Save 10/8/11 Saturday for The Ramstein Open House, SR Fresh Hot Sauce

Here is a reminder for this weekend’s Ramstein Beer Open House and Tour, this Saturday, Oct. 8. Directions are at the website.

There will be 2 tour and tasting sessions, at 2 PM and 3:45 PM. 

Beers on tap - Blonde Hefeweissen, Amber Lager, and Double Platinum Blonde.

1  and 2 liter growlers will be in stock

And SR Fresh Hot Sauce will be there with the Fresh Cayenne-Cherry Pepper, Habanero Gold, and XXXXTra Hot Habanero Hot Sauce. We will have Cayenne-Fresno in 2 Heat levels, Mild and Wild, and also our new Caribbean Hot Sauce along with our Spicy Aioli in 16 oz jars -- that's Hot and Spicy Mayo for those of you scratching your heads. Come try them! And buy them!

You Hot Sauce people can check out the SR Fresh Hot Sauce Website, where the sauces are explained and sold. Check out the Fresh Hot Sauce Blog as well.

As usual, there will be a tour and explanation of the brewing process by Greg Zaccardi, the owner. [See previous post about Ramstein Beer with videos for a primer.]

See you there!

Ted and Christine and Emma

Human Trafficking Presentation at the Kinnelon Library Wed., Oct 12 7 PM

Kathleen Friess, the Program Coordinator for Major Crimes/Human Trafficking will present on

The NJ Human Trafficking Task Force

Wednesday, Oct 12 at 7 PM

This is Ms. Friess' second visit to our Library. What is Human Trafficking 101; The NJ Task Force; New Jersey and Human Trafficking? This is an introduction that will provide a basic understanding of human trafficking, the crime and its victims. 

We will also discuss why New Jersey is a prime location for human trafficking and what New Jersey is doing to combat this criminal activity. 

Please call the Library at (973) 838-1321 to register for this free program.


~Ted

Free College Planning Presentation at The Kinnelon Library: How To Present A Strong Application

The Kinnelon Public Library will be hosting the following presentation on college applications:

The College Planning Process: How to Present a Strong Application Package

Thursday, October 13 @ 7pm

Maryanne Melnyk

Ms. Melnyk is an experienced certified Supervisor of Guidance in a strong academic high school who has helped hundreds of students through the college selection and application process. She has published an article in the NJEA Review and was interviewed on NBC News.

She will host this free informative presentation detailing how to put together a strong competitive application package.

For more information: email mam24@optonline.net


~Ted

Stag's Leap Wine Dinner at Smoke Rise Inn, 10/22/11

 

If you enjoyed the Cakebread Cellars Wine dinner at the Smoke Rise Inn in September, you will surely enjoy this next event which takes place on Saturday, October 22nd, 2011 starting at 6:30 pm and celebrates Stag's Leap Wine Cellars.

The menu for the event is as follows with the appropriate Stag's Leap Wine pairing...

Stag's Leap Wine Dinner 1st Course

Grilled Colossal Shrimp on Brioche

Lemon Zabaglione and Tarragon Vinaigrette

STAG’S LEAP SAUVIGNON BLANC 2008

Stag's Leap Wine Dinner 2nd Course

Grilled Portobello and Goat Cheese Pavé

True Tomato Coulis

HANDS OF TIME 2008

Stag's Leap Wine Dinner 3rd Course

Seared Ahi Tuna, Roasted Golden Beets

Tamarind Drizzle

ARTEMIS CABERNET SAUVIGNON 2007

Stag's Leap Wine Dinner 4th Course

Roasted Pork Tenderloin, Butternut Squash Risotto

Pomegranate Gastrique

FAY CABERNET SAUVIGNON 2007

Stag's Leap Wine Dinner 5th Course

Grilled Lamb Porterhouse, Barley Pilaf Strewn with Baby Spinach

Gingered Carrot Nage

SLV CABERNET SAUVIGNON 2007

To participate in this wine dinner event, you must contact Randy Polo, General Manager of the Smoke Rise Inn, at 973-838-7770 for reservations. The price per person is $110 plus sales tax and service charge. Remember that seating is limited... so don't wait too long!

Laura Benanti: Kinnelon, Broadway, The Playboy Club

Laura Benanti : from Kinnelon to Broadway to ‘The Playboy Club’

By Mary Beth Grybowski

I am sitting here trying to recall, the first time I heard or read about Laura Benanti. I believe it was in the November 2009 issue of ‘New York Magazine’. But I just reread the article and it does not mention Laura growing up in Kinnelon at all. Hmmm. Now I am stumped.

Yes, Laura Benanti grew up here in town. Her mother Linda Wonneberger, a former actress and vocal coach, and step-father Salvatore Benanti, a psychotherapist, moved here when Laura was still young. Laura performed in many local productions as well as musicals at Kinnelon High School, including ‘Evita’, ‘Follies’ and ‘Into the Woods’.  At 16, she even played the title role in KHS’s production of ‘Hello Dolly’. There was a bit of foreshadowing of what was to come, when she won the Paper Mill Playhouse Rising Star Award for Outstanding Actress in a High School Production. Laura graduated from KHS in 1997. There is so much more to tell about Ms. Benati. If you’d like to learn more, check out Wikipedia entry.

