Take a trip to the lumberyard for Cedar-planked salmon

When people find out I am a chef, invariably they ask me where I buy my tools. They want to know about the latest gadgets that will help them “cook like a pro.” People will wax poetic about their latest finds at Williams-Sonoma, J.B. Prince or any of the multitudes of culinary stores that have sprouted with the resurged interest in all things food related. I love the looks on their faces when I tell them I shop at the local hardware store.

It is partly heritage. Besides being persnickety, the Scots are also renowned for their proclivity to stretch a dollar. And, it is partly a matter of practicality. The pretty shiny gadgets at most culinary stores fail to hold up to the rigors of restaurant reality.

A favorite trick of chefs is using ring molds to shape foods into perfect circles. This works great for salads, bread puddings and even savory dishes such as Braised Short Rib Shepherd’s Pie. Metal ring molds are available in a multitude of sizes in most culinary boutiques. They tend to be of thin gauge metal which gets bent easily, leaving you less than perfect dishes. These types of molds also have seams that can rust over time. The solution is to head to the plumbing section for some PVC pipe. Pvc pipe can be found in all different dimensions and thickness. Buy a length of pipe and have the store cut it to the lengths you desire. These ring molds are dishwasher safe, durable and have no seams. Armed with these you can turn out flawless salads and bread puddings with just a little practice.

Our next stop is the lumberyard. A Pacific Northwest classic is cedar-planked salmon. Even with proper care, cedar planks only last a couple of uses. The planks available in most stores look fashionable but run $8-$12 a piece. At the lumberyard find a nice thick cedar board and have it cut into 10-inch pieces for single servings or larger for a whole fish. It is very important to specify that you want untreated lumber. Grills, chemicals and food can be a lethal combination. Soaking the boards for 3-4 hours prior to cooking will yield moist fish and be less likely to cause unintended flambé dishes. For repeated use, wash and soak lightly in bleach solution. Air dry before pre-soaking prior to next use.

Serious firepower - a blowtorch creates the signature crunchy, caramelized sugar shield of Crème Brûlée.

Our next dish requires some serious firepower. It is ironic that one of the most delicate desserts that comes out of a kitchen requires a blowtorch to execute properly. Crème Brûlée. That’s right. After the finesse of baking custard, we need a blowtorch to achieve the crunchy caramelized sugar shield that is the signature of Crème Brûlée. Culinary catalogs and shops feature special crème brûlée torches that look like something found in a science lab. If look and appearance is a priority, then these $50 torches with expensive refill cartridges are for you. I opt for the all-purpose blowtorch, cost between $12-$16 with refill canisters costing $2 or $3 dollars. While not as pretty, these torches deliver a larger, hotter flame that will yield the crunchy crust you are looking for. The torch can also be used for browning meringue pies or finishing gratin dishes.

For specialty kitchen equipment, thinking outside the box can save you money. Expensive is always better, sometimes it just costs more. Hand-held immersion blenders can run anywhere from $15-$80 dollars depending on durability, motor speed and attachments. Some hardware stores have a small appliance section where you can find good deals on culinary tools.

After your trip to the hardware store, head into the kitchen with these recipes for Crème Brûlée and Cedar-planked Salmon. Until next month, Bon Appétit.

Crème Brûlée

(serves 6)

Basic recipe

• 8 egg yolks
• 1 pint heavy cream
• ⅓ cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract DO NOT USE IMITATION
• ¼ cup demerara sugar for top

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Use 4-inch round, ¾-inch deep custard dishes. Place in casserole dish and fill the dish half way with water.

In a stainless steel bowl, whisk yolks and sugar until sugar dissolves and mixture is pale yellow. Add cream and whisk until smooth. Strain, skimming off any foam or bubbles.

Divide into dishes. Bake for 40-50 minutes until custard is set and tooth pick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool to room temperature. Sprinkle with sugar and brown with blow torch. Keep torch 5 inches from custard, spinning dish to evenly caramelize.

Chef’s Secret: If you like fresh vanilla beans, store beans in your sugar canister. This will scent the sugar and you can eliminate the extract from the recipe.

Variations

Frangelico: Add 2 tablespoons Frangelico with cream

Baileys Irish cream: Add 3 tablespoons Irish cream to cream

Kahlua: Mix ¼ cup Kahlua, plus 1 teaspoon instant coffee into cream

Grand Marnier: Mix 3 tablespoons Grand Marnier, plus zest of 1 orange. Let steep 20 minutes. Strain then bake.

Cedar-Planked Salmon

(serves 4)

Fish

• 2 pounds salmon filets, cut into 8-ounce pieces

Sea Salt Mix

• 2 teaspoons fresh thyme
• Juice and zest of 1 lemon
• 2 teaspoons chopped parsley
• 3 tablespoons canola oil
• 2 shallots, minced
• 1 teaspoon cracked black pepper
• Sea Salt

Sprinkle Sea Salt on salmon. Mix  remaining ingredients to create marinade. place in Ziploc bag. Add fish and let marinate 30 minutes.

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Place rack on top level.

Take 4 pre-soaked cedar planks and place a piece of salmon on each. Top each fish with 3 lemon slices. Bake for 12-15 minutes for medium fish.  Serve on cedar board.

Jon Davies is a graduate of Johnson and Wales University of Culinary Arts. His work as a chef has taken him to Aspen, Colorado; Cape May, NJ; and the odd private jet for culinary gigs for the rich and famous.

Craig McManus. Photo Credit: Susan Tischler

From the sound of this tape, one would think it was a summer night in July and I had the windows open to the noisy street. But, it was the dead of winter when the dead of Cape May are the only ones moving (or talking) late at night in the B&Bs – Craig McManus, The Ghosts of Cape May, Book 3

I don’t know about you, but if I were stuck in the house all winter, right about now, I’d be looking for any excuse to get away. And what better place to get away, than Cape May? But what earthly reason would possess anyone to come here with 20 inches of snow still very much visible on the landscape? Well, count on psychic/medium and author Craig McManus to find reasons other than the usual earthly ones. On the weekend of Feb. 19 and 20, four “haunted” B&Bs hosted “The Dead of Winter” ghost tour. The weekend included other ghostly activities, like a séance and capped the weekend off with dinner and a Q&A at the Mad Batter Restaurant.

Craig has written four books on the subject of hauntings in Cape May, appropriately titled The Ghosts of Cape May, Two, Three and 400 Years of the Ghosts of Cape May and I swear he could find a ghost under the door mat of the local rest area, still stuff happens when he’s around – with no apparent explanation. I think it’s helpful to understand Craig’s ghost investigator terminology, which he includes in The Ghosts of Cape May (One).

EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomenon) – EVPs are collected by running a tape recorder in a haunted place [but not necessarily a digital one] The voices are not heard until the tape is played back.

Ghost – Most parapsychologists prefer to use the term “apparition.” A ghost is the soul of a person (or animal) who has died and has not “crossed over” to the Other Side, Heaven, the next plane, etc.

Haunting – Craig considers this terms pejorative. Ghosts are not trying to  scare us, as the term “haunt” denotes. They simply exist on a different plan from us. For some unknown reasons, the two planes often mix in time and space. It is during this merging of energies that we may encounter sights (rare) or smells or sounds (common) associated with a ghost.

Nighttime – Most haunting activity takes place between midnight and five in the morning

Residual Haunting – Energy embedded in the ether of the place, “tape loops.” The energy creates a “movie” that plays repeatedly in the ether. The ghost will do the same thing again and again, like walking up a staircase. Nothing more will happen and the ghost will not notice you.

Spirit – Spirits are souls at a higher level of being. They are more advanced and enlightened than ghosts. A spirit is a soul that has crossed over to the Other Side and has come back to help or guide someone here on this plane.

Third Floor Phenomenon – Added to the definitions because it comes up so often on these tours. Although it is true that the third floor was often the servant’s quarters, as Craig explains it, “Often ghosts are sensed on the third floor not necessarily because they were servants, but because their energy rises and that’s where it ends up being trapped.”

All righty then – now armed with the proper vocab, we can do a virtual tour of the Dead of Winter tour which begins on one of Cape May’s most haunted streets, Columbia Avenue. Columbia is one of the few streets in Cape May which was unscathed by the Great Fire of 1878. Many of structures were built in the early 1870s.

Bacchus B&B – The Main Inn

719 Columbia
Formerly the Brass Bed B&B

Bacchus 2. Photo Credit: Maciek Nabrdalik

Our first stop is at the Bacchus B&B, which at one time was called the Brass Bed Inn. As Craig recalls, speaking before a room of 20 or more participants:

“I spent the night in one of the rooms at The Brass Bed/ Bacchus. Something jarred me from my sleep about 3 a.m. As I woke, I realized I had been dreaming about an older man and a younger woman walking down the hallway toward my room. He was looking at a clipboard or something she was carrying and they were discussing it. I wondered if the man in the image could have been one of the doctors who had previously lived in the house. Maybe his nurse was with him as well. Both Dr [Alexander] Arthur and Dr [Thompson] Wescott had offices in the house and saw patients downstairs.

