DURING THE TEACHERS' CONVENTION
"SO you'll not be back until dinner time?" Bettina had said at the
breakfast table to Bob's cousin, Edna, and her friend, Catherine. "A
whole day of it! How tired you'll be!"
Edna laughed her ripply laugh that always made everyone else laugh, too.
"Tired getting me a hat and a suit? Oh, Bettina! That makes me feel
livelier than ever!"
Catherine looked troubled. "Now, Edna," she said, "you positively
mustn't miss that afternoon meeting. I know it will be so inspiring!
Remember what Professor Macy said!"
Edna laughed again. "Catherine always quotes Professor Macy as if he
were an oracle or a sphinx or something instead of a nice solemn young
high school teacher who's getting a little bald!"
"He isn't bald and he isn't solemn," declared Catherine with some
spirit.
"Forgive me, Catherine dear! He is a lamb and a darling and everything
else you want me to say!"
"I want you to say? Why, Edna, aren't you ashamed!" said Catherine,
growing very red. "Who ever heard of such nonsense?"
"I love to tease you, Catherine. It's so easy! So you won't help me get
my hat? I want a beautiful purple one--or else a perky little black one.
I haven't decided whether to be stately and gracious, or frivolous and
cunning. But I do know that I will not look as if I were about to cram
the multiplication table into the head of some poor little innocent!"
"Don't worry, Edna," said Bob. "You won't look that way at all. In fact,
I wonder that you can be serious long enough to impress the members of
the school board when they come visiting."
"She doesn't try to impress them; she just smiles at them instead, and
that does just as well," said Catherine. "But she's not so utterly
frivolous as her conversation sounds. She wants to hear the convention
addresses just as much as I do--and I know she'll be there this
afternoon. In fact, I intend to save a seat for her."
"Between you and Professor Macy?" asked Edna, innocently. "Or on his
left?"
"Shame on you, Edna," said Bettina. "Now you girls tell me just what
you'd like for dinner! Aren't there some special dishes you're hungry
for?"
"Pork tenderloin and sweet potatoes!" said Edna. "Our landlady never has
them, and I often dream of the joy of ordering such delicacies!"
And so that evening for dinner Bettina had:
Pork Tenderloin and Sweet Potatoes
Baked Apples
Bread Butter
Cottage Pudding with Chocolate Sauce
Coffee
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
=Pork Tenderloin and Sweet Potatoes= (Four portions)
1-1/2 lbs. pork tenderloin
1 t-salt
1/4 t-pepper
4 large sweet potatoes
Wipe the tenderloins which have been prepared by cutting into small
pieces (by the butcher). Place in a small roaster and put in a hot oven.
When brown on each side, season with salt and pepper. Pare the potatoes
and place in the pan with the meat. Baste every ten minutes with
one-fourth cup of water if there are not sufficient drippings to baste
both the potatoes and meat. Cook until the potatoes are done (about
forty-five minutes).
=Baked Apples= (Four portions)
4 Jonathan apples
8 T-"C" sugar
2 t-cinnamon
1 C-water
1/2 t-vanilla
Wash and core the apples. Fill each with one tablespoon of sugar and
one-half teaspoon of cinnamon. Place in a small tin pan just large
enough to hold them. Add the water and the rest of the sugar, and bake
forty-five minutes in a moderate oven. Baste frequently with the syrup.
After the apples have cooked thirty minutes, add the vanilla to the
syrup.
=Bettina's Cottage Pudding= (Four portions)
1/2 C-sugar
1/4 t-salt
1 C-flour
2 t-baking powder
3 T-chopped nuts
1/2 t-vanilla
1 egg
1/2 C-milk
3 T-melted butter
Mix the sugar, salt, flour, baking powder and nuts. Add the egg and milk
and mix well. Add the vanilla. Beat vigorously for two minutes, and then
add the melted butter. Pour into well-buttered gem pans, filling each
half full. Bake fifteen minutes in a moderate oven. Serve with chocolate
sauce.
=Chocolate Sauce= (Four portions)
1/2 C-sugar
2 T-flour
1 C-water
1/8 t-salt
1 square of chocolate
1/4 t-vanilla
Mix thoroughly the sugar, flour and salt. Add the water and the
chocolate. Cook slowly until the chocolate is melted (about two
minutes). Add the vanilla and serve hot. If too thick, add more water
until the desired consistency is reached.