Catherine Morland’s Reading List: Frankenstein

Happy Friday the 13th! I don’t know if you have any plans, but as for me I’m going to spend my evening with pizza and horror films.

Since this is Friday the 13th, I decided to share a spooky gothic post.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

You all know how much I love spooky and gothic fiction, almost as much as my girl Catherine does.

That’s why I started Catherine Morland’s Reading List, a list of gothic fiction I recommend for my fellow spooky lovers. 

So what can I say about Frankenstein that hasn’t been said? I of course watched the movie first, and loved it:

Shelley started writing Frankenstein when she was 18, with it being published when she was 20, in 1818- the same year as Persuasion and Northanger Abbey. And it is a mix between gothic fiction and science fiction.

The book starts off with a Captain Walton who is on an Arctic trip and writing to his sister. Every time I read the book I find myself connecting more and more to him than any other character.

“But I have one want which I have never yet been able to satisfy, and the absence of the object of which I now feel as a most severe evil, I have no friend, Margaret: when I am glowing with the enthusiasm of success, there will be none to participate my joy; if I am assailed by disappointment, no one will endeavour to sustain me in dejection. I shall commit my thoughts to paper, it is true; but that is a poor medium for the communication of feeling. I desire the company of a man who could sympathise with me, whose eyes would reply to mine. You may deem me romantic, my dear sister, but I bitterly feel the want of a friend. I have no one near me, gentle yet courageous, possessed of a cultivated as well as of a capacious mind, whose tastes are like my own, to approve or amend my plans.”

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Who doesn’t feel that lonely at times, especially as the older you get it’s harder to connect with old friends and make new ones..

Captain Walton finds Dr. Victor Frankenstein and learns of Dr. Frankenstein’s quest to hunt down his creature. We learn about how Victor was born into a wealthy family and had a desire to understand the world and create, like what the great alchemists have before him. But instead of trying to turn lead into gold, he wanted to capture life!

This is when things go downhill for Frankenstein. First he decides to create life without thinking about how he will train the creature or what type of morality he should instill in it. Or what it means to have a life breathing person. It’s as if he wanted to make a baby only for the science of it and then when the baby is born abandons it.

Victor also makes the Creature gigantic, about 8 feet in height. You have to remember not only is that really tall, but in 1818 it’s humongous as the average height of men were about 5.5. Compare 8 feet to 5.5

Victor goes to the trouble of trying to make the creature beautiful, but it’s several body parts from different people and is frightening with watery white eyes and yellow skin.

Once everything is completed Frankenstein realizes his mistake, but is unable to destroy it. Instead he just abandons it, adopting that mentality it is “future self’s problem). Frankenstein’s creature escapes from Frankenstein and tries to find acceptance, only to be rejected. He then acts on his emotions and wants; killing or hurting everyone that Frankenstein holds dear to get back at him after Frankenstein refuses to make the creature a female.

There are a lot of different analysis of the book, but to me I always felt that one of the points Shelley was making was the necessity of guidance and a code of morals to live by. You may argue between whether that is a higher power, the law, etc.; but there must be some kind of code of ethics or else chaos reigns. If everyone only went after what made them feel good and what they want terrible things can happen.

I also think it is reminiscent of her father not really guiding his daughter in her life where she was younger, but then trying to be a parent after she was almost an adult and already set in her ways/at an age when she didn’t feel she needed to listen to him. Frankenstein does the same when he abandons the creature, only to later try and have him adhere to Frankenstein’s moral code.

Either way I recommend it for all gothic fiction fans.

For more from Catherine Morland’s Reading List, go to Mexican Gothic

For more Gothic Fiction, go to What’s a Girl To Do When Your Parents Won’t Allow You to Live Your Gothic Dreams?

For more Frankenstein, go to Mysterious Things Have Happened. A Murder in the Village…They Probably Think You, Like Your Father, Have Created Another Monster…: Son of Frankenstein (1939)

Heirloom Tomato Tart

Do you like pie? I love pie!

