Presidents Day and Valentine’s Day in Cape May

Posted on December 7, 2012 by Elan
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Presidents Day and Valentines Day in Cape May

Valentines Day and Presidents Day in Cape MayNow is the time to plan for Presidents Day and Valentines Day in Cape May. Cape May and Leith Hall are always a romantic getaway, but this year there will also be a festival of wine related activities. The Cape May Wine School, the Valentines Day and Presidents Day in Cape MaySelf-Guided Wine Trail, and the Winery Cellar Tour and Tasting will all take place on President’s Day Weekend. M.A.C. will also host a Craft and Antiques in Winter show and sale in Cape May’s new Convention Hall. We’ll be there looking for more Victoriana to fill the inn, (as though we need more stuff.) Valentines Day and Presidents Day in Cape MayCall us (609) 884-1934 or go online www.leithhall.com, to make your reservations now!

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Hurricaine Sandy – CAPE MAY SPARED!

Posted on November 2, 2012 by Elan
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Hurricane Sandy – Cape May Spared!

Believe it or not, Cape May was spared the damage that HurricaneCape May Hurricaine Sandy Sandy caused up the Jersey shore. We were evacuated and went up to Brooklyn to stay with Susan’s sister in Park Slope. Practically the highest point in Brooklyn, Park Slope had no flooding, and didn’t lose power. Lots of trees came down and smashed cars parked along the street. We started home and found that we didn’t have enough gas to make it all the way to Hurricaine Sandy Cape MayCape May. The lines at the GS Parkway rest areas were miles long, so we got off and came down route 9. Most of central New Jersey is without power, and without power means without gasoline since the pumps require electricity to work. We found an open gas station in Lakewood and waited an hour – but we got gas. When we arrived in Cape May we were surprised, nothing, no flooding, no wind destruction. Everything looked normal. Driving along Beach Avenue, we could see where the ocean came over the sea wall at the cove end of town, and for a short stretch near Madison Avenue. But looking at the lawns and the flowerbeds, clearly the ocean didn’t get very far.

When we got to Leith Hall, we discovered that the wind had blown off a single clapboard and loosened a few others. Also, one of the dormer roofs bent up. We’d had water in the cellar, but when the power came back on, the sump pump cleared it. Amazingly little damage. We then went to West Cape May to see if our house was still standing, and there was nothing wrong. We didn’t even lose a roof shingle, which is odd, since we lose roof shingles on calm days. Since we got back,Hurricaine Sandy Cape May neighbors have told us that, from Avalon northward, the shore towns were very damaged. Before and after pictures on the web show lots of houses flooded or washed away. The Lobster House at Schellinger’s Landing is still closed because of deep flooding. My nephew who lives in Long Beach, Long Island, has no power and has lost his car. So, Cape May is fine but lots of other people are suffering. We hope that you and yours are safe and well.

Sherlock Holmes weekend is going on as usual this weekend and the new Exit 0 Jazzfest is moving ahead. Come visit!

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Cape May Jazz, Film, and Theater

Posted on October 12, 2012 by Elan
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October and November in Cape May are a celebration of jazz, film, and theater.

Cape May jazz, film and theaterCape May jazz, film and theater really get going in November. There’s a new Jazz Festival in town which I described in my last blog post. The New Jersey Film Festival in Cape May will run from Friday October 19 through October 21, and will feature Feature Films, shorts and documentary and independent shorts as well. Among the feature films will be Mirror Dance about two identical twin ballerinas in a country torn by war, Barbarian Days, about a town celebrating Robert E. Howard, the director of Conan the Barbarian. and The Worlds Smallest Airport.

Cape May jazz, film and theater, continued…

Cape May Stage will present This Wonderful Life for all of the Cape May jazz, film, and theaterfans of Frank Capra’s It’s A Wonderful Life, and the East Lynne Company will present Bret Harte’s Dick Spindler’s Family Christmas on Friday and Saturdays 11/24&25,  12/8&9, and Sunday 12/3.

