The Washington times., 1919-11-08
When Company
Comes
BY Loretto G. Lynch.
An authority ON Matters Pertain-
ing to the Management of

An autnorrty on Matters Pertain
ing to the Management of
the Home.
livery young housewife comes
to a time when the man of
the house brings home unex-
pectedly a guest or two for din
ner. And If one is not prepared for
the emergency and is some distance
from the stores, embarrassment is
sure to follow unless one has been
wise enough to plan for just this
sort of thing.
= select a shelf in the cupboard,
line it with paper and keep 1t sac
redly, as an emergency shelf. Put
into box your best company table
cloth, six napkins and your best
table ,doilies. Have a few cans of
evaporated milk, soup, some peas,
corn. asparagus or any other vege-
tables. Canned tomatoes and cam
ned tomato soup lend themselves
to many manipulations in cooking,
and might well be found on any
emergency shelf.
Canned chicken, mushroom, pi-
mentos, salmon. tuna, shrimp. lob
ster, or crab offer a number of pos
sibilities.
1t is advisable to have a package
OF soda biscuit and sweet crackers
as well as a package OF prepared
flour and a glass or two OF sliced
bacon. There should be a few cans
OF fruit and glass or two Of jam.
Salted almond in glass and bottled
olives always lend a festive touch
to any company meal A small con-
tainer OF prepared marshmellow
whip will often turn an ordinary
dessert into a real company one.
One particularly efficient young
housewife / know goes so far as to
keep two or three guest towels and
a bit Of untouched soap as well as
a big coverall apron on this shelf.
She tells me she can prepare a COM
pany dinner for four on a moments
notice and cook and serve il within
half an hour. She is always careful.
however, to replace each thing
from this shelf next day, and in
this way she is never caught short.
She has half a dozen company
menus on cards so that there isn't
even a moment lost in planning.
Here is one of her company dinners:
Chilled olives. Salted almonds.
Cream of Celery Soup.
Raked Chicken PIE.
Rice. Green peas.
Asparagus salad.
Peaches with marshmallow whip.
Sweet crackers
Coffee.
When she had fresh milk on hand
she used it. Two cups OF evaporated
milk and another cup of water were
added to the canned celery soup and
the whole heated with lump OF
butter and a little salt and pepper.
Canned chicken cut into irregular
pieces and mixed with mushrooms,
a little grated onion and couple OF
cups of well-seasoned white sauce.
were the foundation for the chicken
pie. The mixture was placed in
individual casserole dishes, a bis
cult crust made by rubbing ia
blespoon of butter into a half cup
of prepared flour and moistenlng
the mass to soft dough was pat
ted out and placed over each pie.
Ten or twelve minutes is enough
for these in hot oven. A few
leftover cold boiled potatoes may
be diced and added to the pie filling.
BY painting over the top of the
crust with milk before baking an
appetizing brown color is quickly
obtained.
As to management-it is best to
put to boil a large tea kettle of wa
ter first. Open the cans and empty
the contents into china dishes to
air. Wash and put the rice to boil.
Lay the table. Prepare the biscuit
dough. Make and put TO bake the
pies. Prepare and set to table the
dessert. Heat the peas and make
the soup. Serve the soup and start
the coffee. BY tho time you return
to the kitchen with the soup plates
the coffee will be ready. The rest
of the dinner is easily served and
does not necessitate the hostess
leaving the table but perhaps once
for the coffee