LOL j/k

So when I saw this recipe on Tea Time Magazine‘s instagram I pinned it with plans to make later.

Back in October, @SpilltheTeaWithLucy did a 31 Day Tea Challenge and Day 17/31 of 31 Days of Hallotean was an Autumn Tea Bake. Since I had just baked some sweets prior to this with The Magician’s Nephew Tea Party/Book Club/Bible Study, I decided to make something savory instead. This is my take on Tea Time Magazine’s Heirloom Tomato Tart (I had to substitute a few ingredients) and since tomatoes are red I decided to pair it with Cederberg Tea Co.‘s Classic Red Tea. I also had to use a pink and red mug to match. This cat mug was a gift from a friend Christmas 2019 and part of a 4 set of cat mugs.

Ingredients:

• 4-5 Heirloom Tomatoes
• 1/2 Teaspoon of Salt
• 1/2 Package of Refrigerated Pie Dough (I used Phyllo dough I had bought to make the Fotina Flower Puffed Pastry as the store was out of puffed pastry, but my sister had bought me some so this was all leftover)
• 1.5 Cups of Coarsely Grated, Sharp Yellow Cheddar Cheese (I used leftover Fotina Cheese from Fotina Flower Puffed Pastry)
• 1/2 Cup of Mayonnaise (I substituted with Hummus)
• 2 Tablespoons of Chopped Fresh Flat-Leaf Parsley
• 1 Tablespoon of Green Onion
• 1/4 Teaespoon of Ground Black Pepper
• 1 Tablespoon of Red Wine Vinegar
• 1 Teaspoon of Olive Oil
• Garnish with pepper and additional fresh parsley

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Slice tomatoes, cutting larger tomatoes into 1/4 inch slices and smaller ones into 1/8 inch slices.
3. Arrange tomato slices in a single layer on paper towels, sprinkle with salt. Let stand for 30 mins.
4. Unroll pie dough, and press into a 9-inch tart pan with removable bottom, trimming and discarding extra dough.
5. In a medium bowl, combine cheese, mayonnaise, parsley, green onion, and pepper-stirring to blend.
6. Spread half the cheese mixture into the bottom of the pan, in a thin even layer.
7. Blot tomatoes dry with paper towels.
8. Place a large tomato slice in the center of pan on top of the cheese mixture.
9. Cut several tomato slices in half and arrange around the center slice. Fill every space.
10. Spread remaining cheese mixture in an even layer on top of the tomatoes.
11. Apply thinner tomatoes on top of cheese mixture in a pleasing pattern.
12. Sprinkle with vinegar and drizzle with olive oil.
13. Bake until crust is deep golden brown and cheese mixture is hot and beginning to bubble.
14. Remove from oven and let cool, before removing from pan.
15. Garnish with pepper and parsley if desired.
16. Serve at room temp within 3 hours of baking.

 

This was delicious, it was like eating a fancy tea pizza, and you all know how much I love pizza.

It was incredibly delicious and I would most definitely make it again.

For more recipes, go to Lemon Gingerbread Cake

For more Tea Time Magazine recipes, go to Fotina Flower Puffed Pastry

For more pie recipes, go to Mini Apple Pies

For more on pizza, go to My Week With Jane

For more tea posts, go to Turkey-Apple Tea Sandwiches

My Week With Jane

When I was in elementary school, my brother was in the army and stationed in Hawaii. We took a trip to visit him, but problems with the plane arose and the flight was delayed for a few hours. This was two years after 9/11 so we didn’t want to leave the airport and instead had to wait.

While we were waiting I noticed a lady across the way waiting with a big paper something. Of course being a curious child, I moved closer to look and saw it was a paper boy. Not a cardboard cutout, but like someone traced a boy and decorated it. I was trying to figure it out, when the lady noticed me looking and told me that it was Flat Stanley. A group of teachers had been reading Flat Stanley and passing him around taking pictures and when one had a friend going to Hawaii she asked if she could take him with her.

