"It's the Bechamel sauce on it that you like, I suspect," said Bettina. "And it isn't at all hard to make. I serve it with so many things. We like it with carrots——"

"Oh, is it the very same sauce that you serve with carrots?" said Charlotte. "I can make it, Frank. I'll have it for dinner one of these days, with halibut, just as Bettina has served it tonight."

"There is only one thing to think about especially in making it," said Bettina. "After you have beaten the egg slightly, add a very little of the hot liquid to it, and then pour the mixture into the rest. Then cook it a short time, not long, as a sauce made with egg sometimes separates."

"I'll remember," said Charlotte. "You do have such good meals, Bettina. How do you manage it? Sometimes I can think of the best things to cook, and other days I don't seem to have a bit of imagination!"

"I plan my menu all out a week, and sometimes two weeks, ahead," said Bettina. "It is really quite a complicated process, as I want to have a variety, as well as inexpensive things that are on the market. Of course, I may change my plans in many details, but I keep to the general outline. Planning the meals seems simple, but it really requires a lot of thinking sometimes. Excuse me while I bring in the dessert. Bob, will you please help me take the plates?"

The menu that night consisted of:

Melt the butter, add the flour, salt and pepper, mix well, and gradually add the milk. Cook until it thickens. (Not as thick as white sauce for vegetables.) Add the egg yolk. Serve immediately.

To add egg yolk to the hot liquid, beat the egg slightly, add a small portion of the hot liquid slowly and pour it all into the remainder of the hot liquid. Cook only a short time, as the mixture may separate if cooked longer.

Add the salt to the boiling water, add the potatoes and boil till tender. (About ten minutes.) Drain and shake over the fire for a moment. Add the sauce, and serve.

Mix together, heat and add to the potatoes.

Pick over and wash the prunes, then soak for several hours in cold water, enough to cover. Cook slowly until soft, about fifteen minutes. Rub through a strainer. Add sugar and lemon juice and cook five minutes; the mixture should be the consistency of marmalade.

Beat the whites until stiff, add the prunes when cold, pile lightly into a buttered baking dish and bake twenty minutes in a slow oven. Serve with cream.