Sherlock Holmes Weekend will be Cape May jazz, film, and theaterNovember 3 through 5, and will feature a new mystery. East Lynne Theater company will also present a play based on the Adventure of the Copper Beeches.

November 9 through 11 will be the new Exit Zero Jazz Festival which will bring us exciting music by exciting Cape May jazz, film, and theaterperformers. Call us today for reservations at Leith Hall for these holiday activities. We hope to see you soon.

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Jazz Festival Reborn!

Posted on October 12, 2012 by Elan
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Jazz Festival Resurrection

Jazz Festival

Ramsey Lewis

Great Jazz Festival News! This article by Jack Fichter in the Cape May County Herald announces a new jazz festival in Cape to be held next November. For everyone who misses the old Jazz Festival, this is a welcome announcement. I’ve re-blogged the whole article below.

CAPE MAY — A new jazz festival is coming to the city in November but it won’t be from the former Cape May Jazz Festival.
The Exit 0 International Jazz Festival will be held Nov. 9 through 11, Veteran’s Day Weekend, at Cape May’s Convention Hall.

Ramsey Lewis will be headlining the festival with his Electric Band. Lewis is a three-time Grammy Award winner and holds seven gold records.

According to his website, “Lewis has been an iconic leader in the contemporary jazz movement for over 50 years, with an unforgettable sound and outgoing personality that has allowed him to cross over to the pop and R&B charts. The Ramsey Lewis Trio, with bassist Eldee Young and percussionist Redd Holt, became a fixture on the Chicago jazz scene, releasing their debut album, ‘Ramsey Lewis & His Gentlemen of Jazz,’ back in 1956.

Lewis earned his first gold record, as well as a Grammy award for Best Jazz Performance, for their swinging version of Dobie Gray’s hit ‘The In Crowd.’ He returned to the pop charts in 1966 with versions of ‘Hang On Sloopy’ and ‘Wade In The Water.’

Other confirmed artists at press time include Christian McBride and Inside Straight, Henry Cole’s Afrobeat Collective, Ben Williams & Sound Effect and DJ Soul Sister. The complete lineup will be announced by July 5 by the promoter, Spy Boy Productions.

Jazz Festival at Convention Hall

Main stage headliner concerts will be held at Convention Hall on Friday and Saturday nights, along with a Saturday afternoon concert.
Participating club venues include: the Boiler Room at Congress Hall, Carney’s, Carney’s Other Room, Cabana’s, Martini Beach, and Cape May Stage at the Robert Shackleton Theater.
Ticket packages are being sold by the City of Cape May’s Convention Hall. To order tickets, go to: www.capemayconventionhall.org

The promoter, Spy Boy Productions, has no affiliation with Friends of Cape May Jazz or Cape May Jazz Festival.

At a Thur., June 21 press conference, promoter Michael Kline said he has produced concerts in New Orleans beginning in 1997. Kline said he had worked for WWOZ Radio, “New Orleans’ Jazz & Heritage Station,” which is licensed to the Jazz and Heritage Festival in New Orleans.

“I worked there for almost eight years and we produced shows in conjunction with the radio station,” said Kline.

Exit 0 International Jazz Festival spokesperson Victoria Clayton said Kline represents jazz artists nationally and internationally. He is a resident of West Cape May arriving here after Hurricane Katrina.

Kline said one of his challenges to stage the festival was finding open dates available on Convention Hall’s schedule.
A Saturday afternoon main stage concert will be held in Convention Hall, he said.

“There will pretty much be three headline concerts Friday night, Saturday night, Saturday afternoon,” said Kline.

He said he was working on a “special surprise” for Sunday afternoon.

For all of our guests who used to visit Leith Hall for Jazz festival – we miss you! Let’s hope that this Jazz Festival will be great.

