How It Tasted
Pork
Chops
Another batch of Firestone radials, I’m afraid—these
chops were tough, tough, tough.
Oddly enough I didn’t hear any grumbling from the
crew…they at least seemed to enjoy them. But eating this meat made me feel like
a hound gnawing on a strip of rawhide…and in fact the dog was parked near my
chair just waiting for a piece.
Escalloped
Potatoes
This potato dish was bland but tender—something of a
relief after my struggles with the chops. The one thing I felt the potatoes
really needed was a touch of color: a sprinkle of parsley, some bits of
pimento—anything to relieve the stark tan-and-yellow of it and virtually every
dish on the table.
Baked
Apples
Filip:
Can I have yours?
These apples were a surprise hit—leaving that plug at
the bottom of each apple kept the sugar inside and made a most tender batch of
cooked fruit.
But their appearance--! By this time I was well aware
the monotone color of the dishes wasn’t exactly a feast for the eyes.
Everything but the salad was either tan, beige, or yellow, and these apples
were no exception.
Still, the apples did taste good and I was pleased that
my Filip enjoyed his (and ultimately mine) so much. I wondered at the time if
he’d balk at eating the skins, but no problem—he speared the fruit whole with
his fork and munched on it like a candied apple.
Head
Lettuce with Congressional Dressing
Milomir:
[mouth
puckering]: A little strong.
Despite the impressive name this salad (or at least
its dressing) didn’t exactly win raves from the family. As always they felt
there was far too much vinegar—my son rejected it after a single taste, and my
husband manfully tried but failed to get his portion down.
Bread
and Butter
I almost always choose white bread or rolls for a Bettina
dinner, but this time I figured we needed a change and decided to try something
different
But as it turned out even a snowy loaf of Wonder Bread
would have been welcome at this meal. The brown color of this bread blended
perfectly with the rest of the dishes, but only the visually impaired could
have missed the fact that the loaf raised the look of the table to new heights
of drabness.
Rhubarb
Pie
In terms of appearance this pie was tan (of
course)—perfectly in keeping with the general color scheme of the meal.
But quite honestly I was so busy mopping up dribbles
of rhubarb juice from the dishes (the tabletop/the floor) I scarcely noticed
how the pie looked. This was probably the wettest dessert I’d ever seen—I
actually had to tilt the pan and let the juice run into a bowl after cutting
the first slice.
The recipe specified three tablespoons of flour to
help thicken the juice. Well, that wasn’t nearly enough—this pie was so liquid
a full sack full might have not been enough to keep the filling in place.
Tea
My husband loves hot tea and so gave a definite thumbs
up to this. I enjoyed it too, but hot drinks tend to make me sleepy—not exactly
a good thing when the massive cleanup effort necessary after a Bettina meal is
looming!
Would I Make This Again?
Only if I was color blind, I’m afraid.
No dish I served could be called a taste sensation,
but the lack of savor paled before the dreadful monochrome look of the meal.
I’m not a highly visual person, but even I was appalled—the dishes all looked
alike, and the effect was almost hypnotic.
(One wonders at Bob’s reaction when he sat down to
this meal…with luck there was a catsup bottle within reach or, better yet, a
good strong drink!)
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