Wow!

I thought that was the coolest thing. For those of you who don’t know Flat Stanley is a book in which a boy, Stanley, is flattened by a bulletin board, becoming flat, and goes on a series of adventures. One of them is visiting his pen pal by being mailed in a giant envelope.

All I could think was what a great idea and how cool and fun to be a part of something like that.

Well…

Fast forward to Summer of 2020, everyone is glum about restrictions and most of us are not having fun.

When I saw that the Jane Austen Society of North America: East Washington and North Idaho (JASNA EWANID) was doing a Flat Jane.

Look at that!

After all:

They decided for the summer they would be sending Flat Jane about, she staying with the person who signed up for a week and then moving them onto the next home to visit. They then asked people on instagram if they wanted to sign up and I was like, yes please!

This actually became so popular they made several of them. My turn arrived and I was so excited and couldn’t wait to take her out on adventures.

Tea first!

Day 1) Sunday, January 3rd

What a Jane of a day! Today my friend gave me the Jane Austen adaption, Jane in Love by Rachel Givney, and then when I got home I checked my mail and inside was Flat Jane. I am so excited to start all our adventures.

It was great reading the Jane Austen Travel Log and getting to see all the adventures and things people had done. I couldn’t wait to add my own. Sunday I had my niece so I didn’t get a chance to do anything with Jane until later that day.

That night my sister and I did our usual #perioddramasaturdays It was my sister’s turn to pick and she chose Outlander, which I had read the first book but had not seen the TV show. For the occasion I made Blueberry Oat Scones (I’ll share the recipe later), that I had adapted from Plum Deluxe and we had Lavender Flowering Tea.

Flat Jane joined us for tea but declined watching Outlander. She was tired from her long journey from East to West and retired early. She espechially liked seeing the flower created from the tea leaves.

Day 2) Monday, January 4th

Ever since COVID19 Monday night has become Game Night! Jane and I played my new Pride and Prejudice game that I had received for Christmas. She won as I just couldn’t get the exact number to make my remaining half of the couple get to the church. I kept rolling over or under. I was planning to try playing Marrying Mr. Darcy with her, but I didn’t end up getting a chance to. I do plan to review this Pride and Prejudice game soon.

Afterwards, we played a singing board game with my sister, a sort of creating a song to a tune like in Who’s Line is it Anyway? When my turn came up I felt a lot like when Lady Catherine demanded Elizabeth play, as I don’t sing.

It was a fun game and hilarious as the game came with “lyrics” that were just too goofy.

Day 3) Tuesday, January 5th

Tuesday night Jane and I had pizza and watched Strong Woman Bong Soon, a K-Drama I recommend for any Jane Austen fan as it has elements that make me think of Jane Austen’s works.

Sooooo Mrs. Bennet

Jane loved the pizza (she definitely wishes they had that back in Regency England) and I think I swayed her to my line of thinking about the K-Drama…but she might have been humoring me.

Well…

Day 4) Wednesday, January 5th

Flat Jane joined us for our weekly Tea Party/Book Club/Bible Study on The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. I think she enjoyed it, although it was unlike any bible study she has ever been a part of.

For these chapters we visited the beavers and had: Chami Winter Apple Spice Tea, a loaf of Dutch Crust Bread, trout, chicken (for the non-seafood eaters [me]), boiled potatoes, and marmalade rolls. Of course I had to explain to her the joke about boiled potatoes.

I will be sharing the recipes as soon as I catch up with The Magician’s Nephew posts. 

