The fun of cooking

^^ Lovely I'' exclaimed his mother, and then added, with a merry twinkle in her eyes, * *you '11 be a great cook yet, Jack 1 ' ' This was the receipt Jack had used to make them : CHEESE DREAMS (Six large sandwiches) 12 slices of bread, eut half an inch thick. 12 thin slices of cheese. 1 pinch of soda, cayenne pepper, and salt for each slice. Put together like sandwiches, and then cut into rounds. Heat a frying-pan very hot, melt a teaspoonful of butter in it, and lay in two or three sandwiches ; when one side is brown, turn it over and cook the other; take from the pan and lay in the oven in a pan on a paper till all are ready. Of course Jack had made more than six sand- wiches, for he knew everybody would want two apiece; so he had a great boxful, and it took him quite a little time to fry them all ; but it was just as well, for Mildred and her mother had to make the oyster stew, which was to be eaten first. OYSTER STEW 1 pint of oysters. % pint of water. 1 quart of rich milk. ^ teaspoonful of salt. Drain the juice off the oysters and examine each to remove any pieces of shell that may still adhere to it; add the water to the oyster juice, and boil one minute; skim this well. Heat the milk and add to this, and when it steams, drop in the oysters and simmer just one minute, or till the edges of the oysters begin to curl; add the salt and take up at once; if you choose, add a cup of sifted cracker crumbs. **What is * simmer 'f asked Mildred, as she read the rule over. '* Just letting it boil a tiny little bit,^' said her mother, * * around the edges of the saucepan, but not all over. And here is the receipt for SCRAMBLED EGGS 1 egg for each person. 2 tablespoonfuls of milk to each egg. 2 shakes of salt. 1 shake of pepper. "Cheese Dreams" SUPPEE IN THE WOODS 39 Break the eggs in a bowl, beat them twelve times, then add the milk, salt, and pepper; heat a pan, put in a piece of butter the size of a hickory-nut, and when it is melted, pour in the eggs; stir them as they cook, and scrape them off the bottom of the pan; when they are all thick and creamy, they are done. **I have taken the rule for the stew three times over for twelve people, and I don't think it will be a bit too much; but as almost every one will want the cheese dreams, suppose we scramble only five eggs. * * You 'd better do that right away, for supper is almost ready. Brownie's potatoes are just done, and she can be filling the glasses with water, and putting on the butter and bread, and these two big dishes of honey to eat with the biscuits for the last course." While Mildred was cooking the eggs, Mother Blair put the oysters on the table, with the hot soup-plates and a generous supply of crisp oyster-crackers; the cheese dreams were done and in the oven, and Mildred covered the eggs and set the dish in the warming oven, and put the cocoa on the table in a chocolate pot. Then everybody sat down and began to eat. After the oyster stew was all gone, they had the hot cheese dreams and scrambled eggs and the stuffed potatoes and cocoa all at once ; and when those too had vanished, there were the little biscuits and the beautiful golden cloverhoney in the comb, and perhaps that was the very best of alL ** Never, never, did I eat anything so good as this supper 1 ' ' Father Blair said solemnly, as he ate his fourth biscuit. **That oyster stew — those potatoes — ^the cheese direams — " **What a greedy father !'* said Mildred. *^And you never said a word about the cocoa — ** **Nor about the scrambled eggs — *^ said Brownie, eagerly. **But I ate them all,'' said her father. **I ate everything I was given, and I should like to eat them all again I Next time we come, have twice as much of everything, won't you?"