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Show !! Keeping the American jj .ll Home Alive GETTY CROCKER f , A A A A AAA A A AAAAAAA A.AAAAAA AAt AAAAA A A A AAA A AAA AAA, , class" sitting In her living room making mak-ing notes of the suggestions that come over the radio and taking down my recipes. The New Home-Maksr. I do out believe there Is anything makes nie more happy than letter from one of these new bonie-makers telling me bow Interested shs Is In preparing attractive meals for her young husband. If It any wonder that 1 work hnrd to give theu recipes mat not only are correctly proportioned, but that are so clearly and definitely stated that they cannot go wrong wltb them? J am MiMiin lyjgy some of the dreary T misanthropists, who say X that homes are a thing of BBasaa the past because the mod-j mod-j era family never stays rtj C borne any mors, could read V r some of the thousands of 4jJ letters I receive every 31 week from my radio Tl friends snd cooking school BggU pupils. These letters are , written by women living tn cities, towns and vli:a?es, and on farms snd ranches sit the way from the Atlantic to the Pacific snd from tbe Oulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes. hoping that such recipes will prevent the old Joke about brtrVs biscuits from being real'stlc and not amusing realities. Instead, I wa.it the first attampt at baking wltb my rcplres to result In biscuits so light and tender that tbe young busband will be fairly bursting wltb pride over his bride's skill In baking. Times have changed since the days when girls stayed at home and learned to cook by helping their mothers with the bnklng. When those girls went into homes o..' their own hey usually were skillful cooks. They knew by looking at their cake batter whether It wns just right or nt and they could tell by the "feel" of their bread dough when they had added enough fioiir. Recipe which sold "flour to make a stiff dough" or just "flour" were perfectly satisfactory to them but to the bride of today such recipes are Greek. She needs very explicit directions di-rections abont measurements and amounts Therefore that ts one of the reasons why making my recipes jo definite that no one can be In doubt about them Is a bobby of mine, However, It Is not the new home-makers home-makers alone who tell me that they find IT1V rpffnM nil pnHft nnri ri a A clever mathematician, I am sure, would be able to discover that since I began broadcasting tin first women's service program over the radio back In 1024 I have received enough letters let-ters from American housewives to reach around tbe world several times. These letters give me a very definite picture tt the women who write them and their homes. In fact 1 like to think of them as pass keys which enable en-able ne to enter these homes and, unseen by the family, watch and heat what Is going on. It would be fun to rent the magic carpet from a certain band 01 radio slnjers and take these false prophets, who are dismally sounding the death knell of the American home, on a tour of the country silently unlocking doors and, bidding them enter with me. These pessimistic so us would be shocked to discover that fur every household of Jazz burnds there are thoosrnds of happy homes where father, mother, boys and girls gather 'round th supper or dinner table every night for a pleasant, cozy meal together, and that after dinner at least balf the family remain borne listening to the radio, reading, or discussing dis-cussing their affairs together. f would like to call attention to the food on the dinner table, too, for Instead In-stead of an Ill-chosen assortment that mother had grabbed up at tb corner delicatessen as she rushed home fro i her orldge club, we behold home-cooked home-cooked foods a delicious stew, pet-haps, pet-haps, with tasty vegetables or a salad, bread and butter with home-made Jam, and a dessert of l. or cake that mother baked herself. Not only will these cynics see these modern women actually getting breakfast, break-fast, dinner and luncheon or supper, but they will discover that they are deeply Interested In making their meals wholesome and attractive. They would find out, furthermore, that ithese women do not look upon their Job of getting three meals a day, 803 school lessons a lelp. Let os travel back across the mountains on our magic carpet to the prairies. Here tn a spaclons pleasant home In a Kansas Kan-sas city we meet a woman who Is radiantly happy because the devils food coke sho made with one of my recipes brought her the first prize at a county fa',. She bas been keeping house for ten or twelve years, but this Is the first time she has ever won a prize for skill In baking. In a New Jersey city we visit a women who telta us sh Is a grund-I grund-I mother, and that her children and grandchildren consld tr ber the world's best cook. Nevertheless she has m-rolled m-rolled In my cooking school over the air because she wants to keep up wltb new methods and Ideas tn baking. -uays in me year, as orau, monotonous drudgery; fur they realize that the physical and even to some extent the spiritual well being of their families depend on the kind of meals they eat and tbe regularity with