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LEITH HALL’S LOVEABLE LUXURY POUND CAKE

Posted on September 28, 2012 by Elan
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LEITH HALL’S LOVEABLE LUXURY POUND CAKE

I often serve pound cakes for teatime, though seldom theLeith Hall's loveable luxury pound cake Cape May simple vanilla version. Last week, our neighbor Arielle claimed that the chocolate chunk version didn’t count as the required chocolate dessert for tea. I beg to differ. The contrast between sweet, sour-creamy cake and bitter chocolate is like a little explosion in your mouth. You could overdo it and serve a chocolate sauce or raspberry sauce to go with the cake.

  • 1 1/2 cups unbleached flour  Leith Hall's loveable luxury pound cake
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 1/2 cup butter (soft or melted
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 3 eggs
  • 1/4 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 Tbs. vanilla extract or vanilla paste (or other extract)

Leith Hall's loveable luxury pound cake Cape MayPreheat oven to 375 degrees. Line an 8″ loaf pan with cooking parchment and spray with cooking spray. Or, grease and flour a decorative bundt pan.

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in  eggs, one at a time. Beat in sour cream. Beat in extract.

Add flour and baking soda, mix well. Pour into loaf pan or bundt pan.Leith Hall's loveable luxury pound cake

Bake  for 1 hour (check at 45 minutes) , or until a toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean, or cake springs back when prodded.

You can use orange extract, or lemon, or coconut, or anything else you like. You can also make a simple syrup Leith Hall's loveable luxury pound cake Cape Mayof 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup water, plus extract, and dribble it over the cake after it is baked.

Or, you can chop 1/2 cup of bittersweet chocolate and fold it into the batter before pouring it into the baking pan. Another alternative, chop 1/2 cup of crystallized ginger and fold into the batter.

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Food, Wine and Victoriana – How Can You Resist? Call now for Reservations

Posted on September 24, 2012 by Elan
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FOOD AND WINE CELEBRATION AND VICTORIANA IN CAPE MAY

food, wine and victoriana

Chef Poon demonstrating

Food, wine and Victoriana

This year’s Food and Wine Celebration is over. The Harvest Dinner, the Clambake, Chef Poon’s demonstrations are gone. And it’s on to the next festival!  At the end of September, Cape May celebrates Octoberfest. (O.K., we’re a little dyslexic.) There’ll be a street fair on Jackson Street, the best wurst, and music, crafts and entertainment on September 29th.Food, wine and Victoriana

Victorian Weekend

October 5th through 9thwill be Victorian Weekend; with a tour of private homes not usually open to the public, several chocolate events (the Chocolate Championship Contest, the Beer and Chocolate tasting, and the Fudge Fantasy Workshop). There’s a winery cellar  tour and tasting, a Champagne brunchwalk, theater, and several festive dinners.

Food, wine and Victoriana

Melissa offering wine at the Food and Wine Celebration

As soon as Victorian Weekend is over, Halloween begins in Cape May – but I’ll get back to you with the ghost goings-on in my next post. Call us for reservations for this exciting time of year.Octoberfest, beer

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Is this the best time of year in Cape May? Yes!

Posted on September 7, 2012 by Elan
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Food and Wine Celebration, Victorian Weekend and Ghosts – all in one month!

the best time of year in Cape MayThe  best time of year in Cape May is undoubtedly the next month, from mid September to mid October. The ocean is warm, the kids have gone back to school, the restaurants and shops are all open, and the festivals have started. The Food and Wine Celebration runs from Sept. 15 to 23, and will include progressive dinners, a clambake, food talks and demonstrations by Chef Joseph Poon, and events too numerous to list. (www.capemaymac.org will have all of the details) At the same time, the Washington Street Mall merchants will hold the annual Fall sidewalk sale for your early Christmas shopping.

Sept. 29 weekend will be Octoberfest in Cape May (why isn’t it the best time of year in Cape MaySeptemberfest?) Bratwurst and beer and the Odessa Klezmer German American Band will make Jackson Street a hoot.

October 5 through 9 will be this year’s Victorian Weekend which will include a Champagne Brunchwalk, a beer-tasting dinner, an underwear fashion show, a murder mystery dinner, winery tours, plays, and several chocolate events.

Call us at Leith Hall or click book now to make your reservations.

