First of all, everybody used only one glass. The food was burgers and dogs. They sat on lawn chairs or clustered around outdoor tables. Halfway through the party, they finished the fourth round of wine.
It’s high summer, halfway between Memorial Day and Labor Day, and there’s plenty to do, in different places, for different tastes.
Like wine? Take a “A Walk in the Vineyard” Saturday or Sunday, as the 28 member wineries of the Garden State Wine Growers Association invite visitors to picnic and taste New Jersey wine. The events run from noon to 5 p.m. Specific winery event details are available at www.newjerseywines.com.
Like food? Hit the Foodtopia Festival at Military Park in Newark. Beside plenty of tasty and varied food, there will be free hot-air balloon rides, art and jewelry merchants, live music, interactive and bocce games. Friday 11 a.m–4 p.m. www.downtownnewark.com or (973) 733-9333 extension 26.
Like opera? Enjoy Mozart’s The Magic Flute as performed by the New Jersey Opera Theater at McCarter's Berlind Theatre in Princeton. Performances this Friday (and the next two Fridays) at 8 p.m., and this Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets $52–$59. More at www.njot.org. Ticket office: (609) 258-2787.
Like, uhmm, fossils? Go fossil hunting in some of the state’s best known fossil beds. Experts from New Jersey Audubon’s Rancocas Nature Center in Mount Holly expect to find sharks’ teeth, extinct squids, clam shells and prehistoric ocean-dwelling animals. Bring a picnic lunch and, we are told, a dry change of clothes. Call (609) 261-2495 or navigate to www.njaudubon.org/Calendar/calran.html.
Like shopping? Visit quaint downtown Haddonfield for the shops and for the crafts and fine arts festival. More than 235 artistsans exhibit ceramics, glass, jewelry, wood, fiber, metal, paper, drawings, paintings, photography and wearable art. Area restaurants will set up outdoor cafés, musicians will entertain and puppeteers and face painters will delight the children. www.shophaddonfieldnj.com.
Or, just go to the beach. Tan and swim during the day, then a nice dinner out. You didn’t think we were going to have a summer Weekend Picks without mentioning the Shore, did you?
This Father’s Day, indulge him. He’s your number one fan.
If you must do clothing, make it Ike. Ike Behar (www.ikebehar.com). The official clothier of the Ocean’s gang (http://oceans13.warnerbros.com) will dress your guy like Clooney and Pitt. It will be easier to forgive him when he leaves his beard trimmings on the sink.
Only the best for your favorite golfer! Dip into some of that trust fund and sign him up for a membership at the Bayonne Golf Club (www.bayonnegolfclub.com).
He’ll need a great makeover when he’s off the course. Book him The Whole Nine Yards at the Borgata’s lux Barber Shop (www.theborgata.com) or send him to Shaves (www.shavesbarbershop.com) in Spring Lake. Throw in a mani and a pedi or a foot massage. He’ll glow with gratitude.
If he’s a ‘Vette lover, he’ll look great behind his beloved’s wheel in his official Garden State Corvette Club hoodie. (http://www.ogscc.com/store.html). If it’s Porsche he loves, put him on the roster with other fanatics (www.nnjr-pca.com), so he gets to pretend-race his baby and even show off his collection of miniatures.
Tired of the same old steak on the barbie? Bring him, and it indoors with Emeril’s cast iron smoker that sits on your stove and gives your favorite meat, pork, and whatever that nice smoky flavor. (http://www.emerilware.com/new.asp).
And finally, a gift for both of you: reserve a romantic retreat at the Dancer Farm Bed & Breakfast (www.dancerfarm.com) in New Egypt. They’ve even got a room full of sports memorabilia. Mention NJ My Way, and you’ll get 10 percent off your room.
Hope you got some great ideas for Dad, and beyond. He’ll be so appreciative he’ll even remember to wipe down the sink. Maybe.
Soprano Sue (www.sopranosuessightings.com) of Clifton may be the number one fan of the fictional mob epic that concludes Sunday.
She has spent the last seven years tailing Tony and the cast, snapping great photos of the HBO show crew up and down the state and posting them on her website. Along the way she’s become a fountain of Sopranos trivia, and collected a boatload of great merch.
Like the shirt with 28 autographs, or the huge toy truck with the Sopranos logo on its side. And the key to the city of Miami that was presented to the entire cast—and given to Sue by a cast member.
In 2005, Sue got a walk-on role as an extra and made it into the director’s commentary on the Season 6 DVD. And she’s webmaster to a half dozen cast member’s websites.