Photo Credit: Macy Zhelyazkova

“I assumed she was a nurse and I was seeing residual image of something that happened in the past or I was psychically viewing ghosts moving through the corridor. I had no more than pondered the thought, when I felt a cold rush of air in the room as the bed slowly started to move. As I laid on my side, I felt the mattress depress behind me, as if someone or something were getting into bed with me. It was quite unnerving. Even the most seasoned ghost investigator can become scared when taken off guard by something paranormal.

“I called out to Willy [Craig’s companion] who was sleeping in the next room, but by the time he woke up the presence was gone.

“About a year or so later, [owner and innkeeper], John Matusiak told me he heard a story that Dr.Arthur had a mistress and she would stay with him at the summer house while his wife was back home in Philadelphia. After learning this added information, I rethought my theory on why the good doctor is still at the house. He and the mistress may have decided to stay and enjoy life by the seaside in the afterlife, or they could both be trying to avoid running into Mrs. Arthur in Heaven!

“Of course, without having the ghost offer a name or identify itself, I am only speculating that it is Dr. Arthur. It could very well be one of the other previous owners of the house. Some ghosts will want to communicate; others will remain aloof and distant. Whatever is haunting the Brass Bed/Bacchus is a positive energy. If it is the good doctor, he was well liked in town and his outgoing personality would transcend death. Maybe someday he will leave a business card and I can finally get to the bottom of this haunting.”

Bacchus Inn Cottage

710 Columbia Avenue
Formerly the Inn at Journey’s End

Photo Credit: Maciek Nabrdalik

After touring the house and especially the third floor, the group walked across the street to the Bacchus Inn Cottage, also owned by Lisa and John Matusiak. The following is both from that tour and includes excerpts from The Ghosts of Cape May, Book Three:

“The house started out as a private residence, thought to have been built around 1872 by local builder Enos Williams. Over the years, the rooms were turned into apartment units and finally the house was converted in a B&B. My first impression of the house was how much energy there was cooped up in the space. While I had been doing channeling for some time, psychically reading houses was not my forte and, back in the days, I was still a little green at the practice. This was one of my first encounters with multi-layered energies. I thought the best thing I could do was contact the strongest ghost first and then work my way through the crowd.

“ ‘I’m getting a name like Conwell,’ ” I told the owners at the time. At first, I thought I may have just been picking up the name from across the street. At the time, Corbin and Linda Cogswell owned the Linda Lee (725 Columbia Avenue). One of the proprietors said there was a “Fanny Conwell” on the list of deed holders; she had owned the house in the 1930s and 1940s.

“The ghostly woman appeared to me to be in her late 50s or early 60s. She was fussing about something in the bathroom off the downstairs common area. I did not want to be too prying, as you never know just what old habits a ghost may be hanging on to… and she was in the bathroom!

“I focused on Fanny Conwell [in the 1930s, Bacchus Cottage was a rooming house] and tried to put out a psychic line announcing who I was and that I would like to speak with her. She did not respond. What she did come back with was very strange. She was muttering about a roast not cooking properly. I think it was a stove. What was stove – not to mention a roast – doing in her bathroom?

“In a few moments, the mystery was solved. John told me that when he was renovating downstairs, he had discovered that what is now the bathroom was at one time a kitchen. Now we’re cooking with gas!

“Fanny would not give me the time of the day. It was one complaint after another about that stupid roast. She would not respond to any of my questions, and I started to wonder if she were only a residual haunting. I felt like walking into the bathroom/kitchen, [and saying], ‘No wonder your roast doesn’t taste right – you’ve been cooking it for 70 years.’”

Craig leading the tour. Photo Credit: Susan Tischler

Craig also sensed a young boy looking through the windows. He channeled the name Brendan, a small child, maybe 9 years old carrying coal.

Craig said, “Brendan would not come into the house because he was told by his previous employers never to enter the upstairs of a home. From what I could gather Brendan worked in some capacity delivery coal. He also mentioned a passing horse cart had injured his legs, and he walked with crutches. I think he may have died as a result of those injuries. Unlike Fanny Conwell, this ghost was very interactive.

“I still haven’t been able to trace him to this house. He seems to be transient to the neighborhood – sometimes ghosts who have been killed nearby simply move into your house.”

“When we rented a house nearby on Columbia Avenue last summer, Stephanie Kirk from The Linda Lee and The Bedford had told that when they gutted that house, a child’s wheelchair from the Victorian era had been discarded on the trash. I wondered if Brendan had possibly lived in this other house during his lifetime in Cape May.”

One of the more common hauntings at 710 Columbia are footsteps going up to the third floor. Many people have reported hearing them. Phantom footsteps are the most common of all haunting phenomena and manifest in most haunted places at one time or another. One hint that these footsteps are particularly persistent is the fact that the previous owners, Fran and Joe Doris, who turned what was then a rooming house into The Inn at Journey’s End B&B, carpeted the stairs. Didn’t stop that ghost, whom Craig thinks might be a Mrs. Mason who lived on Jackson Street but had to “move” after the Great Fire. She climbs the stairs determined to settle in for the night.

The Linda Lee B&B

725 Columbia

Linda Lee. Photo Credit: Maciek Nabrdalik

The ghosts on Columbia are active, many in number and varied. While channeling at the Bacchus Cottage, Craig once channeled a ghost called Walter who walked through the front wall from across the street at the Linda Lee to complain about the wine cheese being served across the street.

Craig’s account of Walter from Ghosts, Book Three:

“My name is Walter…I am from the Linda Lee and have come looking for some decent wine and cheese,” said Walter to Craig interrupting his channeling session. Bacchus, if you don’t already know, was the Roman god of wine and the John Matusiak, the proprietor of both Bacchus Main Inn and Cottage, was a purveyor of wines, as is Craig when he isn’t channeling. So, I’m guessing Walter know exactly where to go to make his wants known.

“I was conversing with them [the Matusiaks] and their ghosts when though the front wall of the house burst a larger than life spirit who identified himself as ‘Walter.’ It was not the first time this wandering sociable ghost had made his presence known outside his abode – nor would it be the last.

“Each time I attempted to channel 710 Columbia, this pesky ghost from 725 would move into our space announcing his arrival; and inviting us to a wine and cheese party – that we were expected to furnish on his behalf.”

The Linda Lee. Photo Credit: Macy Zhelyazkova

Walter came out looking for “some decent wine and cheese” more than once. Finally, Craig cornered the new owners of the Linda Lee one day, Archie and Stephanie Kirk, and asked them about Walter. Archie, a skeptic, conceded that one of the owners on the deed was in fact a man named Walter. Craig had finally ID’ed his ghost.

Over the years Craig recorded many tapes of wee hours of the morning at the Linda Lee. He recounts one particular recording of EVPs.

“When the hiss was removed from the recording, a myriad of ghostly voices was heard in the background noise of the tape. From the sound of this tape, one would think it was a summer night in July and I had the window open to the noisy street. But, it was the dead of winter, when the dead of Cape May are the only ones moving (or talking) late at night in the B&Bs.”

At the Linda Lee Craig recorded a “plethora” of EVPs.

“At times it sounded like two women conversing and other times a man and a child were talking.” Craig asked if Walter was in and was informed that he was not. Fifteen minutes later, he reports asking the same question, “I told you he’s not in!” replied the ghost. Walter must have been “out for the evening” no doubt in search of some libation.

The Bedford Inn

805 Stockton Avenue

Bedford Inn. Photo Credit: Macy Zhelyazkova

Most of our visit to the Bedford Inn, also owned by Archie (the skeptic) and Stephanie Kirk (skittish of anything ghostly) consisted of the group of us gathering in the dining room and side parlor listening to Craig’s recordings of the EVPs in one of the rooms of the inn and also listening to the tales of some of those gathered who have stayed in the four B&Bs. We also listened to the EVPs and tried to “interpret” them.

All in all, whether you are a believer or not, this is one entertaining way to spend a wintry weekend and I’m just guessing, if you play your cards right, Dead of Winter will be offered next year and you can get up close and personal with the spirits of Cape May.

If you can’t wait that long – Craig is having another Haunted Weekend at the John F. Craig House, also on Columbia Avenue, this month – March 12-14. The event will include a Seaside Seance.  Happy Haunting.

Craig shares some EVPs

EVPs (Electronic Voice Phenomenon) are subjective. Some people hear one thing; others hear something completely different. Some hear nothing at all.

The first EVP was recorded in the Bedford. The question was: “Who is here with me?” The answer on the EVP was “Rebecca.”

When I later asked, “Who is Rebecca?” I received an answer that sounds like “My cousin.”

At the Brass Bed, I think Doctor Arthur says, “Who we got here? Just me and the lady.” I had asked if it was Dr. Arthur haunting the house.

At the Linda Lee, the first EVP was recorded right before a thunder storm hit. In response to my question, “Is there anybody here?” The answer sounds like “Take the wash in.” I am not sure if there was anything hanging on a wash line nearby or if I had encountered an old servant who still thought they were doing wash!

The second EVP says “We love you.” Which is quite interesting…maybe ghosts DO watch us shower!

This article originally appeared in the June 2008 issue of Cape May Magazine.

The allure of Cape May County and its surroundings is undeniable. Visitors and residents are in agreement about the charms of the Victorian town, and have been practically since the resort was established.

