A KITCHEN SHOWER FOR ALICE
[Illustration]
"DID you want me for something, Mary?" asked Alice at the door. "Mother
said you had telephoned."
"Come in! Come in!" cried ten girls at once, while Bettina whispered to
Ruth: "Thank goodness, she's come! The muffins are all but done!"
"What in the world!" said Alice.
"A party for you!"
"And I'm wearing my old suit!"
"We caught you this time, but never mind. Come in, and take off your
things."
As soon as Alice reappeared in the living room, a small table was drawn
up before the open fire. Two girls appeared, wearing gingham aprons and
carrying overflowing market baskets.
"This is a kitchen shower for you, Alice," Ruth explained somewhat
ceremoniously. "But if you are willing, we will use the utensils in
serving the luncheon and afterwards present them to you. May we unpack
the baskets?"
"Do," said Alice, laughing.
From the larger basket, Ruth removed twelve white enamelled plates of
different sizes (suitable for holding supplies in the refrigerator), and
twelve cross-barred tea towels. The latter she passed around to be used
as napkins, and Mary distributed the plates. On the small serving table
before the fire, a white muslin table cover was placed. As she unfolded
it, Ruth read from the attached card:
"If breakfast you should chance to eat
Upon the kitchen table--
I'll make it dainty, fair and neat
So far as I am able."
When the steel forks and spoons of various sizes were taken out and
passed around, two glass measuring cups were found to hold loaf sugar
wrapped in frilled paper. Upon one of these Ruth read:
"Please eat us all, but let your sweet
Sweet hours be duly treasured,
For we belie the worldly eye--
True sweetness can't be measured."
A glass rolling-pin filled with stick candy came next, and its
sentiments read, and meanwhile the girls had begun to read aloud the
advice pinned upon the tea-towels, such as:
"No matter what his whims and wishes--
Just tell him he must wipe the dishes!"
and
"But if he breaks a cup or plate,
Just throw the pieces at him straight."
"What vindictive dish-towels!" said Alice. "They're not a bit
sentimental!"
When the contents had been removed and all the verses read, the large
basket was presented to Alice, who read from its handle:
"To market, to market, to buy your supplies!
You'll go there in person, if careful and wise."
"I will, Mr. Basket, with you over my arm!" answered Alice.
Meanwhile the girls had carried in the salad in an earthenware
mixing-bowl, the muffins heaped high in a small basket with a dainty
dustcloth over them, the coffee in a large enamelled pitcher, and the
"molasses puffs" wrapped in frilled paper in a basket suitable for
holding supplies. "Bettina's apples" were arranged in two flat enamelled
pans. All the food was served informally from the small table, and the
merriment grew as the luncheon progressed.
"I wish that all the meals Harry and I have together might be as jolly
as this one! I'm sure I should be glad to eat always from kitchen
dishes, if that is what makes the fun," said Alice.
At the kitchen shower, the luncheon was as follows:
Bettina's Potato Salad Bettina's Spiced Beets
Twin Mountain Muffins Currant Jelly
Molasses Puffs Bettina's Apples
Coffee Stick Candy
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
=Bettina's Potato Salad= (Twelve portions)
3 C-cold boiled potatoes, diced
1 C-diced celery
1/2 C-diced hard-cooked egg
1/4 C-diced sweet pickles
3 T-diced pimento
2 t-salt
1 T-chopped onion
1 C-salad dressing
12 lettuce leaves
Mix all the ingredients in the order named. Serve the salad very cold on
crisp lettuce leaves.
=Bettina's Spiced Beets= (Twelve portions)
5 large, cooked beets, sliced
1/2 C-vinegar
1 T-"C" sugar
6 cloves
1 t-salt
1/8 t-pepper
Heat the vinegar, add the cloves, sugar, salt and pepper. Pour over the
beets, cut in one-third inch slices. Allow to stand one hour before
serving.
=Molasses Puffs= (Twelve portions)
3/4 C-molasses
3/4 C-sugar
1/2 C-hot water
1/3 C-butter and lard (melted)
1 egg, well beaten
2 t-ginger
1 t-cinnamon
2 t-soda
3 C-flour
Mix the molasses and sugar. Add the hot water and fat. Beat well, add
the egg and mix thoroughly. Sift the ginger, cinnamon, flour and soda
together, and add to the rest of the ingredients, mixing well. Fill
well-buttered muffin pans three-fourths full. Bake in a moderate oven
for twenty-five minutes. Ice with "C" sugar icing.
=Icing=
2 egg-whites beaten stiffly
2 C-"C" sugar
1/2 C-water
1/2 t-vanilla
Cook the sugar and water together until it "clicks" when a little is
dropped into cold water. Pour the syrup slowly over the stiffly beaten
egg whites. Beat vigorously until cool and creamy. Add the vanilla and
spread on the cakes. If the icing gets hard before it is cool, add two
tablespoons of water and continue beating. The secret of good icing is
steady, constant beating.
=Bettina's Apples= (Twelve portions)
12 apples
3 C-"C" sugar
2 C-water
1/4 t-cinnamon
1/2 t-vanilla
18 marshmallows
1 T-butter
Wash, peel and core the apples. Place in a broad flat pan in which the
sugar and water have been thoroughly mixed. Cook the apples, turning
often until tender, remove from the syrup and place in a serving dish.
Fill the center with one-half a marshmallow. Add the cinnamon and butter
to the syrup and cook five minutes or until it thickens. Pour over and
around the apples. Decorate with a marshmallow cut into fourths. Serve
warm.