittier

Happy Thanksgiving Janeites!

CNJ JASNA is enjoying the holidays and will return with all things Austen on 11/30/09.

December Events at Allaire Village

Be sure to visit Historic Allaire Village during the month of December as they are hosting many wonderful events. F0r more information visit: http://www.allairevillage.org/

DECEMBER
5/ 6 Sat./Sun. Christmas at Allaire Sat & Sun.12 noon - 3:30p.m. $6/ Adult- $4/ Child (5-14 Yrs.) per day. Horse & Wagon Ride extra $7.50/ Adult, $5 Children under12

11 Fri. “A Christmas Carol” Performance in Allaire Chapel 7:30 pm Advanced tickets recommended $15/ person

12 Sat. Christmas Lantern Tours, 5 p.m. - 8 p.m. (90 min. tours every 15 min.) $15/ Person. Advance ticket recommended

18 Fri. “A Christmas Carol” Performance in Allaire Chapel 7:30 pm Advanced tickets recommended $15/ person

19 Sat. Christmas Lantern Tours, 5 p.m. - 8 p.m. (90 min. tours every 15 min.) $15/ Person. Advance ticket recommended

Main Exhibit: 100 Years of Christmas Gifts and Toys at Allaire running November 21 thorough December 19

Displayed will be gifts and toys representing what Allaire residents may have received if you lived at Allaire at any time during the 1830s to the 1930s - from the heyday of the Howell Works to the establishment of Arthur Brisbane's Allaire Estate. This Christmas Exhibit that will follow the art show.

The question of "what would the people of the village received for Christmas from the 1830s to the 1930s" will be answered - via an array of toys and gifts. The toys and gifts will come from collection pieces in storage, as well as from private collections of people who had ancestors that lived at Allaire during these years.

When we think of "Allaire" today, we think of just the village. But the "Allaire area" encompassed various farms and homes in the immediate vicinity. For example, the nearby Kessler Farms, Thompson Dairy Farm, and Allaire Golf Course - all had an "Allaire address" through the 1930s and beyond. Let alone those living and working for Arthur Brisbane at his Allaire estate in the 20th Century (the same buildings and homes that once were part of James P. Allaire's Howell Iron Works Company). This exhibit will explore the Christmas and Holiday Gift Giving Traditions which would have been experienced here.

More Jane Austen at the Morgan!

Here is a link for an interesting slideshow of the Morgan exhibit: http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/11/06/arts/20091107-austen-ss_index.html Courtesy of the New York Times

Jane Austen Exhibit at the Morgan

New York Times reports in the ARTS / ART & DESIGN in the November 07, 2009 edition on the Jane Austen exhibit at the Morgan Library. Follow this link: Exhibition Review 'A Woman: At the Morgan, the Jane Austen Her Family Knew for the article by EDWARD ROTHSTEIN "A Woman's Wit: Jane Austen's Life and Legacy," a new exhibition at the Morgan Library & Museum, includes many personal letters and early manuscripts by the author.

Recipe for Pecan Tassies

When searching for an ideal cool-weather sweet, comforting, tried-and-true recipes are the first that come to mind. Just in time for fall, TeaTime reader Karen Haynes sent us her recipe for a season-perfect teatime treat.

Pecan Tassies
Makes 24 tassies
1/2 cup plus

1 tablespoon softened unsalted butter, divided

1 (3-ounce) package cream cheese, softened

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 egg

3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup chopped pecans

24 pecan halves

1. In a large bowl and using an electric mixer at medium speed, combine 1/2 cup butter and cream cheese; beat until well combined. Reduce mixer speed to low, and add the flour. Beat until combined. Wrap the dough tightly with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 1 hour.

2. Preheat oven to 325˚. 3

. Shape dough into 24 (1-inch) balls, and place in the wells of a mini muffin pan. Press the dough evenly into bottoms and up the sides of the wells.

4. In a medium bowl and using an electric mixer at medium speed, combine the egg, brown sugar, vanilla extract, remaining 1 tablespoon butter, and salt; beat until well combined. Fold in the chopped pecans.

5. Spoon the pecan filling evenly into each dough cup, and top each with a pecan half. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the crusts are golden brown. Remove from oven, and let cool for 10 minutes. Transfer the tassies to a wire rack, and cool completely.

Recipe from www.teatimemagazine.com

{Jane Austen on Etsy}

Featured Etsy artist specializing in Jane Austen apparel and accoutrements: prettywhimsical has great pendants at very reasonable prices, that can adorn every Janeite. Follow this link to find a pendant for yourself: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=33735512

1836 Thanksgiving Day Celebration

Celebrate the Thanksgiving season at Allaire Village on Nov. 22. For more information: http://www.allairevillage.org/

"Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors. They four in one day killed as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the company almost a week. At which time, amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms, Many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest King Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation and bestowed on our governor, and upon the captain and others. And although it be not always so plentiful as it was this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want that we often wish you partakers of our plenty." These words describing the first Thanksgiving, penned over 380 years ago, are attributed Edward Winslow, a leader of the Plimouth Colony...more

More truths acknowledged!

A Truth Universally Acknowledged: Thirty-Three Great Writers on Why We Read Jane Austen

Edited by Susannah Carson

[Why] does the reader yearn with such helpless fervor for the marriage of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy? Why does the reader crow and flinch with almost equal concern over the ups and downs of Jane Bennet and Mr. Bingley? Jane and Elizabeth’s mother, Mrs. Bennet (stupid, prattling, coarse, greedy), is one of the greatest comic nightmares in all literature, yet we are scarcely less restrained than she in our fretful ambition for her daughters. Jane Austen makes Mrs. Bennets of us all. How? —Martin Amis

Question: What do you, C. S. Lewis, Harold Bloom, Eudora Welty, W. Somerset Maugham, Alain de Botton, Virginia Woolf, and all of us here at Bas Bleu have in common? Answer: a grand appreciation for Jane Austen! A Truth Universally Acknowledged—an engaging collection of essays (some decades old, some newly composed)—revels in the myriad reasons that Austen’s novels and characters have such wide and enduring appeal. The keen insights of thirty-three great writers, including the authors named above, are sure to delight and enlighten Jane-ites. (And how refreshing to know that we Austen-obsessed are in such good company!) (Text and image courtesy of Bas Bleu)

Dominic West reads P & P Proposal Scene

The other day, you were able to hear Greg Wise's reading of Persuasion's "You Pierce My Soul" letter. There is a similar reading of the proposal scene in P & P. This time it features Dominic West.
Click here to watch the P & P video.

Thanks to Janeite Florence for link.

"The Letter" from Persuasion

Greg Wise (1995 Willoughby) Reads "The Letter" from Persuasion


Thank you to JASNA-NY's Janeite Kerri for sharing this link. Plan on 15 minutes of pure enjoyment as Austen's words come to life.

A Woman's Wit Gallery Talk at the Morgan

On November 20th, at 7pm, the Morgan Library in NYC will be having a special Gallery Talk of their exhibit on Jane Austen.

Our CNJ JASNA is planning to attend. If you are interested please contact our e-mail address (listed to the left) for more information.

See you there!