Day 5) Thursday, January 6th

After the Book Club/Tea Party/Bible Study I thought Jane would be interested in going to a regular bible study. She enjoyed it and marveled at my cat pen, amazed at how it looked and wishing they had such easy things to use when she was writing her novels. I plan to show her an Austen adaption tonight, but am still trying to decide which one…should I show her one I love or one I hate so we can both make fun of it? Decisions, decisions…

Hmmm…

I finally decided to show her one I hate, Austentatious (2015)

This is the worst Jane Austen adaption I have ever seen. We started with the first one and then she caught up to me with the second to last episode. After we watched the whole thing she was very confused about the whole thing and how it even matched up with what she wrote. Same Jane, same. If interested, you can watch it on tubi or you can read my past reviews: We Are Family: Austentatious, Episode 1 (2015), Big Girls Don’t Cry: Austentatious, Episode 2 (2015), I’ll Be Watching You: Austentatious, Episode 3 (2015), Hit Me With Your Best Shot: Austentatious, Episode 4 (2015), Call Me, Maybe: Austentatious, Episode 5 (2015), Drive Me Crazy: Austentatious, Episode 6 (2015), Make Me a Match: Austentatious, Episode 7 (2015), Take a Chance on Me: Austentatious, Episode 8 (2015), and Achy Breaky Heart: Austentatious Episode 9 (2015). 

After we watched the series, we had a cup of tea before bed. I had purchased two Jane Austen inspired teas from NovelTea Tins, Pride and Peppermint and Sense and Senchability. I had run out of Pride and Peppermint as I had used the last of it in the tea advent calendar swap I made for a friend, so we drank Sense and Senchability. Jane loved it and was amazed at all the different Jane Austen inspired products that we can purchase today.

Day 6) Friday, January 7th

Today was a shopping day as Jane went with me to visit a local Vintage/resale shop as I was on the hunt for a purple teacup for my friend’s birthday this month. I found this adorable claw-footed one under $10.

We then stopped off at the grocery store to pick up a few items and Jane was amazed at all the food for purchase and the prices! Plus we came upon many things she had never heard of before protein powder, lactose free milk, Greek yogurt, every kind of chocolate you could imagine, and more.

Day 7) Saturday, January 8th

Saturday turned out to be a shopping day as well, as my sister needed to visit Jo-Anns and Hobby Lobby in the next city over (we have a small Jo-Anns and we do not have a Hobby Lobby). I agreed as long as we stop at one of my favorite restaurants, the Tea Bar and Fusion Cafe. They have the best foods and teas. Jane loved the HoneyTea Latte I bought for her.

Afterwards we went to Hobby Lobby where we looked for fabric for a book sleeve I’m having made.

I was looking for a dark fabric, but Jane spotted this beautiful china blue vase printed one that I just couldn’t say no to.

We only visited a quarter of the store and Jane was amazed at everything they had there.

Afterwards we went to Jo-Anns and looked around the different fabrics and of course I had to show Jane all the muslin they had.

Mr. Tilney mentions purchasing muslin for 5 shillings a yard in Northanger Abbey and that was a good deal, but Jane was amazed that today she could purchase muslin for half the price he paid (converting how much 1800s shillings would be worth in our money).

Day 8) Sunday, January 9th

It was time to say goodbye to Flat Jane as I had her for the week and she is about to journey on to stay with another friend. I helped her pack up and will drop her off tomorrow for her journey to the East Coast.

As Jane is going to visit another Jane Austen fan I couldn’t resist sending one of my Quill Ink Jane Austen Inspired Magazine Cover Cards. If you are interested in getting some for yourself check out her Etsy shop.

If interested in having Flat Jane visit you then contact JASNA EWANID to signup. I recommend it as it is a lot of fun.

For more Jane Austen, go to Is Emma Jane Austen’s Only Mystery?

Dirty Deals, Murder, Mob Goons, and a Kidnapping: Men at Work (1990)

Dirty deals, murder, mob goons, and kidnapping

So I was surfing through Amazon recommendations and I saw this starred Emilio Estevez and his brother Charlie Sheen, and was written by Emilio Estevez, I just had to watch it.

{Picture from Ringu)

I am so glad I did as this was hilarious!

I love Emilio Estevez, I always have ,so anything with him in it, I’m down for.