I only moved to this town in 2006 and, as I noted, I never knew about this local talent until two years ago. Now, I have to say, Laura Benanti is one of my favorite Broadway actresses. The first time I saw Laura, was in the Broadway production, ‘In the Next Room’. That was my request for my birthday present back in October of 2009. When I showed my parents the picture from the ‘New York Magazine’, I informed them, “This actress grew up in Kinnelon.”

I did not expect them to reply, “Yes, Dear, we saw Laura Benanti in ‘Gypsy’. She won a Tony for that performance in 2008.”

Last year, for my birthday present, I requested tickets for ‘Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown’. The tickets were for the week between Christmas and New Years. I got to see Laura perform on stage again, just before the show closed.

Last Monday night just before 10pm, I turned on my TV and set the station to NBC Channel 4. I had heard a quick news piece, during the week, that Laura Benanti was going to be on the new TV series ‘The Playboy Club’. I assumed that it was going to be a cameo appearance. Within the first minute of the show’s start, that Broadway voice entertained us with the song, ‘Chicago, That Toddlin’ Town’. Well I am glad to say, it appears that Laura is going to be the star of this new show.

If you have ever seen Laura Benanti perform, there is no doubt that there is beauty and talent. But for me, I find her beauty goes much deeper that what you see on the surface. Check out her contribution to the “It Gets Better” campaign. Laura talks to students about how she was bullied during her time in school. She also talks to parents and tells them to get involved.

This Kinnelon resident and fan wishes a former Kinnelon resident continued success,

Mary Beth Grybowski

Growing Up in Smoke Rise: Joan Semmler Oravits

The best part for me about the Smoke Rise and Kinnelon Blog is connecting with others who have been touched by the intense sense of "Place" that living in Kinnelon creates. From California and Texas, North Carolina and New Hampshire you've contacted me and shared your stories. Thank you!

Today's post is no exception.  Joan Semmler Oravits, who now lives in North Alabama, recently shared with me the following story about growing up in Smoke Rise. She also forwarded me a Christmas card photo from 1959, when she and her family moved to Kinnelon.

Growing Up in Smoke Rise: Joan Semmler Oravits

Christmas Card 1959. Joan and her sister are on sleds, an early Christmas present.
Note: no drapes on the windows given the recency of the move.

Hello Christine!

I have been enjoying your Smoke Rise Blog email news for quite awhile now and always come away from reading your articles with fond memories of the years my family lived there. My parents, Rita and Fred Semmler, moved all of us into the then new house at 153 Green Hill Road in December of 1959. My twin sister and I were in the middle of our third grade year at school so it was a mixture for us of the excitement of a new house and having our own bedrooms for the very first time as well as the not so exciting part of having to fit into a new school & a class with other students who had already completed half of that school year. 


I have many happy memories of growing up in Smoke Rise during those years and looking back on it now I can appreciate what a magical place it was to grow up there. I remember the fun we had at the lake and how when we first moved there the Smoke Rise Club had boats that could be taken from the docks and used by community members and there were club chairs and tables on the rotunda area that were available for use also. Dad bought us a rowboat so he could go fishing on the lake and my sister and I would use it with our friends to row over to St. Hubert's Chapel where we would play. In those days the chapel was kept locked but we knew how to climb in one of the windows where we would sit in the little pews and put flowers in the stone clam shell by the carved angel figurine. We loved that chapel and the island. We would sometimes play with the Talbot children there. 


In the summer there were swimming lessons in the early hours of the morning and my sister and I dreaded having to plunge into the cold water before 9 a.m.! We took water ballet lessons and there was a recital at the end of the summer where parents and grandparents were invited to watch us perform in the water - all of us wearing the then fashionable matching swim caps with plastic flowers on top and swimming to music piped in over the rotunda loud speaker by one of the parents.


Later on when we got older a group of us took advanced swim lessons and tried out for our Red Cross Swim badges where as part of the trials we had to swim across the lake to the other side and back. The swim coach would follow us across in a rowboat with a life preserver towed behind. 


The best part of the beach then were the life guard stands that were attached to the docks. After regular beach hours we would go down to the beach and climb the life guard stands and jump off them into the water below. Sheer fun as only a handful of adults were ever there taking a dip after a hot day working in New York or talking to neighbors and friends. 


In the winter we would ice skate on Hoot Owl Pond. Parents would sometimes take turns shoveling the snow off the ice so we kids could skate and there was always a fire roaring so we could keep warm in between skating. It was one of our favorite things to do in the winter. I remember several parents who lived on Hoot Owl Pond in those days were more than generous and one of the Dads would hook up a record player and play music for us when we skated and one of the Moms made hot chocolate and cookies and brought them to share.


