Weekend Cooking- A Visit to Downton Abbey- The Exhibition

This post is part of Beth Fish Reads' Weekend Cooking.  If you have anything related to food, cookbook reviews, novel or non-fiction book reviews, recipes, movie reviews, etc., head over to Beth Fish Reads and add your post. Or, if you want to read food related posts, head over to read what some interesting people have to say about food.

This past week I visited Dowton Abbey- The Exhibition on East 57th Street in New York City. It is a must-see for fans of the iconic BBC/PBS show. In addition to costumes and sets, there are historical references to events that give context to the time period of the show (post-WWI England).

There was a lot of food-related items in the exhibit. Like Upstairs/Downstairs, Downton Abbey showed the life of the wealthy landowning Crawley family as well as the lives lived by the downstairs servants. 

You can't miss the sign on the building on East 57th Street.

This panoramic photo of the staff greets the visitors to the exhibit, much they would greet visitors to Downton Abbey.

Everyone who watched the show recognizes these stairs that many a servant climbed to get to the dining room.

Thomas' formal footman uniform

Anna's formal dress uniform

The kitchen is the first room you see in the exhibit- the costumes are Mrs. Pattmore's and Daisy's.

I think I liked the bells the best; I could almost hear them ringing!

This is the servants' dining room

Carson's pantry was very interesting. You didn't really get a great view on the show because it was so dark on the show. The costumes belong to Mr. Carson's and Mrs. Hughes.

This is Mr. Carson's desk.

The visitors spent a lot of time in the family dining room.

A closeup of the table setting

Each character had their own display, including Mrs. Pattmore, the cook.

They had examples of cookbooks that Mrs. Pattmore would have used.

The exhibit closes with this, my favorite Violet saying.

Happening This Week in NYC- Vol. 2

This week's events in NYC include the following:

Monday, June 14th- 80s rock icon Pat Benatar signs copies of her autobiography at Barnes & Noble Fifth Ave. store at 12:30pm.

Tuesday, June 15th- Deadspin's Will Leitch signs copies of his book, Are We Winning? Fathers and Sons in the New Golden Age of Baseball, a humorous look at baseball that would make a good Father's Day gift, at Barnes & Noble 86th St. store at 7pm.

Wednesday, June 16th- Star if Bravo TV's Kell on Earth Kelly Cutrone talks about and signs copies of her book If You Have to Cry, Go Outside at Bryant Park's Word for Word Series at 12:30pm.

Wednesday, June 16th- Author Carolyn Parkhurst reads from and signs copies of her book Nobodies Album at Barnes & Noble 86th St. stores at 7pm. I really liked her books Dogs of Babel and Lost and Found.

Thursday, June 17th- The cast of the Tony nominated Lend Me a Tenor, including Tony Shahloub (TV's Monk), Justin Bartha (The Hangover) and the fabulous Jan Maxwell discuss and sign copies of the script at Barnes & Noble Lincoln Triangle store at 5pm. I saw the show last week and it is hilarious.

Thursday, June 17th- Author Sara Waters discusses and signs copies of her Gothic mystery Little Stranger at Barnes & Noble Lincoln Triangle at 7:30pm.

Friday, June 18th- The cast of the Tony winning musical Fela! perform from and sign copies of the CD cast recording at Borders Columbus Circle store at 5pm.

Happening This Week in NYC

New York City is filled with lots of fun things to do, and every Sunday, I'll list some of the events I hope to get to each week.

Sunday, June 6th- The 3rd Avenue Community Benefit Festival- 10am-6pm from 66th St. to 86th St.

Monday, June 7th- Taste of Times Square- 5pm-8:30pm West 46th St. between Broadway and 9th Ave.-restaurant tastings and the cast of Broadway's Rock of Ages with Constantine Maroulis performs

Tuesday, June 8th Summer Stage 25th Anniversary Celebration at Central Park-8pm at Rumsey Playfield- various performers (Shawn Colvin, Aimee Mann, Paula Cole, Loudon Wainwright III and more) celebrate the music of Simon & Garfunkel.

Wednesday, June 9th 12:30pm-1:45pm Bryant Park's Word for Word Series Samantha Bee from Comedy Central's The Daily Show discusses her book, I Know I Am, But What Are You? at the Reading Room at Bryant Park 42nd St. & 6th Ave.

Friday, June 11th The highly buzzed about documentary, Joan Rivers- A Piece of Work opens at Cinema 1,2,3 on 60th St. and 3rd Ave.

Saturday & Sunday, June 12th & 13th Big Apple BBQ Block Party at Madison Square Park 11am- 6pm.