So we start the film off with a meeting between gangster rich guy, Maxwell Potterdam III (John Getz) and the Mayor running for reelection. Potterdam what kind of name is that for an evil villain/gangster? Sounds more like a nerd to me.

So Potterdam has been paying the mayor so that he could illegally dump his toxic waste, but the mayor is done with it. Unbeknownst to Potterdam, he’s sneaky and caught the gangster on tape.

Oh, wow…

Hmm…From there we switch to friends and coworkers, Carl Taylor (Charlie Sheen) and James St. James (Emilio Estevez). They share an apartment and Carl likes to stare out the window and watch his neighbors with binoculars, espechially the woman across the way.

Not okay.

He finds her beautiful and has memorized her whole routine-that’s creepy.

SUPER creeped

James and Carl are trashmen and not happy about their job, it pays the bills but what they really want is to have their own surf shop. They are also in a prank war with some other trashmen and have two cops who hate them.

They take care of the trash but are the worst trashmen ever. It is hilarious how they just toss the cans everywhere, go through the trash and take some things, etc.

From Clueless

Meanwhile, the Mayor was approached by his campaign manager, Susan Wilkins (Leslie Hope). She gives him a tape with a rap on it for his campaign but he ignores her, takes the tape he made the night before and takes it to the police chief. He plays it, but you guessed it-he took the wrong tape. He runs out to find Susan-while the police chief contacts Potterdam. Yep, you guessed it-he’s a dirty cop.

The worst!

That night the guys are hanging out and playing trivial pursuit. They notice a ruckus across the way when the mayor comes over. He’s yelling about a tape and pushes Susan. Carl gets upset and when Susan goes downstairs to look for the tape Carl gets his pellet gun and shoots him in the butt.

From Supernatural

The guys laugh as he screams in pain and they hide missing seeing some hitmen come in and garrote the mayor and remove his body.The mob men are supposed to take him and dump his body, but the two hitmen start arguing about music and they don’t realize that they have lost the body, he slips and falls into a trashcan.

That’s not good.

The next day the boys are called in to work early and read the riot act because they’ve had so many complaints. The boss’ brother-in-law needs a job, so he’ll be watching them, Vietnam vet Louis Fedders (Keith David).

They both are having a hard time working with him, as they don’t want to be “observed”. As they are taking out the trash they find the body and think Carl killed him. They both start freaking out.  Can’t they tell he wasn’t shot but garroted?

Thank goodness for the Louis. He points out to the guys that he wasn’t shot but garroted. They decide to take the body with them as hey don’t have a good relationship with the cops. This seems like a very bad idea.

They discuss this and are overheard by rivals at work-uh oh not good.

So they go out to try and discuss what must have happened and I love how Louis gets defensive about his fries. There are something a man (or woman) never shares.

Louis: There are several sacred things in this world that you don’t *ever* mess with. One of them happens to be another man’s fries. Now, you remember that, and you will live a long and healthy life.

They share about what they saw last night and Carl decides to go over and get information from the girl across the apartment. Louis and James will watch from their apartment with the pellet gun in case she turns deadly. Louis turns out to not be helpful to James as he starts to lose his grip on reality and thinking he is in Vietnam again.

That’s not good.

So while the guys are waiting they order a pizza and when he pizza guy delivers it he sees the dead body. Louis ties him up and he is along for the ride.

James: [offering a slice of pizza to the pizza delivery man] Are you hungry? Would you like some?

Louis: [having a Vietnam flashback] Don’t give him any, James.

James: Why not? He might be hungry.

Louis: He’s a prisoner; he should be treated accordingly.

James: Have you completely lost your mind? We’re not soldiers and he’s not the enemy. He’s a pizza man.

So Carl gets with Susan, lying and telling her that he’s a doctor. She’s actually into him and wants to go off to the beach. The rest of the group follows-Louis, James, the Pizza guy, and the dead mayor.