Artists of all kinds have been attracted to the coastal town almost from the beginning. That hasn’t changed one bit today as legions of creative types, each in their own way, translate their visions of the town and adjacent environs into works of art.

The following artists have been inspired by Cape May so much that they’ve each produced many different works, and they share their views on why they keep returning.

Stan Sperlak

Stan Sperlak

When Stan Sperlak was studying art at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts the thrust of instruction there was with oil painting. Pastels, his area of choice, weren’t part of the academic setting; you had to pick them up on your own.

“I always played with pastels since probably I was a kid,” he says. “That’s why I went full-circle and came back to them.

“I think in the grand scheme of color theory, how you would work a painting from start to finish, pastels are much more related to oil painting than they are to watercolors. With oils and pastels you pretty much work from dark to light. You establish all your dark areas and then build yourself a painting that eventually brings in the bright colors. With watercolor you work exactly the opposite. You have to work from light to dark.

“I teach art … and I think the connection I’m always able to bring to the students as to why they’re drawn to pastel, or why I’m drawn to pastel, is because you actually just hold it in your hand. And it’s very primal, there’s a dexterity to it, and there’s a sculptural quality. When you’re putting it on the paper, you feel like you’re carving. You feel like you’re building. So, for me it was that type of primal urge,” says Sperlak, laughing.

"The Moon and Venus over the Shore" by Stan Sperlak

Sperlak incorporates those primal urges by working hand-made pastels he’s bought. In French, the word pastel means nothing more than “paste” with no reference to color. So he kneads the material until it’s a consistency close to caulk. He then foregoes all the traditional techniques of painting on paper or a smooth board by creating his paintings on sand paper. Far from the type you’ll find in a hardware store, it’s a 400- or 500-grit aluminum silica board that’s archival quality. It allows the pastels to spread and adhere better,

As for subject matter, Sperlak prefers to focus on the natural world around Cape May, often with low horizons and dramatic skies. “Somebody once said to me ‘Oh, you don’t paint the buildings in Cape May, You don’t like that stuff.’ It’s not that I don’t like it, I like other things better.

“There’s only so much time to paint. Often if you paint in a city like Cape May, you wind up talking to everybody. If I can go out to the beach or to a marsh I can spend several hours just painting and not really have to have a break. I love talking too, but if you’re painting, you can’t do both.”

"Surf" by Stan Sperlak

Sperlak has a deep appreciation for the natural gifts we have locally. “When I compare South Jersey regional art and artists to people working in Long Island, Michigan, the California coast, the Texas blue bonnet fields and all the different places in the country – well, we have things here that are every bit as interesting. We just have to kind of extrapolate them back and forth.

“We don’t have the Rocky Mountains, but we have some awesome thunderheads here. We don’t have these huge valleys and things like that, but we have the ocean waves. And I think that really helps people understand that Cape May County, South Jersey and the Mid Atlantic really are treasures for visuals.”

www.stansperlak.com

Patricia Rainey

In 1995 Patricia Rainey decided she wanted to paint. So she bought a bunch of brushes and paints, sat down and started painting. She doesn’t really know why she got the urge, but she began by copying post cards. However, Rainey realized recreating other artists’ images wouldn’t get her too far, so she began doing original work.

Patricia worked with oils back then, but found that the galleries she was selling to were only interested in watercolors. So she switched over to watercolors and found it not such a big change. “The reason for that,” she says, “is that I do not wet my paper when I work in watercolors. I work more in like an oil technique, so it really doesn’t spread out and so forth.”

During those early days, Patricia did mostly renderings of Maine landscapes and seascapes. She lived in northern New Jersey at the time and visited New England during the summer, taking many photos, and then creating her paintings in the winter using the prints as guides.

She hasn’t abandoned oil painting for watercolors, though. “I enjoy both, actually, and probably equally, as well. I like the fast cleanup of the watercolors, but I like the feeling of working in oils. The whole Cape May series – of which now there are now 85 – are all in watercolors. Basically, the New England series is in oil.”

She does all her work flat on a table – a trait she picked up before discovering that artists don’t work that way. Still, she embraces the vagaries of watercolors. “Things happen with watercolors that don’t happen with oils. Sometimes things that you don’t quite intend to happen.”

While being drawn to the community of Cape May, Patricia is also enamored of the architecture, like a lot of other artists. When doing paintings of nature, Rainey takes some liberties, but when it comes to recreating structures she’s more precise. She’ll take general photos of a house, say, and then shoot close-ups of various details, to get everything just right for historical purposes. “People really want something as they know it – as it appears. I do a lot of house commissions, also, and they have to be accurate, because that’s what people want.” Although a Christmas picture she did of the Cape May lighthouse does have a wreath hanging on it that wasn’t there.

"The Abbey" by Patricia Rainey

She prefers to photograph buildings in the winter because there are no leaves blocking the view. (They can be added later.) Then her paintings are done in the studio, due to the nature of detail required.

She usually begins a painting by sketching in the building and then washes in the colors, such as the sky and grass. Then she goes back and puts in the finer details called for. Patricia also works on four or five paintings at a time, claiming she doesn’t have the attention span to stick to one piece at a time,

Her creative output is limited to the months of November through March, devoting the remainder of the year attending shows in the area. The bulk of her current work is dedicated to commissions.

Summing up her work, she says “a lot of artists have a message in their paintings, and I really don’t. My paintings are just very happy paintings. And I’ve heard that over and over from the public. They’re just places you’d like to be, rather than trying to figure out what they mean. There are no surprises.”

www.patriciaraineystudios.com

Phil Courtney

Phil Courtney

Phil Courtney finds a freedom in working with watercolors, although he has dabbled in oils. “Right now when I get a little free time I run out and paint,” he says. “It’s just a lot easier to deal with watercolors that way. With oils, it’s more of a big project. You need a big block of time to actually get into it.”

A billboard artist by trade, Courtney considers his fine art work more of a hobby or part time passion. A hobby he’s been devoted to most of his life,

He’s been doing paintings of Cape May for about eight years. His family used to vacation here, and when his work moved to the area they decided to become residents. “We just love the town. It’s a nice year-round beach town, more than a lot of other towns.”

"The Wooden Rabbit" by Phil Courtney

Courtney’s done some commissions and illustration work, but he hasn’t taken that too far, preferring to pursue subjects of his own choosing. He has done some landscapes, but his work centers on the architecture of the town. The process he employs for choosing a subject is simple. “I think for me, it’s the overall look of the place. I look at a house and think I would love to paint that, and I just do it.

“I do an initial painting and I take photographs. Sometimes I’ll take photographs at different times of the summer and get different flowers. I’ll get different aspects of the seasons and pick a season that looks the best with the house. I’ll work in the studio on it for a while, or maybe go back out. But to get the details, you really need to sit in a studio. It’s really hard to do out on location.”

For a real detailed painting it might take Courtney 30 hours to complete. “It’s all that gingerbread takes a long time to paint. Also, with watercolor you have to be so careful not to go too dark. A lot of times I paint it a little too light and then I paint the rest of the painting. And then I realize that that area’s too light, you’ve got to make it a little darker. Because if you go too dark with watercolor you can’t go back – you’re done.”

"Before the Storm" by Phil Courtney

He takes advantage of some of the looser aspects that watercolors can provide when doing landscapes. But when doing buildings, it’s more of a precise approach.

Lately, Courtney has been concentrating on landscapes, finding subject matter in the marshlands along Route 47 near the Delaware Bay and at Cape May Point. It’s become a nice change from doing buildings.

He’ll eventually return to structures, though. When he was young he contemplated following a career path as an architect. He’s also done home renovations, which has given him a keener knowledge of perspective and scale.

Courtney works on billboards from Cape May to Atlantic City, often along the boulevards leading into shore towns. A couple of times he’s looked out over the wetlands and noticed some particularly rich subject matter. So his next creation might come from those musings.

www.courtneystudios.com

Marie Natale

Courtesy marienatale.com

Marie Natale, from Egg Harbor Township, has been an artist since she was 12 when her teacher encouraged her to pursue her interest. Marie taught art in the public school system for ten years, garnering a Teacher of the Year award along the way. She now teaches privately in her home studio and at the Ocean City Arts Center. Her watercolors have won numerous awards.

She often drives down the parkway to capture Cape May. One reason, she says, is that “nowhere in South Jersey do you really find the colors of those buildings. First of all, it’s the architecture itself that is so beautiful and you don’t see that a lot. And the colors of buildings – purple buildings, pink buildings – you just don’t see that around. So that is what’s the real draw.”

Usually when Marie is doing a scene, she does her painting from life. She’ll arrive in the morning and stay all day. But she may only use part of that time in creative pursuit. “In watercolors you really need to paint light,” she says. “It’s very important that you’re able to capture the light. So, depending on where the building is, it might be morning sun, it might be afternoon sun, whatever. But I do try and get it where I have a strong difference between shadow and light.

"The Halcyon Days of Summer" by Marie Natale

“I also like getting the shadows on the porches. I like casting of tree shadows on streets and things like that, which I think also adds interest and gives a sense of dimension to the painting as well.”

She is attracted to watercolors because she feels they convey a freshness and transparency that other mediums don’t. Paintings in oil and other materials sometimes have a heaviness and opacity to them that she would rather not have in her work.