The end “is a little sad, ” she says, as we stand outside the Clifton two-family that is Tony’s safe house. Nothing on the outside of the plain green and white building betrays its fame. But its occupants must know this will be its legacy.
The state itself has been a supporting character—rich in texture and varied in location. From Boonton to Atlantic City and all exits in-between the butchers, the bakers and the Bada Bings have helped give life to the saga.
How will Sunday’s finale go down?
”If I tell you I have to kill you. I took the oath of omerta,” she says. We believe her.
The “other Shore” has its weekend in the sun Saturday and Sunday with Delaware Bay Days, a celebration of the maritime history, local culture and natural resources of the Delaware Bayshore.
The old fishing villages of Bivalve, Port Norris and Shellpile host children’s activities, artisans, music, wetlands tours. Sail on New Jersey’s official tall ship, the oyster schooner A.J. Meerwald, which worked these waters in the 1920s. http://www.ajmeerwald.org/dbsp/html/bayday/bayday.htm or call (856) 785-2060.
Speaking of seafood, the New Jersey Seafood Festival is in Belmar. Some of the state’s top chefs cook traditional shrimp and lobster, plus ethnic sea fare like calamari, paella, conch fritters and sushi. Saturday and Sunday 11 a.m-7 p.m. www.belmar.com or (732) 681-3700.
Elsewhere, it’s all about celebrating our heritage.
The Ironbound’s annual Portugal Day Festival is Saturday and Sunday. There will be traditional Portuguese food and music on Ferry St, in Newark. Call (973) 344-0123.
Watch bagpipe and stepdancing competitions Sunday at the New Jersey Irish Festival, First Energy Park, Lakewood (732-901-7000). Tickets are $10 on the day of the event, $8 if pre-purchased. Lakewood’s minor league baseball team, sells them, at http://www.blueclaws.com/lakewood_blueclaws_special_events.asp.
The Alborada Spanish Dance Theatre stages “The Sephardic Connection: the Story of the Spanish Jews.” The show- at the George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, uses dance, music and song to depict the lives of the Sephardim at the time of their exodus from Spain in 1492. Saturday at 8. p.m. www.alboradadance.org or call daytime (732) 416-1647 or evening (732) 255-4071.
And speaking of history, try to get to the Two Rivers Antiques Show and Garden Tour. In its 13 years of existence, the show has raised more than $2 million for the Wilentz Breast Center at Monmouth Medical Center.
It’s happening Saturday and Sunday at the Red Bank Armory Ice Complex. $30 gets you the antique show & garden tour ($35 at the door), $10 is the antique show only. www.tworivershow.org or (732) 923-6886.
New Jersey is known for many things. Tomatoes, blueberries, Turnpike exits. But wine is not one of them. Garden State winemakers want to change that.
To help you stock a few homegrown wines for your collection, we asked the state’s premiere wine merchant, our client Gary Fisch from Gary’s Wine and Marketplace (www.garyswine.com), for his picks.
Gary and his Wine Club director Maggie Fox tasted some Jersey wines and gave us a winning trio.
Start with blueberry. Seriously? It’s a great summery aperitif, say Gary and Maggie.
New Jersey produces the most, and some of the best, blueberries in the nation. Alba Vineyard (www.albavineyard.com) has taken this high-quality fruit and turned it into a sweet, syrupy Blueberry Wine (NV, $12.99) that mixes well with sparkling wine or Prosecco. Fill a Champagne flute 1/3 of the way with it and top off with the bubbly for a perfect start to your evening.
Gary and Maggie also uncorked a bottle of Unionville Vineyards (www.unionvillevineyards.com) Hunter’s Red Reserve 2005 ($11.99), in a distinctive label with an antique fox hunt print. The wine brings together the Old and New World with a blend of two European-American hybrids, Chambourcin and Cayuga. Although the winemaker claims a similarity to Beaujolais, Gary and Maggie thought it was more like a fruity, earthy Pinot Noir. The nose was a little barnyardy, they reported, but soft and smooth on the palate, a good match for pork or mushroom dishes.
Our wine experts finished with Alba Vineyard Riesling 2005 ($11.99) and found a nose-full of ripe yellow fruit, particularly pineapple. The 2005 growing season produced very ripe fruit in New Jersey, and these vineyards achieved some development of botrytis (otherwise known as “noble rot”) which dehydrates the grapes and concentrates the sugar. As a result, the wine had a sweet finish, which makes it a good after-dinner quaff.
You can find all these wines at Gary’s stores in Madison and Bernardsville. Thanks to Gary and Maggie for their help, and keep tasting those Jersey wines!
Soprano Sue (