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Almond Chocolate Sandwich Cookies from Leith Hall bed and breakfast

Posted on August 28, 2012 by Elan
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Our guests who just left Leith Hall bed and breakfast yesterdayalmond chocolate sandwich cookies asked for the recipe for these almond and chocolate sandwich cookies that I served for tea – so these are for you, Stephanie and Michael von M . You could, of course, substitute coconut extract for the almond, or lemon extract, or orange. If you used coconut extract, you could also roll the filled cookie in toasted coconut for decoration. You can also roll the pre-baked dough balls in sugar to give the cookies a crunchy crust.

Almond Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

Leith Hall’s Buttery better-than Moon Pies

1 cup (two sticks) unsalted butter, cut up

½ cup sugar

¼ cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. almond extract

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 cups unbleached flour

1 ½ tsp. baking powder

1/8 tsp. salt

Filling:

½ cup 60% (minimum) chocolate

¼ cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter

Beat butter and sugars together. Beat in extracts and egg. Mix flour, Leith Hall butter Almond Chocolate sandwich cookiessalt, and baking powder together. Beat flour mixture into batter until just moistened and smooth. I use a small dough scoop to get perfectly even hemispheres of dough. That way, they are even size to make neat sandwich cookies. Arrange on parchment-lined cookie sheets and bake for almond chocolate sandwich cookies8 to 12 minutes at 375 F. degrees. They should be just lightly colored around the edges.

Melt butter and chocolate together and mix. After the cookies are absolutely cool, make sandwich cookies and store in refrigerator (if it’s summer) until you serve them.

This same recipe can be made with lemon extract and pignoli to make wonderful unfilled Italian cookies. Or, you could use hazelnut extract and use Nutella for the filling.

 

 

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Beach Yoga in Cape May

Posted on August 24, 2012 by Elan
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Yoga on the beachyoga on the beach in Cape May NJ

For me, the beach is calming even without yoga, but if you’re the least bit sensitive to atmosphere and surroundings, yoga on the beach is about as calm and centered as you can get. Cape May’s local yoga maven (or is that guru?) is Karen Bosna. She leads sessions on the beach both in the morning and the evening, both on the ocean and the bay. There are morning sessions held on the sand each weekend right behind our new Convention Hall, only a couple of blocks from Leith Hall. There are both morning and evening classes near the Cape May lighthouse; and sessions at the park along the canal in North Cape May. You can chill in all sorts of waterside settings. Balance Pilates also hosts Yoga classes both on the lawn at the Inn of Cape May across the street from Leith Hall and on the beach at Jackson Street several times a week.

yoga on the beach in Cape May NJYou could also combine yoga on the beach with our De-Stress Holiday package at Leith Hall. This special offer includes two one-hour massages, a gift certificate towards dinner at Aleathea’s, a bottle of sparkling wine and Elan’s home-made chocolate truffles. With all of this meditation, calming and luxury combined, when you get home people will mistake you for the Dalai Lama.

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FOOD AND WINE CELEBRATION

Posted on August 17, 2012 by Elan
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 CAPE MAY FOOD AND WINE CELEBRATION SEPTEMBER 15-19

Cape May Food and Wine Celebration

Chef Joseph Poon

Cape May’s Food and wine Celebration will be in mid-September and include a whole host of festive meals. The Harvest Food and Wine Dinner will be held at the Carriage House Café at the Emlen Physick Estate . The Chefs’ Dine-Arounds are progressive dinners with each course at a different Cape May restaurant. There will beer and cheese tastings, wine cellar

Cape May Food and Wine Festival

Lorraine Kiefer

tours, guided winery tours and self-guided winery tours. This year, there will even be a Scotch Tasting dinner. When you’re too full to move, there will be a lecture by Chef Joseph Poon and a talk about herbs by Lorraine Kiefer. There are another ten events scheduled, which you can find at MAC’s website. Cape May Food and Wine CelebrationMake your reservations at Leith Hall now for this September celebration of delicious excess.

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