“The other exciting thing about watercolor,” she says, “is there’s no other medium that allows water and pigment and gravity to work together to capture these glowing, beautiful watercolors. Because [with] most paints you put it on the picture and it stays there. But with watercolors – because I stand with my watercolor paper straight up – all that gravity is also making the water run and flow, and that’s what creates an excitement about the direct painting technique.”

Natale paraphrases Picasso when she says, “you as an artist have to lie a little bit, stretch it a little bit, so the viewer gets to see the beauty you want them to see.

"Summertime Carriage Ride" by Marie Natale

“And that’s really kind of what I want to do. I’m not really interested in painting really emotional, deep heavy subjects. I want people to look at my paintings and say ‘Oh wow, I want to be there right now. Oh look at the light. Look at what a beautiful location that is. I want to be there.’ That’s more interesting to me than showing something emotionally gut-wrenching.

“I feel like I’m paying homage and giving respect to these buildings and these structures that have serviced people over the years, and honoring them in a way by showing them their beauty and letting people see what that is.

“That’s the other easy thing about Cape May – everywhere you turn around there’s another painting to paint. Everything is just so beautiful down there. Each building has its own unique architecture, and that’s exciting too.”

www.marienatale.com

Wax myrtle often grows along the Delaware bay where birds enjoy the berries.

The Cape May area is a real Mecca for all kinds of birds. Birders come from all over the world during migration seasons to watch and count them. Besides songbirds, there are owls, hawks, waterfowl and many other unusual birds. Because of the variety of birds there are many plants that have been planted or seeded by the bird droppings. Although some of these plants are invasive, many are beneficial and provide food for the birds. There are many wonderful natural areas in which to hike and bird watch. There are often walks and events at the Nature Center of Cape May and other Cape May wildlife areas.

Do you have birds gobbling up seeds and insect pests in your garden? If not, you should consider adding a bird feeder and planning to plant some bird-friendly plants for next year. Birds are fun to watch. They add color, movement and song to the garden and they eat harmful insect eggs and larvae. We have been using a mix of white safflower and sunflower seeds. I am not sure why, but the squirrels didn’t bother the white safflower as much, or at least they ignored it for a while. It seems they are now beginning to eat the white safflower seeds too. Perhaps this is because of deep snow covering other foods. I find that it pays to buy good seed that does not have filler in it. Stores that specialize in birdseed will have many kinds of custom blends that attract numerous types of birds.

Holly trees provide shelter beneath their solid leaves and food with their berries.

As natural food becomes more and more scarce in late winter, birds are more apt to take advantage of feeders. Americans are avid birders, feeding the birds year round. This pastime is more than just amusement; it is beneficial for your garden because birds eat harmful insects and pests in addition to weed and left over flower seeds. As they snack on the seeds we put out they also clean up the lawn and garden for spring. I love to watch the wood peckers on the dead trees around our property. This year there are flocks of red wing black birds and grackles at our feeders. I do not remember seeing them in such numbers other years. I try not to complain about them as they eat a volume of gypsy moth larvae and other harmful pests in spring and summer when they have young in the nest.

If your attempts at feeding are not quite as successful as you would like you might evaluate your feeding sites. Is there nearby cover? I find that most of the birds that come to my feeders first sit in the red cedar, holly or spruce trees that naturally line our yard. They not only eat the berries, or pull the seeds from cones, but also find shelter from predictors among the prickly greens and protection from rain and snow beneath their cover.

Many birds love to eat bayberry. It grows in the dunes at the shore but will do well in most well drained yards that are not over watered.

If your yard is bare and the feeder sits out far from any trees or evergreens you must remedy the situation by planting some tall ornamental grasses, fruit bearing shrubs, trees and evergreens as a screen behind the feeders.

Make your first planting of the season an evergreen backdrop for the birds. Sometimes you can find balled and burlaped evergreens left from the Christmas season. Plant a spruce, a fir, a pine or a native cedar. This permanent cover within distance to the feeding area will insure a holding area for hungry but insecure birds on their way to your feeder.

All evergreens are a Mecca for wildlife providing both food and shelter, but the cedar is a very valuable native that should be protected more and planted in residential a well as public landscapes. It is plant that demands nothing of the environment and gives much back. Cedars are not always sitting in nurseries, but we often dig them in our fields for special orders. Watch for them in and among borders as birds often drop the seeds and they grow naturally. We have several very nice specimens that were here in our woodland setting when we built our house more than 40 years ago. There are gardens of shade tolerant plants under them and bird feeders near them. I am so glad these cedars were left to grow in all their glory.

Plants to plan on for attracting birds to your garden

This blue bird is sitting on my garden fence where he loves to eat beach plums from the many shrubs planted along the garden. A pair nests in the box also on the fence.

Ornamental grasses provide both quick cover and food for many varieties of birds. Low plants for ground cover include bearberry for dry shade, cotoneaster, cranberry, lowbush blueberry and spreading junipers. Other taller shrubs that have berries such as Pyracantha, bayberry, choke cherry, Rosa rugosa (large orange rose hips), raspberry, black berry, nandina, clethra and fruiting vines. Taller trees include hollies, cedar, dogwood, Amelanchier (shad blow), fruit, nut and berry trees that birds like for both food and shelter. The dogwood is usually at the top of the list with birds visiting them in the fall. Because of these numerous red berries in autumn, the dogwood is said to be a very good wild life tree. Many songbirds devour the pretty red fruits. Cedar waxwings can often be seen visiting them in fall especially when they are near the cedar trees like in my garden. These flocks also eat the black fruit of the sour gum in fall and the dried frozen persimmon in February.

As I look out my front window now I see towering pines, then many hollies, dogwood, cedar, gum and sassafras. There are various shrubs next, several with fruits and berries. The birds are everywhere, many making their way to the feeders close to the house. Jays, mockingbirds, and cardinals are all eating the numerous kinds of berries. The robins are here and beginning to strip the berries from the holly. There are still berries on my favorite nandina shrubs, but the birds will soon eat them. For some reason, they are eaten last. We enjoyed watching chick a dee pulling the seeds from white pines a while ago.

Chickadees love rose hips and are often in thickets eating and roosting in the safety of the rose thorns.

There are many good books and lists that can provide homeowners with detailed information. Email me at Lorraine@tripleoaks.com for more information on planting a bird watcher’s garden. Also contact the National Wildlife Federation in Washington DC for their packet for homeowners. We were among the first 100 to register our property as a wildlife habitat way back in the 1970s. Their publications have good ideas on making a garden for the birds. Having been working at this since the ‘70s, we see the many benefits of planting for wildlife. Join me to learn how to make your yard a bird and butterfly Mecca.

On April 10 at 1:30 there will be a Workshop for planting the garden for the birds. The $15 registration fee covers handouts, a one-gallon native plant for birds, a lecture, and walk. Sign up soon. Refreshments also included. Call 856-694-4272.

Mark your calendar for the winter interest, “looking for spring” plant walk and talk on March 14. Event is free and there is home made soup at the end. Please register now. Call 856-694-4272.

Lorraine Kiefer has gardened all of her life. She is a garden writer, floral designer and professional horticulturist. Lorraine teaches many classes at Triple Oaks nursery and Herb Garden in Franklinville, NJ. Email Lorraine@tripleoaks.com for garden help or leave your questions below! www.tripleoaks.com

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Like most people who grew up in this area, I’m familiar with Wheaton Village, way up in Cumberland County though it is. All good little schoolchildren on the Cape know that springtime means a field trip to the Victorian glass blowing theme-park to buy marbles at the general store, play on the jungle gym and watch a man make a pitcher out of a glowing glob. Or at least all good little schoolchildren in 1986 knew that. Now that you mention it, I’m trying to wrack my brain for the last time I was there.

I decide I should drive up to Millville to see the Village again. Oh, sure, you can see the glass blowing demonstrations at the Physick Estate right here in Cape May, but I’m trying to reconnect with my childhood here, if you don’t mind. As soon as I enter the park, the nostalgia is overwhelming. I head into the General Store to see if they still sell marbles – my third grade obsession. They do, but I’m distracted by grown-up stuff like cut glass decanters and dish towels that say quirky things about marriage and housecleaning. How horribly mature.

The gift shop at Wheaton Village

I walk out by the pond. This is the same pond I remember from those field trips. Well, some things don’t change. For example, I remember well Canada Geese as a menace. I immediately encounter two fat, sleek specimens of feathery hatred who lower their heads and charge me. Funnily enough, this has actually happened here before. I run at top speed right back to the old red schoolhouse from Centre Grove, 1876. I remember learning important lessons here as a child on school trips, like how teachers were allowed to beat you back in 1876, and students had to chop wood or bring food as payment. Oh, how my teachers loved that part of the tour! And just past the schoolhouse, the playground, completely redone to become a safe, splinter-free wonderland with cushiony landings below each swing. Does anyone get skinned knees anymore? The character building rite-of-passage known as a concussion is almost impossible to come by now. “How will kids ever learn to adapt to the dangers of the world, sheltered and soft like this?” I ask. But just then the two geese find me and the air is filled with evil honking. Seems like the Museum should be having a tour soon, right? I run as fast as my feet can go.

