Friday, December 1, 2017

Chapter 36 Bettina Entertains Her Mother And Father

Introduction

Bettina’s mother and father have returned from vacation, and our crafty heroine knows just what bait to dangle to lure them to her house: a juicy steak that even hypercritical Father proclaims “exactly right”!

Once again Bettina, that goddess of domesticity, brings full honors upon herself. Father “was as eager as a boy to get here,” confides Mother, accepting a cup of coffee a now thoroughly domesticized Bob presses upon her. “I can say that after a summer spent in California, I’m more than thankful to be back again!”

Part 1

The Menu
Pan-Broiled Sirloin Steak
Mashed Potatoes
Carrots
Head Lettuce
Thousand Island Dressing
Sliced Bananas
Quick Cake
Coffee

Preparing the Meal

Pan-Broiled Sirloin Steak



It seems rather surprising that Bettina doesn’t splurge on a T-bone or filet mignon, but I suppose even a welcome home dinner for one’s parents isn’t worth breaking the household budget for!

As for preparing the steak, I’m deviating from the recipe in a big way…after wrecking untold pounds of meat trying to cook steak under a broiler flame I’m going to fry this one in a pan (my apologies, Father!)

Ha! This can be cooked this without even breaking a sweat. Simply fry for eight to ten minutes, season with salt and pepper, and add some dabs of butter.

Mashed Potatoes

\What good’s is a steak without a pile of spuds (dripping with butter or gravy) snuggled next to it? Frankly I was delighted to find this dish on the evening’s menu—potatoes turn up with disheartening regularity at most Bettina meals but they’re almost never mashed.

Pared potatoes in boiling, salted water.

For once these didn’t overcook and crumble into bits.

I really do hate mashing potatoes by hand, but I have to admit they come out far better that way.

Hmmm…a bit dry, it appears. I believe they more than the stingy two tablespoons of milk the recipe calls for, plus salt, pepper, and butter.

Carrots

This is a new one…I don’t believe I’ve ever seen carrots in any form on Bettina’s table.


For some reason or other (a midnight raid from the Easter bunny?) one of the carrots I purchased disappeared overnight…I’ll have to make do with a little less.

The recipe demands the carrots be chopped into cubes, but I honestly have no idea how to go about that. These crude hex- and heptagons will have to do.

All that’s left to do now is cook these carrots “until tender”, drain, and season with the spice combo of the day (salt, pepper, and butter).

Head Lettuce With Thousand Island Dressing

Generally Bettina’s salad dressings are the bane of my life…so many ingredients, so much mixing and chopping it hardly seems worth the effort.

This time however I’m feeling a little more optimistic…the much-dreaded chili sauce is the base for this dressing, but with rare good fortune I already have some in my refrigerator.

Good Lord, do we really need all this for a supposedly simple dressing?

And this…good old Iceberg, Bettina’s “head lettuce” of choice.

Hmm…these greens have seen better days.

Well, thanks to the already-prepared chil sauce this wasn’t too difficult to mix up…can’t say it looks very appetizing, though.

Sliced Bananas
A commonplace fruit now, but these must have seemed a real treat in the early 20th century. Slicing bananas is no problem of course, but—how long before they turn brown?

Quick Cake

I generally don’t think much of Bettina’s homebaked goods—too little fat/shortening and a minimum of eggs tends to make for incredibly dry and/or rubbery cakes. But this time I believe there’s hope…tonight’s cake contains chopped dates which should (fingers crossed) add some much-needed moisture.

Milk, dates, and brown sugar—hopefully this will help make up for the paltry 1/3 cup of butter and the pitiful single egg.

Alas I forgot to remove the butter from the refrigerator earlier in the day…consequently it was still hard as a rock when it came time to make the cake. Since dinner was just a couple hours away I cheated here and softened the butter in the microwave.

Creaming the butter and sugar.

Adding the egg and milk to the butter/sugar combo.

Uh-oh. Looks like drought has set in!

*Whew*. Crisis averted. However it happened this batter in the end came out pretty moist. Amazing.

The dates—eight of ‘em.

I always forget how sticky dates are…wish I could use my food chopper for these.

Folding the chopped dates into the batter.

A well-greased (glass) loaf pan. For once I feel optimistic about a Bettina cake—everything looks great!

Later
Unbelievable. My oh-some-promising cake developed a sinkhole.

But there's still the icing...Usually these overly-sweet Bettina frostings seem less than necessary, but in this case I’m grateful to have something with which to fill in that crater.

Whipping the egg whites.

Adding two tablespoons of cold water…

…and some powdered sugar.

As so often happens the icing came out too thin, and even adding more powdered sugar didn’t help. So I decided to whip it a bit more in hopes of encouraging some volume. We’ll see…

Coffee

Percolated coffee…strong enough probably to keep even Father awake after multiple helpings of steak!



How It Looked



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