The Woodlawn's United Way Luncheon raises $4000.00

Thanks again everyone. Together we raised $4000.00. Congratulations to Gloria for winning the Woodlawn Couples-Package and to Yvonne for winning the hobby horse. If you could not get a reservation for the lunch perhaps we'll see you next year! The event takes place on the third Thursday of January. We take reservations after January 1st.

The Woodlawn Inn's United Way Lunch - Thanks everyone!!

Thank you for joining us today in support of the Northumberland United Way. In my book you are ALL winners.

Ticket 7010575 wins the Woodlawn Inn's Couples Package.
Ticket 7010514 wins the Hobby Horse.

Please contact me, Stephen Della Casa, Tel. 905 372-2235 x112 or Stephen@Woodlawninn.com to arrange make arrangements.

Thanks again for all your support, see you next year.

Come See Us At The Cobourg Farmer's Market This Saturday

Chef John and myself will be at the Cobourg Farmer's Market this Saturday May 22nd. We will be there from from 8:00 am until 11:00 am and while supplies last, we will be offering a free sampling of Hoskins Farms beef on a homemade baguette with arugula and heirloom tomato.

Also for those that that sign up to our Friends of the Woodlawn mailing list on that day, we will be drawing a $100.00 Woodlawn Inn gift certificate. For our existing "Friend's", mailing listers we'll also be drawing a gift certificate as well! We hope to see you there!

Pictured, Woodlawn Inn Executive Chef John O'Leary

See Our New Menu On The Woodlawn Inn Website

Cobourg Farmer's Market

http://www.nationalpost.com/life/story.html?id=2783915

The Woodlawn Inn is mentioned in today's National Post newspaper

Spring! It's spring! At last! Which means our thoughts have swerved a full 180-degrees to images of love - and not only love, but lust, too, of the wandering kind. Last week we contacted Weekend Post's regular roster of travel mavens for their counsel on where we should go for a three-or four-day getaway. This week we present a variety of trips to Ontario and Quebec. In the weeks that follow we'll feature brief interludes from other Canadian destinations.

If you like a town that has kept its yesterday, isn't tarted up by nouveau pretension, has a sparkling beach a minute's walk from one of Ontario's most beautiful buildings and doesn't give you three days' jet lag when you get back home, I have a suggestion: Cobourg, a pleasant drive east of Toronto, where I spent a few days a while back, walking streets with houses that are part of a jewelled past, when the town - its heyday was in the late 1800s - was so popular that many rich Americans built summer mansions here.

Some still stand, most near the intersection of Division and King. But the most eye-appealing legacy is a building that some years ago was within a heartbeat of the wrecking ball. It's Victoria Hall, opened by the Prince of Wales in 1860. Town council meets there in a magnificent old court room, there's a concert hall and art gallery, but just standing outside and looking up calms the spirit. It's just a stroll from Woodlawn Inn where I stayed, run by the Della Casa family with culinary quality and inn-keeping charm. There's more: In Cobourg you're within minutes by car from Port Hope, so consider a visit to its restored 1930s theatre where, among upcoming productions is nostalgic Queens of Country Music, with renditions of Patsy Cline, Tammy Wynette and Dolly Parton.

z Cobourg: cobourgtourism.com. Port Hope's Theatre: capitoltheatre.com.

Story by Kenneth Bagnell, Weekend Post Published: Friday, April 09, 2010

Read more: http://www.nationalpost.com/life/story.html?id=2783915#ixzz0khZqFgja

Read more: http://www.nationalpost.com/life/story.html?id=2783915#ixzz0khZhUJ2S

http://www.nationalpost.com/life/story.html?id=2783915

The Woodlawn Inn hosts the Bring To Light Photography conference 2010

BRING TO LIGHT 2010 Photography Conference April 16 - 17

You are invited to join us at the Bring To Light photography conference to be held in Cobourg on April 16, 17, 2010. Produced by the volunteers from the Northumberland Photography Club, this year,
the photography conference will be held at The Woodlawn Inn and at the Cobourg Public Library. The event features a cocktail reception with
snacks and a keynote address by Richard Martin on Friday evening. Saturday morning features a morning workshop with Richard Martin, an included lunch, an afternoon lecture with Humber College's Neil Fox on the history of photography and a portraiture workshop with Photographer Cindy Taylor.

Tickets are priced at $125.00 for the two day event. The event always sells out.

For guests that wish to stay in overnight in Cobourg, special rates have been offered at The Woodlawn Inn. The rates start at $116.00
double, including breakfast.