It seems so familiar as if I’d just seen it only yesterday. Wondering if déjà vu can become locked in the “On” position, I ask a lovely woman named Mary at the front desk about the next tour. She tells me I have 10 minutes, and I should enjoy the collection of paperweights they have in the side gallery until then. “It’s all one person’s collection,” she says. As long as there are no geese, I’m in.

"Macchia" by Dave Chihuly. Made at Wheaton Village in 1989. Picture courtesy Wheaton Arts.

One glance at the case of paperweights here, and it’s clear to me that Mr. William Drew Gaskill was not what we think of as a “collector.” He was, in fact, an obsessive. Fifteen hundred pieces! The American original and its Chinese copy? Czechoslovakian mourning paperweights, with pictures of dead children in them! Paperweights commemorating the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, the 1876 Bicentennial in Philadelphia, and a great place to buy a suit in Beaver Falls (et tu, advertising?). Mr. Gaskill was inspired by his collection to form the American Paperweight Collectors Association, of which he was obviously the president. How can anyone else be a member? There must be four paperweights left on earth that were not owned by him.

Mary begins herding everyone back into the main lobby, where a man in a Mr. Rogers’ sweater is waiting. Meet Mary’s husband Bill. Bill explains that he’s the guide, shut off your cell phone, and this Museum building is a reproduction of another Victorian building. Oooh! Wait! What one? “The Mainstay Bed and Breakfast in Cape May,” says Bill, and my head explodes. “But it’s painted in different colors. They chose the Victorian era because that was the heyday of the glass industry.” This must be how amnesiacs feel when it all comes rushing back… now, I can totally see how obvious that is. But Bill is moving on.

Bill is a champion of deadpan understatement. He shows us the history of glass timeline. It’s interesting to note that just after “Venice” comes “Millville.” You almost never hear those two spoken of together. Millville was a glass powerhouse – all that sand, plentiful trees for the furnaces and convenient rivers for transport made the Holly City formidable in glass production. Wrap your head around that for a minute. For a period beginning in the late 1700s, Millville, New Jersey, was in the vanguard of technological advancement for one of the most widely used (and longest lasting) resources in the world.

And eventually they even figured out how to make it in colors other than green. Bill explains the iron in our sand made the glass green, until they began mixing in other metals to change the color. One of those metals was uranium. That explains so much. A woman asks about a Colonial pitcher on display, with a small ball resting on top. “That’s the lid,” says Bill, “but the ball itself is also known as a ‘witches’ ball. It was believed that if you hung them on the window, they would catch evil spirits. And since that’s been there, I haven’t seen any. Now, over here…” Bill is feisty! He’s especially concerned with the patent medicine bottles. “Back then, the medical industry was far superior to what we have now,” he begins innocently. “Because they had cures for everything. This was a cure for diabetes. This one cured cancer. Now, they never showed the ingredients,” he goes on. “But the main ingredient was usually cheap whiskey. This bottle here,” pointing at a particularly pretty white bottle with Bitters written on it. “When they analyzed what was inside, they said it was 88 proof. The others were between 70 and 80. But, you could just call it ‘medicine’ then.” Bill’s tone is regretful, almost reminiscent. “You could just say ‘Oh, I need my bitters’ and then go right off to the WCTU meeting.” All of the older tour-goers are losing it. I never realized the Women’s Christian Temperance Union had such rollicking get-togethers. Oh, Bill.

The last wing of the gallery represents the future of Wheaton Village’s role in glass blowing artistry. This gallery holds the “final projects” of the many artists who’ve been awarded fellowships at Wheaton. Bill explains that these artists are chosen from a cut-throat field of competitors. Winners are given a house, a stipend, and all the instruction and furnace-time they can handle for three months. Then, they get kicked out, leaving one final piece of their handiwork behind for the Museum. So everyone can see just what sort of glassblowin’ hijinks goes on around here. These pieces are wild, colorful and huge, and cuddled around premier glass artist Dale Chihuly’s sideways melting bowl, an object that dominates the central room. My question is who can lift that while it’s still liquid and dangerously hot? Bill appears to be unconcerned and recommends we all head to the glass blowing demonstration.

Don Friel, Studio Manager/Head Gaffer, a gaffer is the master craftsman in charge of the team, works on a trophy at the Glass Studio

It’s still a beautiful day. Although I see one downy tell-tale feather drifting across the porch of the Mainstay-like museum, the only honking I hear is in the distance. I run across the little park land separating the Museum from the glassworks and into the belly of the beast.

Today’s demonstration? The famous Lee pitcher. A replica of one of the first successful glass blowing attempts in the area. Our man makes it appear right before your eyes with the practiced smoothness of a magician. We applaud politely. Ten feet away, a skinny teenager is panicking in a way that could only be described as slapstick. He is trying desperately to sort of shake the glass back into the shape it was intended to go in, which is a bit like trying to de-impregnate someone by lightly shaking them. Except, in this case, there is lots of fire involved.

He is swinging the glass to stretch it and gets a little too enthusiastic. The glass becomes one long twisting thing which he isn’t actually tall enough to keep off the ground, but lifting it nearly sets him on fire. When he swings it back down it makes things worse. When he swings it back up he nearly sets the table on fire. It was very Jerry Lewis, except not as creepy and loud. And, he is also trying not to attract the attention of the instructor. The combo of too much glass, too little attention paid to it and no clue what to do next is a fine catalyst for dangerous comedy.

Behind him is a young girl in a tank top, steel rod poised in her arms like a spear. She is somehow bone-thin and intimidatingly strong-looking. She’s attracting attention even before she begins to work. (I think it’s the tank top next to all that molten glass, although later I realize it’s because she’s beautiful.) Our tour guide tells us this girl is named Charlotte, who has received the Wheaton fellowship. She’s been here almost exactly three months; tomorrow, she has to get out. With what’s left of her free furnace time, Charlotte has come to finish her project. But it’s already 4 o’clock, and most of the staff members are leaving. Even the other students are now leaving. All except the skinny teenager who nearly killed himself with molten glass a half-hour ago. Charlotte cannot work alone. The weight of the glass makes it almost impossible to maneuver while reaching for another tool or prying open the doors of the glory-hole to reheat the glass. The tall, charming kid is so eager to help! A group of us decide to wait and see how this partnership will end.

Charlotte’s project is a moose antler. There is nothing about the moose that is even remotely pretty. The moose is truly nature’s most elaborate joke. It’s a testament to the girl’s skill that the first antler, lying vulnerable and perfect on the side wall, is somehow beautiful. Even the scruffy flaps of skin that peel off the antlers of a real moose are rendered in a way that makes a beautiful texture – a play of amber light winding up into a clear fragile tower. I immediately want to know if she made a freakishly beautiful moose body to go with it, but there’s no time to ask because the boy is walking with a big gob of glass and Charlotte has to go to work. They flatten it. They stretch it. They heat it, reheat it, bring out more color in just the center, squish it, steam it, beat it, flip it over, add more glass, flame broil it, and start over. There must be at least 40 pounds of glass on the steel rod now. One thing, the boy is strong. Charlotte has only to say “Flip!” and the antler is upended before gravity and time have a chance to pull it out of shape.

They are fighting against every element. The heat could make the glass too soft. The cold air makes it too brittle. There are only precious seconds to grab the diamond shears that allow it to (almost) hit the floor. Charlotte seems to have eyes in the back of her head. She also has superior upper-body strength. She can grab the shears and cut through molten glass to create the “fingers” of the moose antler. Since the glass is still molten, she has to hack through within seconds and actually screams a little in the effort. But they manage it. Counting the fingers on the first antler, there are five. This is going to be a long afternoon.

The crowd is gathering closer, despite the face-frying heat of the furnace from 20 feet. Charlotte talks the younger student through every step of the process. She even seems to anticipate the trouble he’s always about to get into before he has a chance to hurt himself or ruin her antler. He starts to gain confidence. He flips the object before she tells him to and, when she doesn’t yell, he relaxes. They’re starting to look like a team – a good one. And this crazy antler thing (Who on earth decides to make an antler?) is becoming increasingly large, pointy, and beautiful.

But it’s also getting harder to work with. Charlotte is struggling for every twist of the glass. Time is of the essence. There’s too much glass underneath to dawdle. If the glass outside cools too fast, the whole thing will crack. If they heat it too much, the sheer weight of what’s beneath will ruin the shape. Their faces in the light of the fire make me think of mythology. Thunderbolt smithies and such. I notice that an older woman sitting down a row from me tenses up every time they get too near the fire. She must be a mom.

Charlotte grabs the finished, cooled antler from the wall and holds it up to its mate. Although they are facing opposite directions (so they can come out symmetrically from a giant glass moosehead – words I’d never thought I’d write) it’s almost a perfect match. People next to me sigh with obvious relief. I think this is better than recent episodes of Lost. Charlotte has to add one finger to the antler to make it match: that means more cutting, more twisting, more gobs of molten glass passing just inches from their skin. But they make it look easy. One slight issue, the base is too big. Charlotte tells the boy to reheat the whole thing just one more time. At its current size, they have to open the widest doors to the glory-hole, but the boy handles it smoothly and doesn’t even trip.

