What do you want for supper?

If that question was asked the major cook in a home, the answer would probably be, "I want ideas for what to have." If the question was aimed at the breadwinner the answer might be, "Oh, just anything. I'm not very hungry."

If you are eating out, you will have to be more specific about your wants. The Menu is designed to help you make this decision. Often you will have a favorite dish that you order in specific restaurants.

Perhaps the reason for the indecision in "ordering" at home is we don't want to choose something that is too hard to prepare, or for something that would require another trip to town for one or more of the ingredients.

When the majority of the populations lived on farms we had a simple plan for the meals. Breakfast was served hot, maybe after the cows were milked or maybe before that chore was started. The breakfast would have biscuits and gravy or eggs and either bacon or sausage and pancakes. The meal at the middle of the day was called dinner and was the biggest meal of the day. The menu would consist of a meat, potatoes, two vegetables, bread, butter, jelly, milk or coffee or iced tea, either pie or cake. In season you would have also either sliced tomatoes, wilted lettuce or slaw. Supper was usually leftovers from dinner.

In those days entrees were never pizza, rarely spaghetti (except in Italian homes), and soft drinks were not kept in family homes or served with meals. Between meal snacks were popcorn, homemade fudge. And maybe a slice of bread and butter.

In my early married life we always had electricity so we usually had a small compartment in the refrigerator where you could keep ice cream. In Washington, D.C., where we lived in the winter there was a small business district about a half -mile from our home. I would volunteer to take the walk over to buy the ice cream and we would enjoy imagining the plates with the square of orange sherbet, vanilla ice cream and chocolate cake sliced in 10 pieces for a treat.

Today when I am caught having guests I didn't prepare for, I can call one of my daughters to stop and bring home some pizza. If that doesn't work she could always bring a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken. If you take it out of the bucket and put it on a platter, who can tell?

My mother made wonderful cakes and pies. I didn't get that gift from her. I buy wonderful cakes and pies. Then the Deli in the grocery stores have great salads so I feel that the money I work to earn, spent to feed visitors is as good as growing a garden and cooking all morning or afternoon.

The wonderful people who have brought meals to us since I have been puny, the considerate women who let me know when something has a lot of onions in it that they brought to a Fellowship Dinner, those who have driven us for important appointments since my doctors tell me I shouldn't drive and those who call or stop by to say "Hi" have found exactly what we want for supper.

We enjoy comfort food and those who bring comfort with them in their presence and conversation.

Many thanks to each of you.