For tickets, please contact Stephen Della Casa at The Woodlawn Inn.

http://www.northumberlandphoto.ca/workshop.htm

richardmartinphoto.com

woodlawninn.com

BRING TO LIGHT 2010 Photography Conference April 16 - 17

Friday April 16

6 to 7pm

Reception

THE WOODLAWN INN, Cobourg

Ticket includes light snacks, fruit & cheese, non

alcoholic beverages, coffee, tea & cash bar.

7 to 9pm Keynote Speaker - Richard Martin

Saturday April 17

9 to 11am

Workflow - Richard Martin

Cobourg Public Library

11:15 am to 1pm

History of Photography - Neil Fox

Professor Humber College - Toronto

Cobourg Public Library

1 to 2pm

Lunch is provided (catered)

Cobourg Public Library

2 to 4pm

Walking Workshop - Richard Martin

Outside

4:30 to 6

Perfect Portraits - Cindy Taylor

Cobourg Public Library

Tickets $125.00

For tickets please contact Stephen Della Casa. Stephen@Woodlawninn.com

or 905 372-2235 x 112

United Way Recognition Breakfast

Tomorrow morning wraps up the 2009-10 Campaign for the United Way of Northumberland. Both Jennifer and myself are going to a recognition breakfast paid for by our good friends at the Best Western Cobourg. Thank you Wilcox's! We were thrilled to be a part of the campaign and between our two fundraisers and additional financial support we are happy to announce that The Woodlawn Inn contributed over $7000.00 this year.

Community Business Meet & Greet on March 9th

Are you a local Chamber member of would like to become one? We are hosting the next meet and greet with the Northumberland Central Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday, March 9th and we hope you can make it. Our chefs will be dishing out some great complimentary home made hors d'oeuvres and there will be some drink specials as well. The time is from 5:00 to 8:00. See you there. Cost: FREE, Cash Bar.

The End Of Eat Smart!

Last week I was informed that our local health unit the HKPR Health Unit was discontinuing its support for Eat Smart citing lack of funding from the province of Ontario. The program was created to recognize restaurants that offered a smoke free, healthy food choices environment. The Woodlawn Inn was a recipient since the program launched in Northumberland about eight years ago. We will continue to offer our guests low-fat, reduced-calorie delicious menu options like we have in the past an we welcome the return of Eat Smart or any other program with similar objectives.

The United Way Lunch Today

Thank you everyone for your generous support at the luncheon today. We raised about $3500.00. The winning tickets are 0784243 for the broach and 0784343 for the overnight inn getaway. Congratulations to Mrs Brown for winning the inn getaway gift certificate and to Jan Boycott for winning the broach. I hope to see everyone here next year.

Savoury Celebrations, Cobourg's Restaurant Week is back

Here is the press release from the town

"Savoury Celebrations"

Celebrate Cobourg’s Culinary Delights

Celebrate Cobourg’s culinary delights and take advantage of prix fixe offers at seven of Cobourg’s restaurants from February 2 - 6 leading up to Cobourg Winter Festival, February 13 & 15, 2010. Each participating restaurant will offer a special 3-course prix fixe menu. The prix fixe menus are available for dinner only.

A special menu at each of the restaurants have been prepared by their chefs and will include an appetizer, entrée and dessert. (Beverages, taxes & gratuity additional).

Meals are $25 for dinner. Participating restaurants are listed below. RESERVATIONS ARE HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Menu

Appetizers

Roast carrot purée with crème fraîche

Salad greens with pear, candied walnuts, Asiago, and apple vinaigrette

Fried brie with lingonberry coulis

Entrées

Salmon

Atlantic salmon with cucumber-melon salsa and basmati rice

Breast of Chicken

Pan roasted chicken breast with spinach and herb spatzle and roasted tomatoes

New York Striploin

Grilled New York strip loin au jus with crispy onions, grilled vegetables and oven roasted potatoes

Mushroom Ravioli

Hand-made, mushroom ravioli tossed with pesto-tomato sauce with Reggiano cheese

Desserts

Crème brûlée with pansarole

Chocolate espresso cake with raspberry sauce

Warmed apple pie with French vanilla ice cream

25.00

Taxes extra, gratuities at your discretion

The Woodlawn Inn's Lunch For The United Way 2010

Once again, we are pleased to give the Northumberland United Way a helping hand with a great lunch at The Woodlawn Inn! We donate 100% percent of the lunch, that's 20.00 for every guest that joins us to the Northumberland United Way campaign. The early seats are fully booked but there is currently space available at 1:30 and at 2:00 pm. We hope you can join us with your co-workers, friends and families. Lets make our 2010 lunch another sell-out!!

