LXXII And Where Was the Dinner

vegetables with pepper and salt. Add two teaspoons of cottage cheese. Place one teaspoon of salad dressing on each portion.

To prepare the salad dressing, mix boiled dressing and pimento oil together and then add the whipped cream. Mix well, and pile attractively on the salad.

CHAPTER C

BETTINA GIVES A DINNER

"T HE Christmas feeling is everywhere now!" said Bettina, as she arranged a small artificial fir tree in the center of the table. "It may be a little early, but I can't keep from using Christmas decorations to-night. Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum, you look wonderfully festive with snow at your foot and your branches strung with tinsel and ornaments! All that you lack is candles, but I shall use my red shaded candles on the table instead. Let me see, everything is ready, even to the biscuits which are in the ice box waiting to be popped in the oven when the guests arrive. The salad is mixed and waiting, and that Washington pie does look delicious! I'm glad I made it, for Bob is so fond of it. Wonder why Bob doesn't come! I want him to see the table and the tree before the others get here! And build up the fire in the fireplace. It's snowing hard outside, and I want it to be warm and cozy inside. There's someone! Well, off goes my apron!"

The "someone" proved to be Bob, who came in, very pink as to his face, and very white as to his snow-covered shoulders. "It's growing colder every minute!" said Bob. "Well, a Christmas table! I like that! Makes a fellow feel festive!" "I couldn't resist the spirit of Christmas," said Bettina. "I couldn't, either," said Bob, taking a half-dozen gorgeous yellow chrysanthemums from their wrappings. "So I bought you an early Christmas gift. Like 'em?"

For dinner, Bettina served: Pork Tenderloins Candied Sweet Potatoes Creamed Cauliflower Baking Powder Biscuits Butter Currant Jelly Orange and Cherry Salad Wafers Washington Pie Coffee

BETTINA'S RECIPES

(All measurements are level)

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Orange and Cherry Salad (Two portions) 2 oranges ½ C-white cherries ½ C-diced celery 1/8 t-salt ½ C-salad dressing

Remove the white membrane from the pulp of two oranges, and cut each section into half, crosswise. Add the seeded cherries, celery and salt. Mix thoroughly. Add the salad dressing, and serve very cold on lettuce leaves. Washington Pie (Six portions) 11/3 C-sugar 3 eggs ½ C-water ½ t-lemon extract 2 C-flour 2 t-baking powder

Beat the egg-yolks five minutes, add the sugar and beat three minutes. Add the water, lemon extract, flour and baking powder. Mix thoroughly. Fold in the beaten egg whites very carefully. Bake twenty-five minutes in two round shallow pans in a moderate oven. When cool, put the following filling between the layers. Sprinkle the top with powdered sugar.

Cream Filling for Washington Pie

2/3 C-sugar 1/3 C-flour ½ t-salt 1½ C-milk 1 egg-yolk ½ t-vanilla ½ t-lemon extract

Mix thoroughly the sugar, salt and flour. Gradually add the milk, stirring constantly. Pour into the top of a double boiler, and cook until very thick. Add the egg-yolk, vanilla and lemon extract, and cook two minutes. Beat until creamy and cool. Spread on the cake. Serve Washington pie with whipped cream if desired.

CHAPTER CI

BOB'S CHRISTMAS GIFT TO BETTINA

BOB had walked home from the office through the falling snow—and it was no short distance—with thought for neither snow nor distance. He was distinctly worried,—Christmas only two weeks off, the first Christmas since he and Bettina had been married, and as yet he had no idea what sort of a Christmas gift he

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ought to purchase for his wife. What did she need? Unfortunately he had heard her say only a few days ago that she didn't need a thing. What did she secretly long for? A glass baking dish! Shucks, what an unromantic present! Surely Bettina had been teasing him when she mentioned such a prosy gift as that! Well, if he didn't have some inspiration by the day before Christmas there would be nothing to do but get her violets, or candy, or perhaps some silly book that she didn't want. "Hello, Bob!" said a voice almost at his feet. "Say Mister Bob, Billy," another voice corrected severely. "Hello, Jacky! Good evening, Marjorie! Coasting good?" "Oh, pretty good. You don't know what we've got at our house!" "Four Angora kittens!" interrupted Marjorie eagerly, before Bob had a chance to guess. "Four whole kittens. Can't see a thing, though, but they'll learn after a while! We're going to sell three of 'em, and keep one, and——" "See here, Marjorie!" exclaimed Bob. "I'd like to buy one myself, for a Christmas present to some one! How about it? You ask your mother to save one for me—I'll stop in tomorrow morning and talk to her about it. Could you take care of it for me till Christmas morning?"

And Bob strode on with a happy grin on his face. Wouldn't Bettina laugh at the idea of an Angora kitten!

For dinner that night Bettina served: Beef Steak Baked Potatoes Cauliflower in Cream Cranberry Jelly Moulds Bread Butter Burnt Sugar Cake Confectioner's Icing Coffee

BETTINA'S RECIPES

(All measurements are level) Cranberry Jelly (Three portions) 2 C-cranberries 2/3 C-water ¾ C-sugar

Look over the cranberries, removing any stems and soft berries. Add the water and cook until the skins have burst and all the berries are soft. Press through a strainer, removing all the pulp. Add the sugar to the pulp, and cook until the mixture is thick, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. When the jelly stands up on a plate it is done. Pour into moulds (preferably of china or glass) which have been wet with cold water. Burnt Sugar Cake (Sixteen pieces)

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