For the comfort of the family

As breakfast is the meal which requires the most ingenuity on the part of the homemaker, I summon to my aid all the help possible in the way of accessories. In the center of the breakfast table is a bowl of yellow blossoms, the size varying with the season and its toll for flowers. There are white doilies on the bare table and the breakfast china is white, with a spray of delicate yellow flowers. There are two cream jugs and two sugar bowls of a clear, soft yellow ware ; a dainty glass dish of golden marmalade, and at each place halves of grapefruit or orange. The impression received as one enters the dining-room is of a sunshiny breakfast table even though the day be dark and lowering. By the kitchen window grow nasturtiums in a box — ^in the winter inside, in the summer out — ^that I may have the leaves of this hardy plant to lay beside the fruit on the plate. They give a vivid, refreshing touch and make the simplest meal seem like a party. As the Head of the House has paid us the compliment of never acquiring the buried-behind-the-newspaper-at-breakfast habit, and as he insists that only animals feed and that H 'AKD NOW TO BREAKFAST I 69 humans should be able to take their meals leisurely, conversation flourishes and the day starts out with merriment and good comradeship. To carry out the yellow and white color scheme I should, of course, insist upon a morning diet of eggs. Alas! My men folk refuse to be laid upon the sacrificial altar of my love of color and demand the prosaic chop — cut double thickness and cooked in a paper bag — or Hamburg steak, with which they enjoy a crisp little sausage; corned beef hash which is moistened with beef stock before browning, or perhaps broiled fish or calf's liver. This latter dish has acquired popularity since we have had it cooked in the following way: Cut a pound of calf's liver into slices and cover with boiling water; drain; wipe with cloth and chop fine. Melt a heaping tablespoon of butter in a saucepan and add three tablespoons of boiling water; into this put the liver, cover, and let simmer one hour, stirring occasionally. Season with paprika and salt, mix thoroughly and serve on rounds of toast. This is a particularly delectable dish to serve with baked potatoes. Creamed finnan haddie is also delicious with potatoes; then sometimes, when the family craves fish, I pile flakes of snowy boiled cod, haddock or halibut on a platter, give it a liberal, very liberal, covering of cream sauce, over that sprinkle buttered crumbs, and brown it in the oven. When it emerges piping hot it is a dish which would tempt the most exacting. Chipped beef and cream is an easily prepared offering, and when the beef is cut very fine with scissors and the whole concoction poured around a mound of scrambled eggs, it appeals even to the hypercritical. If there is a left-over of rare roast beef it is cut in thick slices, delicately broiled, seasoned with salt, pepper, melted butter and finely chopped parsley, and is served with corn fritters and cosily curled up strips of bacon. To make the corn fritters, beat one egg till light; add one cup of corn pulp — canned or fresh — and one-third cup of milk. Sift one-half cup of pastry flour, one-half teaspoon of baking powder, one-half teaspoon of salt, and beat AND NOW TO BREAKFAST I 61 thoroughly into first mixture. Fry as griddle cakes.