Charlotte is working on the antler base. Now that she knows she’s almost done she’s jubilant. The boy is smiling, nearly delirious. Did he, a gangly local kid, really just step up when no one else bothered to? While he reheats the antler one final time, she pulls what can only be called the “oven mitt scuba suit” from a shelf, carefully laying it behind him so he can climb into it as soon as she takes the antler from him. This he does as directed while Charlotte traces a precise circle along the base of the antler. As we learned with the Lee Pitcher, the cold metal tongs make the hot glass more vulnerable along the hand-drawn “fault-line” – which is the cleanest way to get the finished glass off the rod. The antler is still warm. The amber color inside glows like a fire. It’s like watching two people wrestle with lava. But the boy stands ready to catch the antler as Charlotte prepares to knock the rod off. One gentle tap should do it. She taps! Nothing happens. Hmmm.

The boy stands firm. He’s got all but the very tippy-top of the antler lightly cradled against him. Charlotte traces another fault-line. She smiles triumphantly, jokes with the crowd, and taps again. Uh, Charlotte? Wait just a – she taps again! Much too hard! The boy doesn’t have the top of the antler steady! Horrors!

We can see it coming but can do nothing. And breaking glass always sounds exactly like breaking glass, doesn’t it? Very distinctive. Now make that sound sort of goopy and wet. The still-liquid glass inside the antler is heavy. The cooler glass outside fragile. The top half of the antler, with three of the five crystal-clear fingers arcing skyward in perfect symmetry, smashes on the ground. The fragments melt out of shape instantly. The boy freezes into a position of abject misery. He freezes even though hot glass is bubbling inches away from his chest. All eyes move to young, pretty, tired Charlotte, who has only a few hours to finish up and move away.

Just for the record? I’d have killed him. Even though it was partly her fault, I’d have killed him. And no one watching would have thought less of me for it! In my peripheral vision, I see a middle-aged man cover his face with his hands, and look away, as if to say, “I have seen enough, and I can bear no more.” It is that dramatic! We are so involved! Where is PBS to make a reality show of this – Glass House? C’mon!

Back to Charlotte. The heroine of our piece grabs the rod holding the now ruined antler, and swings it viciously away from the boy. The hot glass inside the bigger bottom half is seeping out of the… well, the only word I can think of now is “wound” where the top of the antler had been. Even with the oven mitt PJs, I don’t think that would have felt good landing on him. She walks resolutely to the heap of broken scrap glass near the corner and without much fanfare, stuffs the antler in. With one practiced, smooth motion, she smashes the remaining antler pieces to dust and gobs again. I can see no reason to do that, unless it just helped her somehow. Then she picks up another rod.

And hits the boy right over the head with it! No, I kid.

Marbles for sale at the General Store

Charlotte walks over to the young boy, still wearing his oven-mitt-suit and trying to be as small and invisible as possible for an overgrown, giant, lanky teenager in a large asbestos “bunny suit.” He has the oven-mitt-hood in his hands and his eyes are down on the floor where ruined glass is still cooling. Someone in the crowd says “ohhh,’ but then Charlotte surprises us. Her voice was totally level as she said, “I have to start all over again. Can you stay and help me?” The boy smiles, his shoulders visibly relax inside the suit, and it is a beautiful sight. Then something else happens. She whacks him right over the head! No, no. Actually, what happens is every one of the women in the crowd starts applauding. Because that was some lesson she just taught him and us. And she’s awfully young. But, if her nifty little grind-the-failure-to-dust move is any indication, this is a girl who learns from her mistakes. And what is it the scholars say about mistakes? “Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.” Or maybe that was Dilbert – the point is, she handled that beautifully!

Long ago, a field trip to Wheaton Village meant the inevitable “report” written afterward. My reports dutifully included facts about glass, favorite marble colors and the occasional goose attack – all painfully scrawled in my crooked child’s printing. By 18, it was pretty embarrassing. But I have to say, you can still learn a lot from this place, even when you’re old and haggard like me now. Today, I learned about Beauty. (Beauty like gorgeous moose antlers? Well, no. That’s unique, to say the least.) But what are you going to do with perfect moose antlers when you’re old and alone and everyone hates you? That’s right. Nothing! But Charlotte’s patient and capable artistic mentoring of a young man at the beginning of his journey will live on and on. By comparison, glass moose antlers would appear to have a limited shelf life.

By this point, it was 5 o’clock and the park is closing, so everyone calls out good luck to them both, sing Charlotte’s praises and wanders out into the last golden hour of early spring sunshine. This time, I am surrounded by people and the killer geese stay far away. Next time, who knows? Maybe if I find myself here next spring, I’ll bring some bread. Or at least see if I can borrow that oven-mitt outfit.

This month our friends over at the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts & Humanities (MAC) have a full roster of activities planned for President’s Day Weekend, which also includes Valentine’s Day (Feb.13-15). As an added bonus, many of the B&Bs reopen that weekend – what could be more romantic?

MAC has a little something lined up for everybody. Let’s begin with wine lovers. Cape May Wine Weekend (Friday, Feb. 12 thru Sunday, Feb.14) combines a Wine Tasting Dinner, Winery Cellar Tour and Wine Tasting Class for a weekend of total indulgence. The weekend begins at 6 p.m. on Friday with a four-course dinner at the Washington Inn featuring wines themed to the Sunday Wine School Class. Guests will be treated to individual attention from the wine steward. On Saturday afternoon (3 p.m.), visit the award-winning Cape May Winery for a tour of the vineyard, an introduction to the winemaker’s art, and a barrel tasting with cheese and fruit. Sunday (1 p.m.), learn the finer points of fine wines at a Wine School Class at the Washington Inn. The complete package is $135 per person. Friday, Feb. 12-Sunday, Feb. 14. For more information or to make reservations, call 609-884-5404 or 800-275-4278 or visit www.capemaymac.org.

If you don’t want to commit to the whole weekend, save some time on Sunday afternoon, Feb. 14. Cape May Wine School is featuring a class on “Great Italian Wines” at 1 p.m. Learn to discern and appreciate wines from Italy in this informative class at the Washington Inn, 801 Washington St. Admission $30.

If you can’t make it down President’s Day weekend, there is a Cape May Wine Trail also being offered Sunday, Feb. 21 from noon to 5 p.m. Spend the day visiting Cape May County’s wineries and sampling the unique flavors of each. First enjoy lunch at one of Cape May’s restaurants and then board the trolley, which will take you to the wineries where you’ll learn about viniculture and visit the tasting rooms. Admission is $75 per person and includes lunch, wine tastings at each vineyard and a wine tasting glass.  Limited event, reserve early!

Never fear beer lovers – there’s a new MAC event for you as well. Beginning Sunday, Feb. 14, the Mad Batter Beer School is hosting eight Sunday sessions on at 2 p.m. on “Pairing Beer & Cheese.” The $25 per class fee includes five samples of beer and light refreshments. Bistro menu also available at an additional charge.  Contact MAC for more information or to make a reservation.

Did I hear you say chocolate was your fixation? MAC has just the thing. Saturday, Feb. 13 at  2:00 PM – and make sure you eat lunch so you don’t go into a sugar tailspin – the Washington Inn will host their most popular, always a sell out, Chocolate Fantasy Buffet. If you love chocolate (and who doesn’t?), you won’t want to miss the Chocolate Fantasy Buffet. Milk or dark, whatever your preference, you can fulfill your chocolate fantasy in the decadence of a completely chocolate buffet. Washington Inn Chef Kathleen Cressman-Pastiu will be on hand to share the secrets of her trade. Admission is $35 per person. Contact MAC for more information or to make your reservations – REALLY make your reservations early. This event sells out very quickly.

The Mad Batter. Photo by Jumping Rocks

Want to try something different? How about a tour and brunch combo? On Sunday, Feb. 14 at 10:45 a.m. – not 10:30, not 11 a.m. but 10:45 – the MAC  Sea Trolley Tour is offering a tour of the town’s mansions followed by a gourmet brunch at the famous Mad Batter Restaurant on Jackson Street. $22 for adults; $17.50 for children (ages 3-12).  Contact MAC to make your reservations.

Another, enormously popular tour is the Ghosts of Cape May Trolley Tour which is being offered Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 13 and 14. The tour includes a 30-minute ride through the streets of Cape May with a guide who will relate the paranormal findings of Ghost Writer Craig McManus at various properties along the way. The tour begins at the Washington Street Mall Information Booth at the end of the Mall on Ocean Street. $10 for adults, $7 for children (ages 3-12). Sponsored by MAC. Wheelchair accessible trolley tours are offered, subject to availability.

If mystery, murder and mayhem are more your bent, MAC and the Cape May Detective Agency has just the thing for you. Friday, Feb.19 and Saturday, Feb.20 the “Looking Glass Mysteries” continue. Join the mystery weekend where poison, blackmail, and bribery are part of the game…and where the killers actually hunt the guests! These little adventures are designed by Shadow Stalkers and they’ve had 13 guests murdered in a single night!
Sound like fun? It is… if you survive! The Carroll Villa Hotel will be our Mystery Head Quarters, with the Bedford Inn, Bacchus Inn, and John Wesley Inn also fielding teams of detectives. Call 609-884-5404 for reservations.

Black Blue & True photo exhibit is on display through April 18, featuring the work of photographer William May.

