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 Hey it’s Chris,   One week before the last week of summer.   So far, 2020 has been a bag of tricks.   Plague. Fires. Riots. A double hurricane.   I watched LOST IN SPACE on Netflix not so long ago and thought, man, what a cascade of complications.  (The first episode is a master study of building problem upon problem in a plot!)   Then 2020 happened and I thought, geez, who the hell is writing this year?!?   We still have four months to go and I’ve got 40 plans for you, but I’m starting to think about Christmas.   What’s happening between now and then?   What else can complicate the plot?   Rigged elections? Urban warfare on the streets? Genetic mosquitos released in the Everglades carrying tracking chips to modify our DNA?   The prepper bone in my body is quivering, thinking it’s time to refresh the stockpile of rice and beans and add a few more rounds to the old ammo dump.   But then I read about Amazon.   Love ‘em or hate ‘em, (and boy, do I love ‘em) they have an eye on the futur

  STRAWBERRY TARTLETS     Work into a dough ½ pound of flour, ¼ pound sugar, 1 tablespoonful of butter, 2 whole eggs, and a little salt.   Cut the dough to oval or round tartlet forms, have them baked in moderate oven, and after they are cooled down fill out the bottom of the tartlets with custard (Crème Patissière).  Cover the cream entirely with a layer of selected fresh whole strawberries, and apply, with a decorating brush, lightly diluted red currant jelly; spray the top with finely chopped pistachio nuts.    

  SUPRÊME OF CHICKEN    Take the breast of a four-pound roasting chicken (stuff very lightly with a filling made of chicken, cream and fresh mushrooms mixed with white of egg) and have it poached in butter and chicken broth.  After being done remove the suprême and have the sauce reduced to one-quarter of its volume, then incorporate first one tablespoonful of sweet butter and add six finely chopped French shallots, one-half glass of white wine, two spoonsful of brown sauce (demi-glacé), season well with pepper and salt, let it cook for about three minutes, and strain through fine sieve.   Dish suprême on a fried canape cut to shape and sauce it.    

  BRAN MUFFINS   Judge Lindsey’s favorite recipe is one for Bran Muffins, as follows:       1 pint milk     1 egg     ½ pound wheat flour     ¾ pound bran flour     2 tablespoonsful molasses     2 ounces pecan meats (½s or ¼s)     2 ounces sugar     2 ounces butter     ¼ ounce salt     2 ounces Sultana raisins     1 ounce baking powder   Sufficient for 18 muffins.   Bake 30 minutes in well-heated oven.   Add pecans or rasins to the mix for a sweet delight.      

  PANDOWDY   In a quart pudding dish arrange alternate layers of sliced apples and bits of bread; place on each layer dots of butter, a little sugar, and a pinch each of ground cinnamon, cloves and allspice.   When the dish is filled, pour over it half a cupful each of molasses and water, mixed well; cover the top with bread crumbs.   Place the dish in a pan containing hot water, and bake for three-quarters of an hour, or until the apples are soft.   Serve hot, with cream or any light pudding sauce.   Raisins or chopped almonds are sometimes added.        

  CORN CHOWDER   1 package bacon 1 large onion 2 cans corn 1 can condensed milk     Cut the bacon up into small half inch squares and start it frying. Simultaneously slice the onions and give them the heat on the bottom of the pan. Once the onions are browned, add the corn and bacon and stir in the milk. Cook off the liquid to the consistency to taste.        

RICE PUDDING       1 cup rice     4 cups milk     3 eggs     ½ cup sugar     1 teaspoonful salt     1 package seedless raisins     1 teaspoon of vanilla   Bake one hour in a hot oven. Set the pan inside of another containing hot water.   Serve with whipped cream and garnish with Dromedary dates.  

WAFFLES       2 eggs     2 tablespoons sugar     2 tablespoons butter     1 teaspoon salt     1 pint milk     flour to make thin batter     2 large teaspoons of baking powder   Beat yolks of eggs, add sugar and salt, melt butter, add milk and flour; last just before ready to bake add beaten whites of eggs and baking powder.   Bake on hot waffle iron.

SPAGHETTI   Take one package of vermicelli or spaghetti, and put it into a saucepan, crushing it in the hand, then put in hot water, and salt a little more than will suit the taste, and boil for an hour.   While the vermicelli or spaghetti is cooking, take a quart of milk and heat three-quarters—or 24 ounces—of it until it boils. Then stir into the eight ounces of cold milk a level cupful of flour, or two tablespoonfuls of flour, pretty well heaped, and then stir the thickened milk into the boiling milk and cook slowly for ten minutes.   Then add three-quarters of a pound of good, ripe, old American cheese, and about half a pound of butter. Then drain the water off the vermicelli or spaghetti and put in from one and one half pints to a quart of canned tomatoes. Heat the vermicelli or spaghetti to the boiling point; and while the mixture of cheese, butter, milk and flour is still hot, stir the two together, then keep hot and serve hot. Do not boil any

ONION CLAM CHOWDER   To each 10 oz. can of Pioneer Brand Minced Clams use 1 pound of sliced Spanish or white onion.   For a good sized chowder take six large onions (white), and cut in lengths one inch long. Pour the juice from the clams into saucepan, add onions and a little water and boil thoroughly until onions are well cooked and soft. Then add clams which have been taken out of the can and put into a dish, and stew five minutes before onions are done.   Next place in a stew pan about a pint of cream or half cream and half milk and let come to a boil.   After the clams have been in with the onions for about three minutes pour on the hot milk and season to taste with salt and pepper.   If serving in a soup plate, a little chopped parsley adds to the attractiveness of the dish. Then EAT it. (You can substitute for fresh milk or cream—Carnation Canned Milk diluted— ⅔ milk to ⅓ water. The soup should be thick and not too watery. This can be r