High Tea Upstairs, Life Downstairs, February 10th

(Full disclosure: I am a founder of Greater Midwest Foodways Alliance and program chair for this event)



Join us for High Tea

Greater Midwest Foodways Alliance Presents

Below Stairs: A Servants Life in Early 20th Century England

Leslie Goddard
in Character as Margaret Powell



Highland Park Community House
1991 Sheridan Road
Highland Park, Illinois

Sunday, February 10th, 2013
1:00 pm to 3:00 pm


What was life really like for the servants who worked below stairs in the era of Downton Abbey? While we enjoy an 'upstairs' tea, literary dramatist Leslie Goddard will take us 'downstairs' to experience life below stairs in the stately homes of early 20th century England. Goddard will portray British domestic servant Margaret Powell whose 1968 book Below Stairs was among the inspirations for the popular television series Downtown Abbey and directly inspired the 1970s series Upstairs, Downstairs.

Leslie Goddard earned a Ph.D. from Northwestern University, specializing in U.S. cultural history, American studies, and women's history. She also holds both a bachelor's and a master's degree in theater. An award winning scholar, Leslie Goddard is executive director of the Graue Mill and Museum. Goddard authored Remembering Marshall Fields and Chicago’s Sweet Candy History

Our tables seat 10 guests. We will do our very best to arrange you are seated with your friends. Information on seating is available after purchase.

A boutique will feature vintage hats, jewelry and accessories.

Fee: $55. prepay and $65 day of event (if any seats remain)
Reservations Required: (312) 380-1665.or GreaterMidwestFoodways@gmail.com

Mail payment to:
Greater Midwest Foodways, 280 Laurel Avenue, Highland Park, IL 60035

Purchase tickets via credit card at EventBrite.

Questions? GreaterMidwestFoodways@gmail.com





High Tea Menu

First Course
Scottish Smoked Salmon Pinwheels
Beef Tenderloin Triangles
Roast Turkey Triangles
Cucumber & Watercress Leaves
Egg Salad Rounds
Creamed Avocado & Crab Flowers
Open-Faced Ham & Asparagus Rounds
Open-Faced Roquefort & Pear Slices



Second Course
Homemade Raisin Scones w/ fresh lemon curd,
Strawberry preserves & Devonshire cream



Third Course
Homemade Rhubarb & Apple Pie w/fresh cream



Fourth Course
An assortment of Elegant Petit Fours & Pastries



Tea poured all afternoon.


Catered by High Tea with Gerri

If anyone is on the fence, I urge you to go. This is a really neat experience and the food is fabulous. I never thought I could get so addicted to tea.

HI,

This tea is only three weeks away. Reservations are coming in daily. Get yours in today!

Regards,

High tea, literary presentation coming to Highland Park

...
For the well-to-do classes in early 1920s England, life was all six-course meals, silver tea service, handmade lace tablecloths and ironed shoelaces.

But for those literally beneath them, the world was significantly different: 15-hour work days, meager meals, ice-cold bedrooms, and so much time spent grating Parmesan cheese and potatoes that your fingers bled.
...
"It was incredibly hard work," says Goddard. "This was intense manual labor starting at 5:30 in the morning."

Goddard, dressed and speaking as Powell, will tell listeners about a typical day. After that early morning alarm came an endless array of chores.

Powell, who worked for 10 different British families from about the time she was 15 until she was 25, would be responsible for such daily tasks as cleaning the cast-iron, coal-fired kitchen stove, polishing the front door knocker, scrubbing the home's stone steps, cleaning and polishing all the family members' shoes, and ironing the shoelaces -- by first letting the iron heat up for about 30 minutes on the stove.
...

HI,

There are 116 attending, but I can still get in another table if I know by this afternoon.

Regards,

Sales have closed for this event.

There might be one or two seats left. If you think you may want one, then please send me a PM.

Regards,

WBEZ’s Chicago Amplified partners with Culinary Historians by recording our programs and making them available for broadcast on demand at their website or downloadable to an iPod. Our most recent program:

Below Stairs: A Servants Life in Early 20th Century England, February 10, 2013
https://www.wbez.org/shows/wbez-news/te ... 5f8171ecdb

Maid’s memoir gives glimpse at real life ‘Downton Abbey’

...
“I remember when we hadn’t anything left to use for warmth and no money to get coal,” she wrote in Below Stairs. “I said to Mum, ‘Get all the wood down. Let’s have a fire with wood.’ She took every single shelf there was in the rooms and she even took the banisters from the stairs. Things like this make you hard.”

Perhaps predicting her future success as a writer, Margaret won a scholarship to grammar school at age 13. But her parents couldn’t spare her, and sent her to work in a laundry by the time she was 15.
...