which they are served. A Jolt for the Gloomy. My gloomy friends would have another an-other Jolt, too, for these happy Interested In-terested women who believe thnt home-making home-making la one of the noolest professions profes-sions In this world are not Just the women living In Isolated rural communities com-munities where the spirit of the Juzs age bas not penetrated, but In the congested apartment house districts of large cities there really are mure of them than of tbe othei kind who neglect neg-lect their homes and their children for the movies, bridge or golf. Here Is a letter that takes us Into a tiny apartment In a big seaport city. The father Is a sailor and away at sea most oi the time so this woman wom-an does not have to plan meals that will appeal to a ninn. She has three small children and herself only to consider. She wants to give cLem the food that will help tbem to grow up strong and sturdy, and she realizes that she must keep well and healthy herself Co care for them properly. Here Is her problem, the foods she gives them are not those she enjoys. She says she cannot eat "baby food" and asks me tt. suggest menus that will be suitable for tbe children and herself. Tbe next le'ter takes us to a comfortable com-fortable roomy farmhouse In Ohio. A young woman uome from college Is ' planning tbe silver wedding celebration celebra-tion for her father and mother. Friends and relatives are coming from distant states and she wants to make the occasion a remembered one. She Is asking me for a recipe for a huge cake and suggestions for decorating It appropriately. Learn Over the Radio. A young hotne-iaker In Georgia wants to learn how to moke doughnuts, dough-nuts, tiers, she says, are "like brickbats." brick-bats." In a Texas city, . a mother and daughter are "attending class" over the radio together. They are interested inter-ested tn learning about some new dainties to serve when they entertain their bridge clubs. I hope my cynical friends will observe thnt although these women do enjoy playing bridge, they can also cook, and they want to entertain their bridge friends at home and serve them with bome-cooked roods. - From up on tbe Iron Range In northern Minnesota comes . letter from a young woman who says she has Just started housekeeping and her family must Include relatives of her husband's, making a household of alx four adults and two children. She knows how to cook s few things well but they a-e so very few that she fears ber meals will become monotonous. monoton-ous. She hopes to get many suggestions sugges-tions and netr eel pes from my radio talks that will help ber. Right now she Is especially anxious to be able to make good chocolate cake. These ire only a few of tbe homes represented by tbe pile of 'etters right here on my desk, but they are representative repre-sentative of the letters I rend last week and Inst year, and of those I undoubtedly shall read next week and tbe weeks that follow. Gay letters, let-ters, pathetic letters, discouraged letters let-ters and brave letters from women In every part of the country who are deeply Interested In keeping happy, well-ordered homes foi their families. Surely these letters are a powerful challenge to Mr. and Miss Cynic who say that the American tome Is a thing of tbe past because tbe modern woman wom-an Is not interested in borne things. Our magic carpet next takes us to a newly furnished apartment In a big, hustling Mid-Western city. Tbe young bride Is so proud of her Immaculate tittle kitchen wltb all It. jhlulng new equipment She says 3he wants to learn bow to make ber husband's favorite fa-vorite dessert pumpkin pie and she Is determined that her ,ile crust shall be just as ttnder and flaky as bis mother used tc make for him. From this tall apartment building we are whisked away across the prairies and mountains to a California fruit ran b where there Is another bride Interested In learning to bak She wan r to make bread. If you please; and she tells us in glowing words bow she loves her new little . home up in the bills. She wuuld not be back In the city clicking a typewriter type-writer for anything in the world but there are so many, many things she needs to learn about cooking. She bas registered for mj radio cooking school and twice a week she "attends They also give me a very definite Idea of the problems the tousewife of today to-day Is facing and tbe kind of cooking Information she seeks It Is because of the many, many requests I have uad from them for menu suggestions that I am devoting one of my two radio ta'.s eacb wetk to the principles prin-ciples of menu building and meal planning. . In the radio cooking school lessons which I give In my other weekly talks I am trying to answer the questions I am adked most oftn about t aklng bread, ctkeS, pies, biscuits bis-cuits and cookies, Wltb each lesson I shall give a recipe which I hope my radio friends will feel Is practical and he kind of thing their fumllles will enjoy. To me It Is a wonderful privilege to be able to be of any service, however ! slight to these hundreds of thousands ; of American women, who quietly and unnoticed are keeping the American j home an alive and nourishing institution. |