Washington's Birthday Sandwiches

1 loaf of white bread one day old 8 T-butter 2 yards each of red, white and blue ribbon

Cut the bread very thin with a sharp knife. Remove all crusts. Place a damp cloth around the prepared slices when very moist, and tender. Spread with butter which has been creamed with a fork until soft. Roll the sandwiches up carefully like a roll of paper. Cut the ribbon into six-inch strips, and tie around the sandwiches. Place in a bread box to keep moist. Pile on a plate in log cabin fashion.

CHAPTER CXIX

ANOTHER OVEN DINNER

BETTINA heard a step on the porch, and quickly laying aside her kitchen apron, rushed to the door to meet Bob. Her rather hilarious greeting was checked just in time, at sight of a tall figure behind him.

"Bettina, this is Mr. MacGregor, of MacGregor & Hopkins, you know. Mr. MacGregor, my wife, Bettina. I've been trying to get you all afternoon to tell you I was bringing a guest to dinner and to spend the night. The storm seems to have affected the lines."

"Oh, it has! I've been alone all day! Haven't talked to a soul! Welcome, Mr. MacGregor, I planned Bob's particular kind of a dinner tonight, and it may not suit you at all, but I'm glad to see you, anyhow."

Mr. MacGregor murmured something dignified but indistinct, as Bob cried out heartily, "Well, it smells good, anyhow, so I guess you can take a chance; eh, MacGregor?"

Bettina had a hazy idea that Mr. MacGregor, of MacGregor & Hopkins, was somebody very important with whom Bob's firm did business, and although she knew also that Bob had know "Mac," as he called him, years before in a way that was slightly more personal, her manner was rather restrained as she ushered them into the dining-room a few minutes later. However, the little meal was so appetizing, and the guest seemed so frankly appreciative, that conversation soon flowed freely. Bob's frank comments were sometimes embarrassing, for instance when he said such things as this:

"Matrimony has taught me a lot, MacGregor! I've learned--well, now, you'd never think that all this dinner was cooked in the oven, would you? Well, it was: baked ham, baked potatoes, baked apples, and the cakes--Bettina's cakes, I call 'em. You see, my wife thinks of things like that--a good dinner and saving gas, too!"

"Oh, Bob!" said Bettina, with a scarlet face.

"You needn't be embarrassed, Bettina, it's so! I was just telling 'Mac' as we came in, that two can live more cheaply than one provided the other one is like you--always coaxing me to add to our bank account. It's growing, too, and I never could save before I was married!"

The dinner consisted of:

Baked Ham Baked Potatoes Head Lettuce Roquefort Cheese Dressing Bread Butter Baked Apples Bettina's Cakes

BETTINA'S RECIPES

(All measurements are level)

Bettina's Baked Ham= (Three portions)

(Bob calls it "great")

1 lb. slice of ham three-fourths of an inch thick 14 cloves 1/2 C-vinegar 1/2 C-water 2 T-sugar 2 t-mustard

Remove the rind from ham. Stick the cloves into both sides. Place in a pan just the size of the meat. Pour the vinegar, water, sugar and mustard (well mixed) over the ham. Baste frequently. Bake in moderate oven until crisp and tender (about forty-five minutes).

Head Lettuce with Roquefort Cheese Dressing= (Three portions)

1 head of lettuce 1/2 t-salt 3 T-oil 1/8 t-pepper 1/4 C-Roquefort cheese 1 T-vinegar

Cream the cheese, add salt, pepper and vinegar. Add the oil gradually. Mix well, shake thoroughly. Pour over the lettuce and serve.

Baked apples= (Four portions)

4 apples 6 T-brown sugar 4 T-granulated sugar 1 t-cinnamon 4 marshmallows 1 t-butter

Wash and core apples of uniform size. Mix the sugar and cinnamon together. Fill the apples. Press a marshmallow in each apple also. Dot the top with a piece of butter. Place the apples in a pan, add the remaining sugar, cover the bottom with water, and bake until tender (twenty-five to thirty minutes), basting often. Serve hot or cold.

