November 4, 1944 The Dames Cause Jitters, Gingerbread In the Oven and Chicken and Dumplings

Dear Mother & Daddy,

"We are fine and I hope you both are feeling better.  Today is gloomy and awfully foggy.  B has gone to school.  Yale has started now and he's taking one class on Saturday.  It is in elementary education and he's never had any so he's going to take it this year.  He reads all of the time for his dissertation.  My school work is coming along as usual.  Some of the children left and now there are only four so I'm going to go only two or three times a week.

The Dames are coming here Monday night so we can go over our plans for our big meeting Wednesday evening.  It gives me the jitters every time I think of having to make a speech that night.  This afternoon I'm going to look for a new black dress for the occasion.  Maybe that will give me a little more courage.

We saw in the Mirror that you found a ring.  Whose was it and what kind was it?  We've been curious ever since we saw the ad.

Thanks a lot for the points.  Unrationed meat is pretty hard to find.

Whose child is it that's getting those spots?  The doctor is Leroy Heimburger and he's in the medical arts building and has the same waiting room as Dr. Cheek.  Maybe if they take the little girl soon enough it can be stopped with thyroid.

Your chicken and dumplings really sound good.  I have a gingerbread in the oven.

Halloween in New Haven was real quiet.  Our doorbell wasn't rung a time and last year the kids tormented us good.  There were only a few little kids dressed up in the afternoon.  I gave my kids a little party.

Horace has been reclassified and put on inactive duty.  He is to stay in Alabama where they have been and we're all thrilled to death because he was practically on his way overseas.

I ordered some fur-lined gloves for myself and some hankies for B and they are real nice.

Tell Beulah I got her letter and will answer it as soon as I can."

                                    Lots of love,

                                             B & Bonnie

 Warm Honey Gingerbread

 Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 13"x 9" pan.  Sift together 2 c. flour, 1/4 tsp. baking soda, 1-1/2 tsp. baking powder, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. ginger, 1 tsp. cinnamon, 1/2 tsp. cloves and 1/8 tsp. nutmeg.
Cream 1/2 c. butter till light and lemon colored.  Gradually add 1/2 c. brown sugar.  Beat till light and fluffy.  In separate bowl, beat 2 large eggs till like whipped cream.  Add eggs to butter-sugar mixture in 3 parts.  Beat well.  Add a fourth of the dry ingredients and blend.  Add 3/4 c. honey and beat till smooth.  Beat in the rest of the dry ingredients.  Add 1/2 c. boiling water and stir to blend.  Pour in plan and bake 25-30 min. or till it tests done--till knife in the center comes clean. 

Chicken and Dumplings

Put a chicken, salt and pepper in a large pot with about 5 cups of water.  Bring to boil, lower heat, cover and simmer until chicken is tender and falls off the bones.  Remove chicken from the pot and bone it.  Return it to the pot and season as needed.  Mix together 1-1/2 c. flour, 1 tsp. baking powder and 1/4 tsp. salt.  Add 2 eggs and mix into a sticky dough.  Bring chicken and broth to a boil, drop in dough by tablespoon, cover pot and reduce heat.  Cook about 5-10 min. until dumplings are light and fluffy.