In the early years of living there we had a particularly bad winter with lots of ice and snow and we were without electricity for several days. We all camped downstairs in our family room before the fireplace, which my sister and I thought was really fun while Mom and Dad worried about frozen pipes and keeping the house warm.


I read the comments that Diana wrote in your blog about the Barclay ballroom dance lessons! My sister and I had to attend those also. I used to dread it as we had to dress up in Sunday best dresses and wear white gloves and the boys had to wear suits and ties. The mothers took turns being chaperons and they also had to wear their best dresses and white gloves as well. At the end of the dance lessons the girls and boys had to line up and file past the line of mothers and shake their hands and thank them for attending.


The dance lessons were given by a Mr. Conway and his Assistant Miss Lynn. He was in a tuxedo and Miss Lynn was decked out to us like a movie star in chiffon & heels and the trendy beehive hairdo. They would start each lesson by twirling around the floor to whatever type of dance they wanted to teach us that night. Once they completed their dance the boys would have to line up in front of us girls who were sitting in our chairs and at Mr. Conway's command they each were to pick a girl to dance with and walk over to where she was sitting and make a bow and ask her if she would be his partner for the next dance. It was all so formal and sometimes funny as several boys all tried to get to the same girl before the others. Sometimes one of the fathers would show up before the class was over and I suspect now it was to get a look at Miss Lynn who was quite an eyeful. While we were not that thrilled to have to do waltzes and fox trots every week Mr. Conway did break out of his formal mode once in awhile and at the end of the lessons he would put on a Chubby Checker record and let us all do the Twist !


I also remember the little Smoke Rise library that Diana wrote about. I had forgotten all about it until I read what she had written and my memory was jogged.


My mother and father sold the house on Green Hill Road and retired to Florida in the early 1980s so the Smoke Rise chapter of our lives closed then but we all had wonderful memories to take with us. Mom is now 91 years old and in a retirement home in Florida but she is still in contact with several other former Smoke Rise friends from those happy years.


Thanks for letting me reminisce a bit, Christine! Keep up the good work with this blog !


Kind regards, 
Joan Semmler Oravits


----

Joan, thanks so much!

Has Joan reminded you of similar stories? What do you remember from growing up in and around Smoke Rise and Kinnelon? Who else took dance lessons at the Inn?

Poet Maria Mazziotti Gillan at Kinnelon Library, 10/5/11

On Wednesday, October 5, 2011 at 7 pm, come meet and hear Poet Maria Mazziotti Gillan speak about and read her poetry at the Kinnelon Library.

Fellow Kinnelon Library Board of Trustees member, Anne De Spirito Arnowitz, informed me of the event last week. She spoke so enthusiastically about Maria Gillan and her poetry that I asked her to tell me more.

"Ms. Gillan was a guest of the Italian American Cultural Society a number of years ago. Her poetry was a delight and had many of us recalling stories from when we were younger." 

Maria Mazziotti Gillan was born in Paterson, New Jersey - where Anne and her family lived - and, when Anne spoke with her, she remembered fondly Caruso's Pastry Shop, owned by Anne's parents, and its many delicious pastries.

In putting this article together, I came across this fascinating article about Maria Gillan, titled "Maria Mazziotti Gillan: Truth Teller. Paterson natives believes poetry can change the world."  It describes the poet's passion for Paterson, poetry, culture and truth. The Poetry Center she founded is one of the most well-respected resources for poetry in the country. Imagine!

And imagine that she will be visiting us in Kinnelon on 10/5/11 at the Kinnelon Library.  Here are details from the flyer that Anne created:

  

Poet Maria Mazziotti Gillan 

to be Guest of 

The Italian American Cultural Society of Kinnelon

On October 5, 2011 the Italian American Cultural Society of Kinnelon will have as a guest speaker Poet Maria Mazziotti Gillan. Ms. Gillan has won the American Book Award for What Lies Between Us.

She has published eleven books of poetry, three of which are, Where I Come From , Things My Mother Told Me and Italian Women In Black Dresses (Essential Poets Series 116) . Her latest book What We Pass On: Collected Poems: 1980-2009 was published in 2010.

Ms. Gillan is Founder and the Executive Director of the Poetry Center at Passaic County Community College in Paterson. She is also Director of the Creative Writing Program and a Professor of Poetry at Binghampton University, New York. She has read her work at colleges, universities, poetry centers, and festivals throughout the United States.

The program is sponsored by The Italian American Cultural Society of Kinnelon and will be held on October 5, 2011 at 7pm, at the Kinnelon Library, 132 Kinnelon Road, Kinnelon, New Jersey. All are welcome.

To enjoy a great evening, please call: Anne De Spirito Arnowitz at 973-838-8741 or email Nonniea [at] optonline [dot] net.


By the way, you might enjoy reading a few poems before the event. This link will take to three of Maria Mazziotti Gillan's poems, this one to several more Gillan poems and a few more.

Anne, thank you.