Our 'Ladies Tea' Forum, Not Just A Pretty Place!

JPK Huson 1863

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
Joined
Feb 14, 2012
Location
Central Pennsylvania
Welcome to ' Ladies Tea ', the forum here at CivilWarTalk for subjects pertaining to ladies of the era., of interest to ladies or gentlemen of any age in our era.

' Pertaining to ladies of the era ' is an awfully broad field, already encompassing biographies of notable women ( famous of no ) who served their causes or impacted them in some way as well as highlighting the stories of the wives, mothers, daughters and sisters who struggled to maintain order on the home front as their world crumbled into disorder and chaos as a result of their husbands, sons, fathers and brothers putting on a uniform. Some, or many, never came home, which is part of the shared struggle, too.

Ladies who ' served their cause' are here, female soldiers, vivandieres, nurses, a doctor here and there, female spies- all of the women won and lost much, their stories flat History now, breathtaking examples of determination to serve thier respective causes and not be left behind as this war exploded over a no-longer united, United States of America. An astonishing amount in this category can be found honored with memorials on the website Find A Grave. Here in Ladies Tea, we have a thread with a link to enable members to also honor these unique females of the Civil War era.

' Ladies Tea' brings to the mind's eye an image of our ancestors snatching a few civilized, social moments in the whirl, discussing the every day topics which made up their lives. Although of different classes and races, we women shared these treasured breaks in the day. Obviously some had far more ' spare' time than others, all would have indulged in some form of social intercourse with others of the same sex, just as obviously some of these topics would have had the common themes of home and children, domestic life. That which made up the world in which our ladies lived is included in Ladies Tea, from the clothes on their backs to the clocks on their walls to the quilts and sewing which marked some as extraordinary craftswomen- these are also some of the topics found here.

Famous names, or at least well-known intermingle with personal, ancestor stories. All are welcome, please! The stories of countless, unnamed people who did so much for their causes during those years have been lost. Sometimes it seems as if the famous names represent all of them, stand-ins for the hundreds whose stories will never be told. If anyone does know the story of their ancestor, it can only add to our understanding of womens' experience as a whole. What a long winded way to say we'd love to hear it!

There is always an on-going, active request for threads on any of these, and more. If the subject pertains in any fashion to one of our females of the Civil War era, please feel free to post a thread, add to our growing bank of knowledge.
 
Usually talk boards on wars have very few women - I was happy to notice there were a lot here! With the Ladies Tea and the Food, this has become most unusual! The guys will just have to step outside... :grant::lee: Actually, I hope more men come inside and participate! They contribute some tasty things to the Food Forum.
 
Ha, yes! It is NOT a good idea to visit the food forum before 5 a.m. because you sit at the keyboard with your tummy rumbling, far before anyone is thinking of breakfast! Men's recipes have been some awfully good ones, I remember thinking how nice for their wives, sounded like cooking must be a shared event in those homes.

Oh my, sometimes some of the threads here, you just know must horrify our fellow citizens in the same way they would never poke around in their spouses dresser drawers- they never wished to know some things in the first place! It IS very cool for females to have a forum solely for all-things-feminine in the middle of a subject which, on the surface, appears to be composed of men, guns, booms, mud and fighting. That quite a few women were smack in the middle of all that gives us both worlds, pretty cool. I think a lot of folks have the ' thing' where it's ' either/or " and because men and women are so different, impose an oppositional, one-is-better-than-the-other perspective onto the whole relationship. OR imply that is what someone would be doing in speaking of women's topics- and it's not true.

We're just having a lot of fun with how different we are, and all the same in the end. Kinda nice!

OH my gosh Diane, I was amazed to find so, so many women here too! There were a lot behind names like mine, too- usernames you'd never know were ' girls' unless an icon was attached saying so! SO funny- one I only figured out a couple of minths ago!!
 
These are ridiculously good, thank you! I've never heard of tea in a recipe, ever! Am always sorry the heavy bodied cakes seem to have gone out of ' style'- my grgrandmother made a lot of them. And the real short breads, amazing. Must ' @donna ' , she'll scoop these up!

I remember when they first came out with those flavored coffee things for creamers, calling them ' Irish Coffee ' flavored, for instance - never had a good cup of coffee ruined so quickly in my life! And all the good Irishmen rolling over in their graves toboot was audible.

There's something else it's a pity we don't see much any more, perculated coffee- Mom has a pot I remember from when I was a child, an electric one! Coffee is still wonderful!
 
Usually talk boards on wars have very few women - I was happy to notice there were a lot here! With the Ladies Tea and the Food, this has become most unusual! The guys will just have to step outside... :grant::lee: Actually, I hope more men come inside and participate! They contribute some tasty things to the Food Forum.
Ummm, Diane. Some men do actually cook. Some of us in self defense.
 
Ummm, Diane. Some men do actually cook. Some of us in self defense.

:rofl: And mostly a better job - that's why just about all your top chefs are men! And, they invented most of our fancy dishes, too. Women tend to fix the memorable but mundane - the casserole and roast type fare. Mom's thickened tomatoes are a very fond memory - and when she's feeling good she still whips it up - but Dad's apple pancakes were the best. Fluffy, light, full of apple flavor! Mom's...set like lead...for days.... :tongue:

p s
And I have yet to see a barbeque pit mistress... :playfull:
 
My uncle owned a sporting goods shop-he made the best beer pancakes.
My brother once brought me a six-pack of Black Dog Ale since I have a BBD (big black dog). :dog:
I did not like the taste, however, a light went on & it made the best pancakes. Never had pancakes
so tall, fluffy & good.
 
My husband is a very good cook. He makes the best chili, butter bean soup, and chicken and dumplings. He likes to cook but his job keeps him so busy.

My Uncle on my Mom's side was an excellent Italian cook. He learned from my Grandma, his Mom. His pasta dishes were the best.
 
That's nice for you, if he's a cook, the real thing! Both my eldest sons can cook, which makes me happy. It's been great seeing this next generation seems a ton more comfortable in the kitchen, splitting meal duties with their wives. My daughter and her fiancée do it, too- that was her idea. She said since both were working full time and going to school full time toboot, no way in heck was she going to be in sole charge of food.

Must be a lot cultural, where men cook? Guess it would be situational too, right? Since I'm generally home during the day albeit busy, it's still an awful lot better than my husband who doesn't get home until 6. I do all the cooking not because I'm female but because it would be incredibly unfair, expecting him to add that kind of time to an already long day.
 
My son cooks all the time. Both he and his wife work but he does almost all the cooking. he likes to cook and is the better cook. He always makes a special breakfast for his family on the weekends. I guess he watched me and my Mom cook, and just picked it up. He has specialties, like his Vegetarian Chili and Banana Bread.
 
Since this is a sticky, thought we could post photos and names of all our era women as a tribute, an indicator of what Ladies Tea is- doesn't matter how obscure or famous, just all of the. No bios please just photo and name- or name only if there' no photo.

As if you were reading- Clara Barton, Elizabeth Keckley, Harriet Tubman, Mary Custis Lee, Mary Todd Lincoln, Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, Pauline Cushman

lt clara.JPG
lt eliz keckley.jpg
lt harriet tubman.jpg
lt mary lee.jpg
lt mary lincoln2.jpg
lt mary walker.jpg
lt nellie gordon.JPG
lt pauline cushman.JPG
 
And did we ever introduce @18th Virginia on the Ladies Tea stickie? One bazillion months later? Only forum host, did not occur to me because we seldom use this thread! Maybe post photos of your favorites here?
 
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