Meanwhile, the cops pull over James and Louis-although Louis uses he pellet gun to disarm them and the hitmen are after Susan and Carl.

That’s not good.

Susan and Carl cut a break when the hitmen get distracted by their bickering, they are really unprofessional, Hitman Biff gets mad that Mario bought a taser, “it was on sale”, instead of using a gun and makes fun of him again. That’s the last straw. He decides to use the taser on his partner.

Biff: [Biff is slowly coming to after Mario blasted him with a taser gun] Ooohhhh… what happened?

Mario: Man, it was something. You got struck by lightning.

Biff: Really?

Mario: Freak storm.

Susan and Carl are running and Carl scared spits out that he lied and that he isn’t a doctor but a trashman, and his name is Carl, and he watched her from across the way and saw the fight. When Susan hears that he was spying she slaps him twice, but she still takes off with him as he’s a better option than the hitmen.

What the group doesn’t know is that Carl and James’ coworkers have tracked them down to play a prank on them and have cut the brake and gas line. One of them drops their cigarette so when Carl and Susan reach it, boom it explodes.

The hitmen catch up to Susan and Carl and kidnap them, taking them to Potterdam and they get sealed in containers to be dumped.

That’s not good.

James, Louis, the Pizza man, and the dead body chase after them and we have a great scene where James and Carl are hanging on the gates of a truck screaming.

So they find Susan but they still have to deal with Potterdam. They end up going through the trash and creating a little carnival of horror to freak Potterdam out and stop him. Even the pizza guy joined in. It’s hilarious.

This movie is crazy, but in a good way. It was hilarious, fun, and I loved it. After I watched it I had to show my sister and friend.

For more Emilio Estevez, go to Don’t You Forget About Me

For more spying on the neighbors, go to One Day You’ll See Something You Shouldn’t: Rear Window (1954)

For more kidnapping, go to Super Power Girl, Blackmail, Gangsters, and a Serial Kidnapper: Strong Woman Bong Soon (2017)

Modesto Jane Con: Looking Around the Library, Lunch, and a Crazy Random Happenstance

So if you have been following me, you know I have been super excited about Modesto Jane Con. The past eight years I have seen pictures from different Jane Cons and festivals and wished I could go-but they were not possible for me to attend as it always came down to a problem of time, money, work, etc. Instead I had to be content with seeing pictures on social media.

 

But then Modesto Jane Con was created!

From January 10th-12th there were all kinds of workshops, activities, movies, an opera, and even a fashion show!

Your $30 ticket allowed you to attend the workshops (BOTH DAYS) and see one showing of Mansfield Park Opera (your choice of Saturday or Sunday).

That was it, I was going! And I convinced my book club + my sister to join me. I scrounged around for a costume (I’ll post on that later) and made sure to bring a notebook to take copious notes on the workshop and opera to-of course post on them later (as I am now).

So the first workshop of the day was Gowns & Groans. After that you had your choice of The Definitive Darcy or Start You Own Book Club. The third workshop was your choice of Dressing the Regency Lady or Are You a Long-Lost Austen? Searching Your Family Tree.

So after Dressing the Regency Lady, we had about an hour and fifteen mins as Layton went over the time. I wanted to look at the library, the art gallery, and a shop all featured on the Modesto Jane Con instagram, but I was vetoed as everyone was hungry.

For the past few months I had been talking to Lynne Marcus from the Modesto Jane Con Instagram page, and we hoped to meet up at lunch. I wanted to check out Mocha Magic  as that is where Lynne was stopping to eat, but I was vetoed again. We had heard some volunteers and organizers talking about pizza and that is what the group wanted.

They were worried about time, as everyone wanted to get to the Opera to hear the preshow talk at 1:30, but I convinced them to stop at let me look at the library, Stanislaus County Library.

You know me, I love the library! Plus I wanted to check out their Jane Austen display that I saw on social media. Everyone was glad we did as we loved the Regency dress they made out of old book pages. So beautiful and crafty!

