DINNER AT THE DIXONS
"IS it still as much fun to keep house as it was at first, Charlotte?"
asked Bettina as she and Bob sat down to dinner with the Dixons.
"Fun?" said Charlotte. "Bettina, look at me! Or better still, look at
Frank! And the funny part of it all is that Aunt Isabel thinks our
keeping house is a result of her preachments against boarding and hotel
living. Why, she quite approves of me now! And I'll just keep quiet and
let her feel that she was the one who did it, but all the while in my
heart I'll be remembering that it was the sight of your happiness that
roused my ambition to make a home myself."
"I tell you," said Mr. Dixon, "we can never thank you enough, Bettina.
Now shall I play 'Home Sweet Home' on the piano? And will you all join
in the chorus?"
"Not if you sing, too," said Mrs. Dixon, smiling at her husband's
foolishness. "I've learned a great deal from you, since I began,
Bettina, and not the smallest lesson is that of having company without
dreading it. I don't try to make things elaborate, just dainty and
simple food such as we have every day. Why, tonight I didn't make a
single change for you and Bob! And I don't believe I should dread even
Aunt Isabel's sudden arrival now."
"Aunt Isabel is really a good soul, Bettina," said Frank. "Charlotte has
never learned how much worse her bark is than her bite, and she takes it
to heart when Aunt Isabel speaks her mind. Why, I remember so well the
scoldings she used to give me when I was a boy, and the cookies she
would manage to treat me with afterward! I used to anticipate those
pleasant scoldings!"
"If a scolding always comes before food," said Bob, "Charlotte must have
given you an extra good one before inviting us to partake of that
delicious-looking chocolate pie!"
That evening they had:
Cold Sliced Ham Creamed Potatoes
Tomatoes Stuffed with Rice
Peach Butter
Chocolate Pie
Coffee
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
=Tomatoes Stuffed with Rice= (Six portions)
6 tomatoes
1/2 C-rice, cooked
1/2 C-green pepper, chopped
2 T-grated cheese
1 t-chopped onion
1/4 t-salt
1 T-butter
Remove a piece one inch in diameter from the stem end of each tomato.
Take out the seeds. Fill the shells with the rice, pepper, cheese, onion
and salt, well mixed. Place a small dot of butter on top of each. Place
in a small pan and bake twenty-five minutes in a moderate oven.
=Chocolate Pie Crust= (Six portions)
1 C-flour
1/3 C-lard
1/4 t-salt
3 T-ice water
Mix the flour and salt, cut in the lard with a knife, add the liquid
slowly, stirring with the knife. More water may be needed. Roll out
thin, fit onto a tin pan, prick with holes, and bake in a hot oven until
light brown (about seven minutes).
=Filling= (Six portions)
1 C-sugar
5 T-flour
1/8 t-salt
2 C-milk
2 egg yolks
1-1/2 squares melted chocolate
1/2 t-vanilla
Mix well the sugar, flour and salt. Add gradually the milk and beaten
egg yolks. Cook in a double boiler fifteen minutes. Add the melted
chocolate. Cook until thick (about ten minutes), and add the vanilla.
Fill the baked shell, and cover with meringue. Place in a moderate oven
and cook until the meringue is a delicate brown (about five minutes).
=Meringue=
2 egg whites
4 T-sugar
Beat the whites of eggs very stiff. Add the sugar. Pile lightly on the
chocolate mixture. Brown in the oven. Chocolate pie should be served
cold.