... _ By Harriett Muir Come into the kitchen-- and forget about the war. That's the Christmas spirit on the Home Front this year. The Christmas cake will get its icing. Even if the brandy costs the eyes out of your head, as the poilu puts it, the plum pudding will come to table in its usual blaze of glory. And, of course, the children shall have their party. To these ends here are recipes which, ...

... The Best Dishes of Other Coimtries Cucina Italiana Alias Italian Cookery which is both diverse and delicious THERE are other things in Italy besides pictures, monu ments and Grand Opera, and even if you do not travel much, the cinema, Covent Garden and the Medici Galleries can teach us all we want to know about Italian Art. On the other hand, to appreciate fine Italian cookery I am afraid you ...

... 5 I Q_ j 1 LLI I j .oSELF-- FOOD By A H Adair ON this page I am giving a few recipes which will be useful for evening parties throughout the winter season. They are mostly intended for informal occasions on which there would be just a buffet supper. But they would do also for the kind of party where there is a constant supply of plates filled with odds and ends, both sweet and savoury. EGG ...

... SIMPLE DESIGN IN BUTTON-HOLE STITCH AND CUT WORK FOR A LUNCHEON-FOR- TWO SET OF TABLE MATS MATERIALS. Three quarters of a yard double ■width, old bleach ivory linen. Clark's Stranded Embroidery Cottons, using two threads. Pink Dark, 404 1 skein Medium, 497 1 Pale, 465 1 Green Dark, 498 1 Medium, 403 1 Pale, 496 1 Ivory 610 2 skeins The centre mat measures 13J ins. by 10£ ins. The place mat ...

... Curried dishes can be quite varied and easily adapted to take different places on the menu. First of all you must have a good curry basis, properly cooked, which you can use in many ways as I shall explain, dealing afterwards with a few soups and little savoury odds and ends. Curry Basis One onion, three or four shallots, clove of garlic. Curry powder, flour. Lemon juice, jam or sugar, salt. ...

... COOKING BY A. H. ADAIR We all know the kind of cocktail party which begins at six-thirty and ends-- well, when does it end? We have all suffered from our special friends who, having nothing better to do, simply won't go. Suffer is the wrong word. I always think the scratch meal after a cocktail party is the best part of a cocktail party. Now, what shall we give them to eat? With the cocktails ...

... Hmk fwi Since the rationing period began, we have been over whelmed with recipes for sweets which use no sugar. This is useful up to a point. But in most households the family sugar ration is so managed that a reasonable proportion of it goes into sweets. For which reason most of these recipes for sweets, while not causing you to be fecklessly prodigal with sugar, make no attempt to do without ...

... By Harriet Muir Now, more than ever, it is important to eat well, i _vA(Jl We have to see that our menus are healthily Ollf dd.ily diet S-Sl balanced that each day we get enough fuel to keep the body's engine ticking over nicely, and that we also get our daily quota of the vitamins and minerals that maintain it in good repair Menus Breakfast. Stewed figs bacon and fried bread oatcakes and ...

... Save Fuel Casseroles But you will say Casserole cooking is extravagant in fuel, because I need the oven. It certainly does waste fuel if you put the casserole in the oven, unless you have the oven going, anyway. But you can cook casserole dishes on top of the stove with an asbestos mat on the direct heat which must be kept really low. But unless you are sure, don't risk your casserole. Cook ...

... Bws S) o Cdn The secrets of successful stew- making are slow cooking and careful thickening fp A SPECIAL DINNER |f ni POTAGE GAULOISE 0 T Cut 1 large carrot and 1 large leek into thin slices; lightly brown them in 2 0z. of margarine, then stir in 1 0z. of flour and, finally, 3 pints of vegetable stock. Transfer to a saucepan and simmer for 1 hour with 1 1b. of potatoes, 1 onion, and a ...

... By Harriet Muir Tomato juice cocktail Sausage rolls Dandelion leaves salad with dressing Fresh fruit Curried biscuits The above menu was planned for hikers, bikers and people who hate carrying a lot of stuff around, and yet have ambitions beyond the classic sandwich-in-the-pocket. Take a small bottle of Heinz tomato juice, which can be drunk from your usual picnic drinking vessel. The salad ...

... There are only two ways of doing a thing, they tell you early in life, the right way and the wrong way. But, of course, I discovered later in life, they couldn't have meant cookery. Because when you start to cook you realise that in every process there are several right ways of doing a thing, each of which someone or other is always ready to tell you is wrong, and a quite bewildering variety ...