Bettina's Cakes= (Eight cakes)

1 C-flour 1/2 t-cinnamon 1/4 t-powdered cloves 1/3 C-sugar 2 T-melted butter 1/2 t-soda 1/4 t-baking powder 1/8 t-salt 1 egg 1/3 C-sour milk

Mix and sift the dry ingredients. Add the egg and the sour milk. Beat two minutes. Add the melted butter; beat one minute. Fill well-buttered muffin pans one-half full. Bake in a moderate oven twenty minutes.

CHAPTER CXX

BOB MAKES POP-OVERS

BETTINA was busily setting the table in the dining-room when Bob appeared.

"Oh, Bettina," said he in a disappointed tone, "why not eat in the breakfast alcove? I'd like to show MacGregor how much fun we have every morning."

"Won't he think we're being too informal?"

"I want him to think us informal. The trouble with him is that he doesn't know that any simple brand of happiness exists. His life is too complex. Of course we're not exactly primitive--with our electric percolator and toaster----"

"Sorry, Bob, but you can't use the toaster this morning; I'm about to stir up some pop-overs."

"Well, I'll forgive you for taking away my toy, inasmuch as I do like pop-overs. Let me help you with them, Bettina; this is one place where you can use my strong right arm."

"Yes, indeed I can, Bob. I'll never forget those splendid pop-overs that you made the first time you ever tried. They look simple, but not very many people can make good ones. The secret of it is all in the beating," said she, as she stirred up the smooth paste, "and then in having the gem pans and the oven very hot."

"Well, these'll be good ones then," said Bob, as he set about his task. "You light the oven, Betty, and put the gem pans in it, and then before you have changed things from the dining-room to the alcove, I'll have these pop-overs popping away just as they ought to do!"

The percolator was bubbling and the pop-overs were nearly done when they heard Mr. MacGregor's step. "He's exactly on time," chuckled Bob. "That's the kind of a methodical fellow he is in everything."

"Well, there's no time when promptness is more appreciated than at meal-time," said Betty, decidedly. "I like him."

"Come on out here!" called Bob, cheerfully. "This is the place in which we begin the day! We'll show you the kind of a breakfast that'll put some romance into your staid old head. I made the pop-overs myself, and I know they're the best you ever saw--likewise the biggest--and they'll soon be the best you've ever eaten!"

When Bob had finished removing the pop-overs from their pans, the two men took their places at the table to the merry tune of the sizzling bacon Bettina was broiling.

"I never entertained a stranger so informally before," said she.

"And I was never such a comfortable guest as I am at this minute," said Mr. MacGregor, looking down at his breakfast, which consisted of:

Grapefruit Oatmeal Bacon Pop-Overs Coffee

BETTINA'S RECIPES

(All measurements are level)

Pop-Overs= (Eight)

1 C-flour 1 C-milk 1/2 t-salt 1 egg, beaten well

Add the milk slowly to the flour and salt, stirring constantly, until a smooth paste is formed. Beat and add the remainder of the milk, and the egg. Beat vigorously for three minutes. Fill very hot gem pans three-fourths full. Bake thirty minutes in a hot oven. They are done when they have "popped" at least twice their size, and when they slip easily out of the pan. Iron pans are the best.

_Weary are we of our winter-time fare; Hasten, O Springtime, elusive and arch! Bring us your dainties; our cupboards are bare! Pity us, starved by tyrannical March!_

CHAPTER CXXI

"SPRING is in the air," thought Bettina, as she opened the casement windows of her sun room. "I believe we'll have dinner out here tonight. If Bob would only come home early, before the sun goes down! Now I wonder who that can be!" (For she heard a knock at the kitchen door.)

