Chapter 33 After the Tea continued

How It Tasted

Omelet

Milomir: Eggs for dinner?

Both DH and Son seem puzzled to find an omelet on the dinner table (such reactionaries!).

Still, they both ate a fair amount of it and seemed moderately pleased. I on the other wasn’t thrilled by the omelet’s texture—it was a little too fluffy for my taste.

I like most egg dishes and (unlike the family), don’t mind eating them for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. But eggs whipped into an omelet seem a little odd to me: a little too soft, too creamy—I like my Pullus ovum with some fight left in them.

Creamed Potatoes

Unlike the omelet these eggs met with complete approval. We’ve been eating Bettina-style boiled potatoes (with and without sauce) quite a lot lately, but in this case a sprinkle of pimento and parsley made all the difference in the world.

Who would have guessed that a vegetable garnish would make these rather boring tubers pleasing to both the eye and the palate? In fact the potatoes went over so well that I expect I’ll make them again soon—the serving dish was emptied in jig time.

Glazed Apples

Filip: Is this maple syrup?

We all enjoyed these apples—recommending the use of brown sugar rather than white was a masterstroke on Bettina’s part.

As for how the apples looked, however—ouch. As mentioned before they started breaking apart in the oven, and by the time the fruit reached the table complete disintegration had set in.

So tasty, yes. But “beautiful”? Absolutely not—and not something I’d care to serve when guests were on hand.

Head Lettuce with Russian Dressing

I don’t think any Bettina salad I’ve ever served has been met with handclapping, and tonight’s was no exception.

The lettuce was fine (if you like crisp but tasteless Iceberg, that is). But the dressing was just too strong—in fact, overwhelming. I’m not sure what sort of salad dressing would compliment rather than overpower the skimpy amount of greens that makes up a Bettina salad, but it certainly isn’t Russian.

Emergency Biscuit

Filip: Try one, Dad. They’re better than they look.

These so-called “emergency biscuits” are aptly named—judging by their appearance they’ve either been pulled from an MRE pack or chipped out of a quarry by desperate people.

But to my (and I think everyone’s) utter amazement they tasted fine. In fact, once we got past the biscuits’ nubbly exterior, they were good. The interiors were light and fluffy and had a solid wheat flavor—completely at odds with the biscuits’ weird appearance.

Watermelon

After chewing our way through this merely serviceable meal the melon was a real treat. It certainly added a much-needed touch of color to the drab table (once again all the dishes were various shades of white, tan, and yellow) and was far easier to prepare than a quicky pie or cake.

Would I Make This Again?

Milomir: This would have made a perfect breakfast.

That pretty well sums it up. The meal was certainly adequate, but DH and Son found it completely incomprehensible to be eating breakfast at night.

But I have to admit that this “emergency dinner” didn’t take much time to prepare: about fifty minutes, just five more than I’d estimated. Seems like a lot by modern standards (21^st century Bob would have been scrambling his own eggs or, more likely, dispatched to the nearest take-out place for a sack of hamburgers)—but still far better than the 3-4 for hours I generally spend cooking a single Bettina meal.

I can’t help wondering though if the meal couldn’t be pared down still more. Skipping the hand-chopped vegetable garnishes would have saved some time--finding a style of eggs that didn’t require so much beating still more.

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Certainly my own crew was hungry and impatient enough while I threw this meal together—no doubt Bob and Mr. Dixon were ten times more so and probably pawed holes in the carpet waiting for dinner to be served!