After that we looked over the sponsors for Modesto Jane Con to find a place that was close to the theater and served the pizza that everyone craved. We decided on Chefs of New York.

It was a cute café that quickly filled up with other people from Jane Con, (we could tell by the wristbands and what they wore). We had quite a few conversations with other fans.

I think that was one of the most enjoyable parts of Jane Con. Not only did we learn a lot, but we were able to spend time with other fans. We met people from different cities who we had never known before but instantly felt a camaraderie in having the same interests.

Here are people that if you aren’t an extrovert, you probably never would have spoken to. But knowing they are a fan of the same thing, it instantly breaks down a wall as you are kindred spirits.

Ad I don’t usually review food (I do have a few tea places I am planning on reviewing in the future but haven’t yet) but as this was part of the experience and they supported Jane Con, I felt I needed to.

Chefs of New York Downtown was amazing! If you find yourself in Modesto, stop there. This food was so good, I couldn’t eat it fast enough.

I asked the waitress for a suggestion and she recommended the vegetarian panini, which came with a choice of soup or salad. When the food came out, I was shocked at the amount of food I was given. The salad was gigantic, I mean I was expecting a tiny plate-not a huge pasta sized one.

The same was for the soup others ordered.

The sandwich was a good size and just fantastic.

So while we had great conversation, fantastic food, spent the morning in wonderful workshops, I was still feeling a little bummed. I was disappointed that we missed meeting up with Marcus and the organizers of Modesto Jane Con.

So we had been sitting and talking with a family at the table next to us, who create and sell old fashioned hats and victorian clothing. They had left when we received our food, as they had finished theirs. We were about halfway-two thirds through our food when a new group of ladies sat down in the table next to us.

We could tell they were attendees of Jane Con from what they were wearing and after a little while they asked if we attending and what we thought. We shared a bit with them and then they asked how we had heard of it. I shared that I saw it on instagram and then convinced my book club to come with us.

They then asked if I was JaneAustenRunsMyLife and I said it was and it turned out that I was right next to Marcus, the very woman I had been speaking to these past few months. What a crazy random happenstance!

What great luck! It was incredible that it happened. I mean if they hadn’t changed their plans of where they wanted to eat at, or if they had come earlier while that family was still eating we never would have met.

I know that this is kind of an unusual post, but I wanted to give props to the Library and Chefs of New York Downtown as I really appreciate their support of Modesto Jane Con. 

I don’t know of the library was paid or gave them the rooms for free, I am not sure how active the staff was in the involvement of the Con, or what roles they played in putting everything together-but I really appreciate the Stanislaus County Library allowing us to use their space and made it possible to have a Jane Con. I mean parking was free, it was a central spot, and a wonderful meeting area.

Chefs of New York Downtown helped sponsor Modesto Jane Con, how much or in what capacity, I don’t know. All I know is that they were willing to help support this in some way, not knowing if they would get a return or not-people might not choose to eat there with or without their name in the program. We appreciated your sponsorship and visited there, doubly rewarded in amazing food and service.

And to Lynne Marcus and the other organizers, thank you for all your hard work. I know it took a lot of time and energy to plan all the events, schedule the speakers, find volunteers, etc. It wasn’t easy, and I’m sure stressful at times-but your end product was amazing. We learned a lot, had a ton of fun, and just all out enjoyed every minute of it!

You organizers, volunteers, and everyone who helped put Modesto Jane Con together.

And we can’t wait until next year! (If there is a next year, please!)

So we will be taking a break from the Modesto Jane Con until after Valentine’s Day as I have some posts planned for the holiday. Last year I didn’t do it, but I’m back to tradition and plan on doing 14 posts on my favorite romantic moments from film and TV shows.

I’m sure you are wondering what is there left to write about? Well-we still have my review of the Mansfield Park Opera and my costume + the Regency Fashion show.

For more on Modesto Jane Con, go to Modesto Jane Con: Dressing the Regency Lady