"Why, Charlotte. Come in!" she cried a moment later, for it was Mrs. Dixon with a napkin-covered pan in hand, whom she found at the door.

"I've brought you some light rolls for your dinner, Bettina," said Charlotte. "I don't make them often, and when I do, I make more than we can eat. Will they fit into your dinner menu?"

"Indeed they will!" said Bettina. "I'm delighted to get them. Now I wish I had something to send back with you for your dinner, but I seem to have cooked too little of everything!"

"Don't you worry," said Charlotte, heartily. "When I think of all the things you've done for me, I'm only too glad to offer you anything I have! Well, I must hurry home to get our dinner. That reminds me, Bettina, to ask you this: When you escallop anything, do you dot the crumbs on top with butter?"

"No, Charlotte, I melt the butter, add the crumbs, stir them well, and then spread them on the top of the escalloped oysters, or fish, or whatever I am escalloping."

"I'm glad to know the right way of doing, Bettina. Good-bye, dear."

For dinner Bob and Bettina had:

Ham Timbales Macaroni and Cheese Baked Apples Light Rolls Butter Grapefruit Salad Chocolate Custard Coffee

BETTINA'S RECIPES

(All measurements are level)

Ham Timbales= (Three timbales)

1 C-ground, cooked ham 1/3 C-soft bread crumbs 1/4 t-salt 1/4 t-paprika 1 egg 1/2 C-milk

Mix the ham, salt, crumbs and paprika. Add the egg, well beaten, and the milk. Pour into a well-buttered tin or aluminum individual moulds. Place in a pan of hot water and bake in a moderate oven for thirty minutes. Unmould on a platter. Serve hot or cold.

Grapefruit Salad= (Two portions)

1 C-grapefruit, cut in cubes 1/4 C-marshmallows, cut in squares 1/4 C-diced celery 1/4 t-salt 2 T-cottage cheese 1/4 t-paprika 3 T-salad dressing 2 lettuce leaves

Place the lettuce leaves on the serving plates. Arrange carefully portions of grapefruit, marshmallows, celery and cheese upon the lettuce. Sprinkle with salt and paprika. Pour the salad dressing over each portion and serve cold.

Chocolate Custard= (Two portions)

1 C-milk 1 large egg 4 T-sugar 1/3 square of chocolate, melted 1 T-water 1/2 t-vanilla 1/8 t-salt

Cook half the sugar, the chocolate and the water until smooth and creamy (two minutes). Add the milk while the mixture is hot. Stir until smooth. Beat the egg, add the rest of the sugar and the salt. Add to the custard mixture. Mix well. Pour into two well-buttered custard moulds. Place the moulds in a pan surrounded by hot water. Set in a moderate oven and cook until a knife piercing it will come out clean. (Generally thirty minutes.) Allow to stand fifteen minutes in a warm place. Unmould and serve cold.

CHAPTER CXXII

A FIRELESS COOKER FOR AUNT LUCY

"WELL, Uncle John! Hello!" said Bob, as he came into the kitchen. "Is Aunt Lucy here, too?"

"No, she isn't," said Uncle John, shaking his head solemnly, "and the fact is, I shouldn't be here myself if it weren't for a sort of conspiracy; eh, Bettina?"

"That's so, Bob," said Bettina, coming in from the dining-room, her hands full of dishes, "and now I suppose we'll have to let you in on the secret. Uncle John has just bought a beautiful new fireless cooker for Aunt Lucy. Haven't you, Uncle John?"

"Well!" said Bob, heartily. "That's fine! How did you happen to think of it?"

"Well Bob, she's been dreading the summer on the farm--not feeling so very strong lately, you know--and this morning she was just about discouraged. It's next to impossible to get any help out there--she says she's given up that idea--and at breakfast she told me that if the spring turned out to be a hot, uncomfortable one, she believed she'd go out and spend the summer with Lem's girl in Colorado. I naturally hate to have her do that, so I concluded to do everything I could to keep her at home. I telephoned to Bettina, and she promised to help me. The very first thing she suggested was a fireless cooker, and we bought that today. I believe your Aunt Lucy'll like it, too."

