Chapter 11 (Bettina’s Birthday Gift)

Introduction

“Is the coffee done yet?”—Bob, the morning of Bettina’s birthday.

Um. OK.

Although Bob eventually does come through with a pre-breakfast game of tennis and a gift, the fact that it’s his wife’s birthday isn’t quite enough to motivate him to do any work in the kitchen. Fortunately Bettina takes matters in her own hands and for once prepares the simplest of meals (Bob’s reaction to this spartan breakfast isn’t recorded!)

Part 1

The Menu

Iced Cantaloupe

Poached Eggs on Toast

Toast

Apple Sauce

Coffee

Preparing the Meal

 Iced Cantaloupe

I’m not sure whether the cantaloupe in question is to chilled in the freezer, served in a bowl of ice chips, or both.

Well, in my mind both these options are a no-go with my family. Summertime it may be, but we live on the coast and most morning are foggy and damp. My husband and son would be astounded if they caught sight of ice chips on the breakfast table, or put something chilled to near freezing into their mouths.

Seems time for a compromise—I’ll put the melon in the refrigerator for a short period but not let it get ice-cold.

Poached Eggs on Toast

I’m not very happy about this dish, to be honest. I often make poached eggs for my husband, but both Son and I have a real aversion to runny egg yolk.

Still, I consider myself a sport and I guess I’m willing to give these another try. At least poached is about the easiest style of eggs to prepare, and I have a metal egg poacher to make it simpler still.

Toast

I’m not quite sure why an extra stack of toast is necessary when there’s already a slice under each egg, but this is Bettina’s world and so mine is not to wonder why…

Fortunately the recipe condones the use of a bread toaster (although I’m sure my modern pop-up model has little in common with the early 20^th century fit-over-the-stoveplate version).

But toasting the bread first and then popping it in the oven to stay hot seems like an unnecessary hassle. Why not toast it at the last minute and then bring it directly to the table? I have no idea.

Apple Sauce

I have some serious this doubts with this recipe, at least as recorded in the 1932 edition of the book. It’s not the ingredients that are raising the red flag, but rather the second edition’s insistence that the apples will cook down in “about five minutes”. Impossible!—especially as the fruit is to be simply cored and then tossed virtually whole into the pot.

But in the spirit of scientific inquiry I’m willing to give this a try, or at least note what the apples look like at roughly five-minute intervals.

9:28: Staring to cook

9:36: These should be finished by now--more than finished--as it’s been eight minutes. But they haven’t even begun to soften…!

9:47: Definitely not done

9:53: Good grief, it’s been fifty-five minutes and these are only beginning to cook down!

10:01: Progress

10:14: It’s been forty-six minutes and I now say to heck with this experiment. I’m going to mash these apples up, add the sugar, and then force them through a strainer to filter out the uncooked bits.

How It Looked