The following weekend on Sunday, Feb. 21 at 4 p.m. MAC in conjunction with the Center for Community Arts is conducting a panel discussion, “Black, Blue & True: To the Tune of Inspiration.” Join local and national musicians featured in the exhibit at the Carriage House Gallery located on the grounds of the Emlen Physick Estate, 1048 Washington St.  Panel discussion will be led by Gary Walker, WBGO-FM/88.3FM Music Director and on air personality.  4 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 21. Admission is free.

For more information on this or any of the MAC activities, call 609-884-5404 or 800-275-4278 or visit www.capemaymac.org.

But wait, there’s other stuff going on. Congress Hall is hosting a Yoga Retreat Friday, Feb. 5 through Sunday, Feb. 7. Join us for our yearly retreat with teachers Doug Swenson and Sharon Fruchtman. Registration is Friday evening with classes Friday eve through Sunday morning. For more information please contact Sharon Fruchtman s_fruchtman@yahoo.com or call (609) 408-0009.

Looking for a place to watch the Super Bowl while you’re in town? Cabanas Beach Bar & Grill on Beach Avenue is hosting their 3^rd Annual Super Bowl Cigar Party Sunday, Feb. 7. The soiree includes a half-time tailgate buffet, super drink specials, and four premium cigars: Cape May Ghost Rides, 10 Anos, Cape May Celebration, Man-o-War. Tickets are $25.00 and are available at Up in Smoke at 421 Washington Street Mall. Private event hosted by Up in Smoke at Cabanas Beach Bar & Grill. Tickets required for entry. Day of walk-ins are welcome!

Looking for just a quiet getaway or for something relaxing to do after all your touring? Well, if the B&B you’re staying in doesn’t have a fireplace, you can take a short walk over to Congress Hall on Beach Avenue and Perry Street for dinner at the recently well-reviewed Blue Pig Tavern or for a cozy cocktail in the Brown Room and enjoy the quiet ambiance and lovely glow of the fireplace in each setting. As an added bonus, there is entertainment in the Brown Room every Friday and Saturday from 8 to midnight. On the holiday weekend Ann Oswald and Don Shaw will be playing Friday and Darin MacDonald on Saturday night.

If it’s a more casual look you’re seeking, try the fireplace at the Pilot House on Decatur Street – there’s a Happy Hour from 4-6 everyday but Saturday. On Thursdays you can have dinner in front of the fireplace and listen to the music of Jay Bethel, of Bluebone Fame, from 8 to 10 p.m. or relax for a cocktail and complimentary apps at the bar on Sundays and join in the fun while Barry Tischler plays your favorite songs from decades past from 4-6 p.m.

So whachya think? Plenty to do – and we didn’t even mention the obvious – shopping and sunsets. Bargains are still available pending spring shipments. Those winter sunsets are spectacular. If it’s too cold – drive down to the Cove. Sit in your car and sip on your hot cocoa laced with Bailey’s Cream. Until next month, Happy Trails.

Many gardeners like to get outside, even in cold weather. A lot of gardeners also like to cook using their garden vegetables. Many love to have soup simmering in this cold winter season. Knowing you have warm soup simmering on the stove makes doing chores out in the cold a bit easier.

Soup making is basic to life. It changes with the rhythm of the seasons, time and ingredients. Soup is one of those foods that you can almost make from instinct using what is in the cupboard. Most every country of the world has a favorite or special soup that everyone makes and loves. Winter weather often dictates the need for soup in various households. From a fresh asparagus soup in spring, or a gardeny mix in summer, to a creamy pumpkin blend topped with nutmeg in fall and then a hearty dried pea or lentil soup in winter. Soup reflects the abundance of certain foods and the weather.

Plan a fall soup garden. Cabbage and root crops last long into winter. Greens can be frozen and herbs can be dried.

Once you get use to making soup you will find that you can add just about anything you like to a broth. Some cooks say they can read a recipe and know just what they want to change before they make it. With soup, there is much freedom for the chef.

Soup making differs from household to household, but always uses whatever is at hand, creating a delicious product from very humble ingredients. It is a way of life in many cultures that has prevailed since ancient times. The start of the “soup” kitchen was at a monastery where monks provided soup and bread for anyone who knocked at their door. The frequent chore of gathering garden bounty or combining leftovers to make the best of soups was combined with the thought:  Soup can always be made more. Soup making, soup sharing and soup giving makes for joy for all involved.

Gardens …source of life and soup. St. Anthony, often called the first monk, tended his garden to provide food for himself and the other monks; as well as for the poor and the pilgrims. They took to heart that “one must eat from the labor of one’s hands.” This food that was shared was most often soup and bread. St. Benedict in his Rules insisted that the monks grow food for themselves and to feed others. Again the most likely dish that could be made with seasonal or dried produce was soup.

Making Soup. Basic soups can be prepared from either a meat or vegetable stock. This can be started by sautéing an onion and garlic in olive oil and butter. (Margarine just doesn’t “do it.”) When the onions and garlic become light golden in color water, other ingredients can be added. Very few seasoned cooks adhere to a recipe for soup as the variety and creativity is regulated only by availability of ingredients. Always cover everything with water, add seasonings to taste. At this stage many cooks boil and then simmer bones for hours to attain a rich tasty broth. Watch the water level, remove the bones and skim any foam from the top. Proceed with your recipe or add vegetables in order of the time they need to cook. For a typical hearty soup dried beans, peas and grains of course are added first and simmered or about 20 minutes, then the hard vegetables such as carrots, celery and potatoes added in that order. Tender vegetables like cabbage or zucchini and especially bags of frozen mixed soup vegetables are added last so they will not over cook.

Always cook any pasta to go in the soup in a separate pot of water, drain, rinse off starch and add to soup just before serving. Cooked fresh herbs can be added often during cooking, but save some so soups can be topped with chopped fresh herbs and a sprinkle of grated cheese.

Many families have favorite soup recipes that are handed down by word of mouth or made side by side. The mother stands next to the grandmother and watches, her daughter does the same. Now this is good soup!

Lorraine’s Favorite Monk’s Garden Soup

• 3 to 6 pounds stewing beef or chicken breasts*
• 2 quarts water, more added as needed
• 1 onion, chopped fine
• 2 bay leaves
• 10 peppercorns
• 1 cup each of barley, corn, lentils and beans**
• ½ cup dried peas, all rinsed**
• 2 cups carrots, sliced
• 2 cups celery, chopped
• 1 chopped onion
• 3 potatoes, peeled and cubed
• ½ head cabbage, chopped
• 3 beets, peeled and chopped
• Any other vegetable you have or like (i.e. beans, cauliflower, etc.)
• 2 16-ounce cans (With chunks if possible) tomatoes
• 1 bag of mixed frozen vegetables
• Salt to taste
• ½ teaspoon marjoram leaves
• ½ cup freshly chopped parsley
• ½ cup grated cheese

* This is optional if you do not have time to boil or simmer bones for several hours. Go meatless by just adding the water to the sautéed onion with the addition of garlic.

** This is a lot, so a lot of water will have to be added all along.

In large kettle, cover bones with water, heat to boiling. Add bay leaf and peppercorns. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 2-3 hours, remove bones, bay leaf and pepper corns and proceed. If you are only using the beef cubes or chicken sauté, with first onion add water and simmer an hour. Let stock cool slightly, skim off fat. Add dried ingredients to meat and stock. Simmer 30 minutes. Add hard raw vegetables. Simmer 30 minutes. Add frozen vegetables. Reduce heat. Cover and simmer 10 minutes or until all are cooked. Throughout the cooking time, add hot water to the soup to keep a good amount of broth. Do not allow the dried vegetables to stick to bottom. Keep from a hard boil or it will burn. This soup gets better each day. Add tomato juice or broth if it thickens too much. The barley et al will absorb liquid. Top each bowl with freshly chopped parsley and grated cheese … delicious ~ serve with crusty bread and real butter

Barscazc (Peasant Style Beet Soup)

• 8 beets, peeled and diced
• Garlic clove
• 2 onions, finely chopped
• ½ stick butter
• 2 quarts water
• Salt, pepper, garlic salt
• 5 potatoes, peeled and diced
• 3 carrots, peeled and sliced
• ½ head purple or green cabbage, chopped
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons vinegar or lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons dill
• 2 bay leaves
• 6 whole cloves
• 6 peppercorns
• 1 large can chicken broth (optional)

Sauté garlic, beets, onions in butter, adds water, salts and pepper. Add potatoes and carrots, cook for 1 hour. Add cabbage, sugar, vinegar, and dill. Tie cloves, peppercorns, and bay leaves in bouquet garni bag or cheese cloth, toss in with mixture. Add chicken broth and cook 15 minutes. Remove garni bag and serve. Top with sour cream and dill.

Chicken Soup with Greens

• 4 large chicken breasts with bone and skin, or whole chicken cut up
• 6 large carrots peeled and sliced
• 6 stalks celery with leafy tops, chopped
• 2 onions
• 2 parsley roots
• 1 cup of barley
• ½ cup parsley
• 6 cups of washed and chopped spring greens (spinach, escarole, or a mixtures of dandelion and other spring greens)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Bring the chicken and water to boil. Simmer for at least an hour or two. Remove chicken and add hard vegetables and barley. Simmer about 20 minutes. Add greens and simmer until tender. Some folks like to blanch the greens separately and then add, but there is more flavor and vitamins when cooked directly in soup. Remove skin and bones from chicken. Cut into bite sized pieces and add to soup before serving.
Garnish with chopped parsley and grated Parmesan cheese.

