A TELEGRAM FROM UNCLE ERIC
"WHAT shall I do with this butter, Bettina?" inquired Bob, who was
helping to clear off the table after dinner one evening. "Put it in the
ice-box?"
"The butter from the table?" asked Bettina. "No, Bob, I keep that
left-over butter in a covered dish in the cupboard. You see, there are
so many times when I need butter for cake making or cooking, and prefer
not to have it very hard. Then I use that cupboard butter. There's the
doorbell, Bob. Now who do you suppose that can be?"
"A telegram from Uncle Eric," said Bob, when he returned from the door.
"Well, isn't that the limit! He's coming tonight!"
"Tonight!" echoed Bettina.
"Yes, on business. You see, there are so many people in town for the
state fair and there are several that he must see. He's a queer old
fellow--Uncle Eric is--and he has some queer notions. Doesn't like
hotels, or anything but home cooking. He doesn't want anything
elaborate, but he's pretty fussy about what he does want. I'm sorry for
you, Bettina, but I guess we'll have to make him welcome. He's been
pretty good to me, in his funny way, and so I suppose he feels he can
descend on us without warning."
"But, Bob--tonight! Why, I'm not ready! I haven't groceries in the
house, or anything! And I was planning to give you a cooked cereal for
breakfast tomorrow."
"It's too bad, Betty," said Bob sympathetically, "but it seems as if
we'll just have to manage some way. Uncle Eric has been good to me, you
see. He's an old fogy of a bachelor, but he has a warm heart way down
underneath his crusty exterior. And----"
"Don't you worry, Bob," said Bettina heartily. "We will manage. As a
rule, I think it's pretty poor taste for anyone to come without warning
or an invitation, but maybe Uncle Eric is an exception to all the rules.
Tell me about him; do you have time? When does the train get in? Do you
have to meet it?"
"I guess I'd better hurry right off now."
"But, Bob, tell me! What must I have for breakfast?"
"Anything but a cereal, Betty! Uncle Eric draws the line at cereals. He
has an awful time with his cooks, too. They never suit him."
"Goodness, Bob!" said Betty, in despair. "And I have almost nothing in
my cupboard. It's as bare as Mother Hubbard's!"
"Good-bye, dear! I'm off! I know you'll think of some thing."
Bettina smiled hopelessly at the masculine viewpoint, and as soon as Bob
had gone she sat down to think, a dish towel in one hand and a spoon in
the other.
"Be a sport, Bettina," she murmured to herself. "If Uncle Eric doesn't
like his breakfasts, it's his own fault for coming. Get a pencil and
paper and plan several cereal-less breakfasts, so that while he is here
you will never be at a loss."
Thus fortified by her common sense and what is less common, her sense of
humor, Bettina soon evolved the following breakfast menus for Uncle
Eric:
(1)
Cantaloupe
French Toast Maple Syrup
Broiled Bacon
Coffee
(2)
Fresh Pears
Creamed Beef on Toast
Coffee
(3)
Cantaloupe
Sweet Milk Griddle Cakes
Syrup
Coffee
(4)
Baked Apples
Broiled Ham Graham Muffins
Coffee
(5)
Fresh Plums
Codfish Balls Twin Mountain Muffins
Coffee
(6)
Cantaloupe
Waffles Syrup
Coffee
(7)
Watermelon
Corn Oysters Syrup
Toast
Coffee
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
=French Toast= (Three portions)
6 slices stale bread
2 eggs
1/4 t-salt
T-sugar
2/3 C-milk
Beat the eggs slightly, add salt, milk and sugar. Place in a shallow
dish. Soak bread in the mixture until soft. Cook on a hot, well-greased
griddle, browning on one side and then turning and browning on the
other. Serve hot with maple syrup.
=Sweet Milk Griddle Cakes= (Four portions)
2 C-flour
3 t-baking powder
1 C-milk
1 t-salt
1 egg, well-beaten
Mix the flour, baking powder and salt, add the milk to the well-beaten
egg, and pour the liquid slowly into the dry ingredients. Beat
thoroughly for one minute. Put a spoonful on a hot, well-greased
griddle. When done on one side, turn, and brown on the other. Never turn
more than once.
=Broiled Bacon= (Three portions)
6 slices of bacon
Place bacon slices, which have had the rind removed, on a hot tin pan
and set directly under a flame for three minutes. Turn and broil the
other side.
=Corn Oysters= (Three portions)
1/3 C-corn
1/3 C-bread crumbs
1 well-beaten egg
1/4 t-salt
1/8 t-pepper
1/2 t-sugar
Mix the corn, egg, bread crumbs, salt, pepper and sugar. Shape into
cakes two inches in diameter and one-half an inch thick. Grease a
griddle or a frying-pan thoroughly, and when very hot, place fritters on
the pan. When brown on one side, turn over onto the other side. Serve
hot, with syrup.