Menu

Bouquet of Greens

Mixed salad greens with enoki mushrooms, cucumber, mandarin orange,

toasted cashews with ginger sesame vinaigrette.

Involtini

Roulade of strip-loin of beef stuffed with mushrooms, pine nut and spinach with a merlot reduction served with gnocchi and bacon wrapped asparagus

Chocolate Mouse & Berries

Chocolate mousse in a Belgian chocolate cup with crème Anglaise and

fresh berries

January 27th, 2010,

Reservations only available at 1:30 pm or 2:00 pm

$20.00 Plus Tax

Reservations 905 372-2235

New Year's Day 2010

There is still good availability for our New Year's Day evening buffet dinner. It's a great way to avoid the earlier New Year's Day rush. If you're joining us from out of town a 4:30 start time will ensure there will plenty of time to get back home.

New Year's Day Dinner Buffet

$24.95

Dinner consists of homemade soup, ten vegetable and pasta salads, main entrée of prime rib of beef and baked salmon, hot vegetables, croquette potatoes and served dessert.

Dinner reservations available from 4:30 am to 8:30 pm.

This week's Proudly Northumberland Menu

I haven't posted in a while so I thought I would remedy that with more posts over this week. Our executive chef John O'Leary has a new Proudly Northumberland menu. On the menu we are featuring once again Hoskin's beef. Hoskin's uses hormone free, free range practices and many of our guests have commented that it is some of the finest beef that they ever had.

Warmed White Cheddar and Asparagus Puff Pastry

Cheese from The Empire Cheese Co., Campbellford

Grilled Striploin Steak with Mushroom Brandy Sauce served with Roasted Potatoes and Sautéed Fresh Vegetables

Beef from Hoskins Farm, Grafton

Home Made Deep Dish Pie "A La Mode"

Apples From Big A Brand, Colborne

Three Course $47.00

Christmas arrives at the Woodlawn Inn

This morning the staff and I started to decorate the inn with Christmas ornaments. I pulled out our singing Santa from the storage and Jaana helped mend a loose button on Santa's coat. I'll post a few pictures when I get a moment.

United Way Fundraiser This Sunday

There's still room left for Sunday night's United Way fundraising dinner at The Woodlawn. The evening starts out with hors d'oeuvres fabulous cocktails, then sit down to a gourmet dinner and the Flat Rock Pinot Noir & Closson Chase Chardonnay will be flowing. All for $75.00 per person. Call us at 905 372-2235 or 1 800 573-5003 to book your table.

The 2009 Harvest at the Norman Hardie Winery

Norman Hardie Harvest 2009
Jennifer, Sophia and myself had a terrific day helping Norman Hardie with his harvest on Sunday. We arrived at the winery at 10:00 am and were put to work right away. We started the day tying back vine netting and then we mo...ved on to picking Pinot Noir grapes. The grapes were in perfect condition bursting with juice and showing lots of sugar and a really deep colour. The picking was very easy with no berry-rot or bird bites on the bunches. There were so few quality issues that Norm decided not to use a sorting table and just take the whole bunches right to the crusher/de-stemmer. I can't wait to try the wine which will show up in his County Pint Noir 2009 and Cuvee L Pinot Noir 2009.

more images at http://sdellacasa.zenfolio.com/p711795404

New United Way Fundraising Dinner announced

We are proud to be working once again with Lynda and Helen and with Bill Patchett, this year's campaign chair. Our dinner will be one of a series of area United Way fund raising dinners. If you can not make it to our dinner there will be other dinner at The Northside, The Spice of Life and The Oasis. We hope you can make it.

Sunday October 25th, 2009

An evening in support of the United Way of Northumberland
The event included hors d’oeuvres, pre dinner cocktail, three-course dinner and wine

Pre dinner
Hand made hors d’oeuvres and cocktails

Featuring
The Bellini, The Martini, The Negroni, The Cosmopolitan


Dinner Menu

Mushroom Bombe
Leek and duxelles mushroom bombe with chevre and pine nut stuffing

Breast of Chicken
Breast of chicken with wrapped with maple smoked bacon and apple-pan
juice gravy. Served with herbed gnocchi and vegetables

Selections from Fifth Town Artisanal Cheese Company
Nettles Gone Wild, soft ripened goat’s milk cheese
Cape Vessey, A chewy pungent goat’s milk cheese
Wishing tree, A hard, sheep’s milk cheese

Dinner Wines

Closson Chase 2006 Chardonnay, Beamsville Bench Niagara VQA

Flat Rock Cellars 2008 Pinot Noir, Twenty Mile Bench Niagara VQA


Cost 75.00 p/p
Tax extra


Reservations any time from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm
To reserve your table please call The Woodlawn Inn
Tel 905 372-2235

The Closson Chase winery is capturing the attention of the wine press. See The Globe & Mail's wine critic Beppi Crasoriol's assesment here http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-wine/after-years-of-hype-prince-edward-county-comes-of-age/article1292978/

The Toronto Sun writes about the us

Yesterday while enjoying a day off I opened the Sunday paper and a piece about the Woodlawn was in it. I have copied it here.