Tomato Soup

• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 4 leeks* thoroughly cleaned and then minced
• 3 carrots, peeled and minced
• 1 medium red onion, chopped finely
• 3 cloves garlic minced
• Grated zest of 1 orange
• 2-3 teaspoons thyme (depending on your taste)
• ½ cup fresh parsley for topping
• 1 tsp. nutmeg
• 2 cans large sliced tomatoes or 12 ripe tomatoes, seeded and diced
• 3 cans plum tomatoes (placed in blender with additional ½ cup parsley, blend)
• 2 quarts chicken stock
• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon. baking soda
• Salt & freshly ground pepper

* You may substitute scallions or small onions

Heat the oil in a large stockpot and add the leeks, carrots, onion and garlic. Cook for 15 minutes. Add the orange zest, thyme and cook, stirring frequently for 3 minutes. Add all the tomatoes, stock and orange juice and stir to combine. Simmer over medium heat for 30-45 minutes. Remove from heat. Let cool a little. Working in batches, purée in a food processor or blender. Season with the salt and pepper. Return the soup to the pot and bring it to a simmer add 2 cups sour cream or half and half, do not allow to boil, stir in nutmeg and salt and pepper to taste.

***

Like the monk of ancient times savor each change of the season. Have welcoming soup in your kitchen to add some warmth to the coldest winter day when it is shared with family and friends.

Taste Lorraine’s homemade soup following the plant walk and talk on March 14 , Look for winter interest and signs of spring on this tour of the gardens. Free event but RSVP required. Call 856-6694-4272.

Lorraine Kiefer has gardened all of her life. She is a garden writer, floral designer and professional horticulturist. Lorraine teaches many classes at Triple Oaks nursery and Herb Garden in Franklinville, NJ. Email Lorraine@tripleoaks.com for garden help or leave your questions below! www.tripleoaks.com

The buzzword for the new decade in culinary circles is sustainability. In a biodegradable nutshell, sustainability is the capacity to endure. It relates to our food in that we need to be better stewards of our planet’s resources. I am not getting on my persnickety pulpit and preaching about the evils of cheeseburgers and bottled water and proclaiming all tasty foods we enjoy evil. But the food production industry, from farming, packaging to shipping leaves a Yeti-sized carbon footprint on the globe, and if we hope to be eating cheeseburgers in the future we need to become more aware of how we consume our resources. Some of the key principles of the sustainability movement are: Use local seasonally available ingredients; use foods from farming systems that minimize harm to the environment; eliminate at-risk or endangered seafood from the diet; and promote health and well being in our diets.

Looking at these principles one by one, we can see the benefit not just for the planet, but our palate as well. Local produce tastes better because the food is allowed to ripen naturally. By not picking the food three weeks before it has time to fully develop flavor and nutrients, and by not shipping it cross country and chemically ripening it, we wind up with a better-tasting, better-for-you product. We all bemoan grocery-store produce that looks great, but has no flavor. Quit buying it, thus forcing the grocery store chains to offer foods that come from organic, healthful farms and businesses. Case in point, most grocery store chains offer cage-free, antibiotic-free eggs and free-range meats. Not only are these foods healthier for people and the planet, but they taste better. If these foods become the standard, they will also become less expensive.

Locally harvested fish means the seafood is fresher. It also means jobs and money for the local economy. Fishing responsibly also means ensuring this precious natural resource for future generations.

Greening our kitchens can be relatively painless. Buying local can be as simple as stopping at Duckies on Broadway or other local farmers’ markets to buy what is fresh and in-season before you drive off the island to hit the local grocery store chains.

This approach will require some culinary flexibility. You may not always be able to get what is on your shopping list, but the produce you do buy will taste better. When at your local fish market ask for what is harvested locally. Avoid farm-raised fish like salmon and tilapia and enjoy scallops, flounder, oysters, clams, tuna, bluefish and squid. All are harvested by local fishermen.

This spring, as the sun returns to our island and gardens begin to sprout, use local ingredients in your cooking. The following recipes feature local produce and proteins: Spring Peas and Pearl Onions with Amish Bacon, Pan Seared Scallops and Leek Potato Hash with Beet Horseradish Puree, Mushroom Vinaigrette Salad, and Poached Local Eggs Florentine using Jersey Spinach.

Remember, in the kitchen think global in flavors and cook locally. Until next month, Bon Appétit.

Spring Peas and Pearl Onions with Amish Bacon

• 4 cups shelled fresh peas blanched see blanching procedure below
• 2 cups peeled and blanched pearl onions
• 12 ounces slab bacon cut into ¼ cubes
• 2 tablespoons butter
• Sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper
• 8 mint leaves, chiffonaded

Tip: To conserve water, blanch onions first. Remove with slotted spoon or strainer and leave water in pan to blanch peas.

Blanch peas in 3 pints boiling salted water for 3 minutes until peas are slightly tender and still bright green. Shock in ice water to set color and stop the cooking process.

Peel pearl onions. Blanch six minutes and shock.

In sauté pan, render bacon over medium high heat until almost crispy add onions and lightly brown  for 3-5 minutes add butter and peas  add salt and pepper and toss in fresh mint serve with perfect roast chicken.*

Persnickety Suggests… Serve this recipe with my Perfect Roast Chicken. Check out the Fall 2009 issue of Cape May Magazine for the recipe!

Pan Seared Scallops and Leek Potato Hash with Beet Horseradish Puree

Leek Potato Hash

• 1½ pounds new potatoes (Note: new potatoes are thin skinned; not all red potatoes are new potatoes.)
• 4 leeks split in ½ lengthwise and cleaned, then cut into thin ½ moons

Cook potatoes whole starting in cold water bring to boil simmer for 10 minutes or until slightly tender. Drain and cool. Cut into ½ inch dice. In sauté pan melt 4 tablespoons butter. Sweat* leeks until tender. Season with salt and pepper. Increase heat to high. Add potatoes, cook until brown and crispy.

* A technique by which ingredients, particularly vegetables, are cooked in a small amount of fat over low heat. The ingredients are covered directly with a piece of foil or parchment paper, then the pot is tightly covered. With this method, the ingredients soften without browning, and cook in their own juices. www.epicurious.com/tools/fooddictionary

Beet Purée

• 4 large beets peeled and cubed
• ¼ cup diced fresh horseradish root

Place beets and horseradish root in saucepan. Cover with water. Simmer 45 minutes until beets are soft. Replenish water if necessary. Puree in blender until smooth. Season with sea salt. Strain.

Scallops

• 5 scallops (10 count) per person, abductor muscle removed
• Olive oil for searing

Pat scallops dry and season with salt and pepper. Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in sauté pan. Sear until brown, 3-4 minutes per side. To plate – place hash in center. Ladle beet puree around arrange scallops on top

Parsnip Purée

• 5 pounds parsnips, peeled and sliced ¼” thick

Place parsnips in saucepan. Cover with cool water. Simmer 50 minutes until water is 90 percent absorbed. Add 4 tablespoons butter. Mash. Season with salt and pepper.

Mushroom Vinaigrette Salad

• ½ pound crimini mushrooms, quartered
• ½ pound shitake mushrooms, caps only, quartered
• ½ pound button mushrooms, quartered
• 4 scallions sliced on bias
• 1 red pepper, julienned
• 2 teaspoons fresh thyme
• ¼ cup rice vinegar
• 4 tablespoons peanut oil

In sauté pan over medium heat, add peanut oil. Add mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper.  Cook half way. Place in bowl. Toss with remaining ingredients. Chill.

Persnickety Suggests… Serve with pan seared Mahi Mahi atop mashed parsnips.

Poached Local Eggs Florentine using Jersey Spinach

Creamed Jersey Spinach

• 2 pounds stemmed spinach, blanched, cooled and squeezed dry
• 3 shallots, minced
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup cream
• 3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

In sauté pan sweat shallots 3 minutes add cream reduce by 2/3 add cheese fold in spinach season with salt pepper and ¼ tsp fresh grated nutmeg

Poached Eggs Florentine

Poach 8 local eggs. Serve with creamed spinach on top of toasted artisan sourdough bread.

Pennsylvania mushroom farmers have reclaimed old coal mines and turned them into mushrooms beds. That’s sustainable change.

Jon Davies is a graduate of Johnson and Wales University of Culinary Arts. His work as a chef has taken him to Aspen, Colorado; Cape May, NJ; and the odd private jet for culinary gigs for the rich and famous.

January: Feeling Small

February: Evening Breeze

March: Lined Up and Ready To Go

April: Path to Happiness

May: Watching the Whale Watcher

June: Highest Tide of the Year

July: Driftwood Sculptures at Higbee Beach

August: Afterglow

September: Final Catch

October: Home Before Dark

November: Homage to Thanksgiving on Washington Street

December: Christmas Eve Morning

Favorite Overall: Painted Sky