For dinner Bettina served:

Meat Balls with Egg Sauce Baked Potatoes Creamed Peas Marshmallow Pudding Chocolate Sauce

BETTINA'S RECIPES

(All measurements are level)

Meat Balls= (Three portions)

1 C-raw beef, cut fine 1/4 C-bread crumbs 2 T-milk 1 egg-yolk 1/4 t-salt 1/8 t-paprika 1 t-chopped parsley 1/4 t-onion salt 1/4 t-celery salt 3 T-bacon fat

Soak the crumbs, milk and egg together for five minutes. Add the beef, salt, paprika, parsley, onion and celery salt. Shape into flat cakes one inch thick, two and a half inches in diameter. Place the fat in the frying-pan and when hot, add the cakes. Lower the flame and cook seven minutes over a moderate fire, turning to brown evenly. Serve on a hot platter. Garnish with parsley. Serve with egg sauce.

Egg Sauce for Meat Balls= (Three portions)

3 T-flour 2 T-butter 1 t-chopped parsley 1 C-milk 1/4 t-salt 1/4 t-paprika 1 hard-cooked egg, cut fine

Melt the butter, add the flour, salt and paprika. Mix well, add the milk, and cook for two minutes. Add the hard-cooked egg sliced, or cut in small pieces. Serve hot with the meat balls.

Marshmallow Pudding= (Three portions)

2 t-granulated gelatin 2 T-cold water 1/3 C-sugar 1/2 C-boiling water 1 t-lemon extract 1 t-vanilla 1 egg-white

Soak the gelatin in cold water for three minutes. Add the boiling water, and when thoroughly dissolved add the sugar. Allow to cool. Beat the egg-white stiff. When the gelatin begins to congeal, beat it until fluffy, add the extracts and then the egg-white. Beat until stiff. Pour into a moistened cake pan. When hard and cold, remove from the pan, cut in one inch cubes and pile in a glass dish.

CHAPTER CXXIII

THE DIXONS DROP IN FOR DESSERT

"COME in! Come in!" cried Bob to the Dixons. "You're just in time to have dessert with us! Bettina, here are the Dixons!"

"Do sit down," said Bettina, "and have some Boston cream pie with us!"

"Frank won't need urging," said Charlotte. "Our dessert tonight was apple sauce, and Boston cream pie (whatever it is) sounds too enticing to be resisted."

"It looks a little like the Washington pie my mother used to make," said Frank. "Only that wasn't so fancy on the top."

"Washington pie needs whipped cream to make it perfect," said Bettina, "and as I had no whipped cream I made this with a meringue."

"Dessert with the neighbors!" said Frank, laughing. "Charlotte read me a suggestion the other day that sounded sensible. A housewife had introduced a new custom into her neighborhood. Whenever she had planned a particularly good dessert she would phone a few of her friends not to plan any dessert for themselves that evening, but to stroll over after dinner and have dessert with her family. Wasn't that an idea? It might lead to cooperative meals! We haven't done our share; have we? We should have telephoned to you to have the main course with us tonight. Say, Bettina, I like this Boston cream pie! It's what I call a real dessert!"

Lamb Chops Creamed Carrots Baked Potatoes Rolls Butter Baked Apples Boston Cream Pie Coffee

BETTINA'S RECIPES

(All measurements are level)

Creamed Carrots= (Two portions)

1 C-carrots 1 T-flour 1 T-butter 1/2 C-milk 1/4 t-salt 1/8 t-paprika

Wash and scrape the carrots thoroughly, cover with boiling water, and allow to boil until tender when pierced with a knitting needle or a fork. (About twenty minutes.) Drain and serve with sauce. Carrots may be cut into three-fourth inch cubes or any fancy shapes, and will cook in less time.