An easy charm

Cobourg stately but relaxed

By KENNETH BAGNELL, SUN MEDIA

Last Updated: 9th August 2009, 4:25am

In most ways, Cobourg resident Lena Field Fisher was an ordinary person -- a good citizen and town councillor, who had a liking for big hats. But in the early 1970s, Fisher proved a great truth when she launched a campaign to save one of Ontario's historic buildings from demolition and succeeded.

The building is Victoria Hall on King St., and if and when you stand in front of it as I did recently, give thought to Lena Field Fisher. She could have said what a renowned ethicist once said: "I'm grateful for the idea that used me." In Cobourg and elsewhere people should be grateful for the idea that used Fisher: That the beauty of yesterday ought not be sacrificed for a parking lot today.

While there, I stayed at a Cobourg inn with an elegant history, The Woodlawn, where beds are deep and restful. The dinners -- Italian with a touch of new Europe -- are made even better by one of southern Ontario's finest wine lists, compiled by sommelier Stephen Della Casa, part of the family that owns Woodlawn.

When I set out the next day to see the town, it was refreshed by breezes off Lake Ontario. Cobourg has a poignant past. In the mid-1800s, serious thinkers thought the town, about two hours drive east of Toronto, could become the capital of Ontario, maybe even Canada.

It didn't happen. But by the 1870s, it was very rich, partly from wealthy Americans -- including some civil war generals from the south -- who came north to cooler summers and built residences beyond mere opulence. The very rich made it glamorous and after entering a yacht in the America's Cup race of 1876, Cobourg became known as Newport of the North.

"It was the golden age of architecture," John Jolie, a retired history teacher said as we strolled King, the town's main street. "It was excess though. They'd party at one mansion, move on to the next, then the next. One place had a pool with a raft for a band to play. One night the band fell in. The violinist was playing a Stradivarius so that was the end of it."

Many mansions have not survived but Jolie and other members of Cobourg's historical society battle to save all they can. It's worth it. Notable residences include an 1899 log home owned by the founders of Famous Players, a fine Georgian house once home of a Chief Justice of Canada, and Dressler House, named for Marie Dressler, a Cobourg woman who became a Broadway sensation in the 1900s, and whose memorabilia it contains.

For me, the most significant is original 1832 Victoria College, a forerunner of U of T's Victoria, one of Canada's first degree-granting universities with educational pioneer Egerton Ryerson as president.

Victoria Hall is a jewel. It's more than visual, it's calming. To pause beneath it is to be refreshed.

"It's not just beautiful," Tom Hall said, "it's remarkably usable."

Hall oversees its fine Concert Hall, where week after week plays are staged, conferences convened, wedding receptions held. Weddings take place in a first floor courtroom, a fine replica of London's legendary Old Bailey. Many people from Toronto have their wedding and reception at Victoria Hall.

"After all," Hall said, "there's no worry about driving after some wine, it's just a brief walk to your inn or B&B."

It may be brief but it's very deep into our history.

---

IF YOU GO TO COBOURG

MORE INFORMATION

For details on visiting Cobourg, see cobourgtourism.ca. For information on Woodlawn Inn packages, see woodlawninn.com. In addition to Woodlawn's restaurant, the town has several good dining establishments including The Buttermilk Cafe, The Oasis Bar & Grill, and the Spice o Life.

A new Northumberland farmgate guide

This morning I attended the launch of Northumberland County's new farm guide book. Local farmers, restaurateurs, and representatives from local government met at Cobourg's Northside restaurant. This year the guide also features area restaurants that use Northumberland products on their menus. It was great to reconnect with some of our favorite local farmers, producers and I also meet with some new faces in agriculture as well. If you would like to get your hands on a copy of the guide please get in touch with Northumberland County Economic Development & Tourism, 555 Courthouse Road, Cobourg, ON K9A 5J6, Tel: (905) 372-0144

Come support Team Woodlawn!

We are proud to be associated with the Cobourg Junior Soccer league.
This is our first year sponsoring.