BREAKFAST IN BED.

Otago Witness, Issue 4029, 2 June 1931, Page 59

BREAKFAST IN BED.

Breakfast in bed is the treat' kept in store for when we are ill or when we are staying . with . sympathetic friends! What far-seeing people those friends are who say: “ Now, you stay in bed for breakfast, dear. I know’ how hard you work all the week!” With what a gloating heart and sense of real anticipa. tion do we slip between our sheets! No need to hurry, no need to bother. Breakfast in bed-. What bliss! Yet what a mixed pleasure it often is! The tray is laid charmingly, perhaps, but the food is cold. Your hostess does not take sugar, and she forgets yours: she does not like mustard with' bacon, and omits this item for you. This sounds rather as if one is “ looking a gift horse in the mouth.” But it is only to ensure that you will serve your friends more thoughtfully. Let breakfast in bed be the pleasure it is meant to be. Especially if, as is often the case, you prefer your guest out of the w’ay first thing in the morning! Let us, then,' consider the essentials of a perfect breakfast in bed. First of all, if you are in the habit of giving people their breakfast in bed, you will find special breakfast sets an economy. This need not be an expensive matter. Keep to one colour and buy everything from one of the cheap stores. Green, orange, or yellow are good, bright breakfast colours. Blue is also good, providing it is not too bright and crude. The others, however, suggest sun, a nice suggestion in the morning. Add to this a little matching check tray-cloth and napkin, or in white or something to tone, if you prefer, but see that it is always spotless, and see that your teapot is a good pourer, or the cloth will not remain spotless for long If you have had much illness in the house you will have a proper bed-tray; otherwise a good strong tin tray whose homeliness may be covered, or one of the new stripped wood trays, or the coloured, unmarkable cellulose trays will serve your purpose. If you use these see that a bedside table is also handy, and that the tray is propped up adequately. Breakfast in bed can be so uncomfortable when it is a matter of balancing a heavy tray on one’s legs!

Only the hungriest will want a hot breakfast in bed, so make inquiries first. Toast, butter, marmalade, and fruit W’ith good tea or coffee, will be all that most people want. Add a small plate of fruit, or at least an orange or apple, in any case. _ It will brighten the tray no end. And if it is for an invalid add a flower, if you can find one, or even a tiny vase of flowers. You may say that when people are ill they do not notice these things. True that, at their w’orst, they may be too ill to take an interest, but often enough when people are ill their susceptibilities are sharpened; that is why they are so sensitive to sound and the things or people they do not like. Daintiness and refinement in surroundings are probably appreciated at such times even more than others. Besides, the jaded appetite needs to be tempted. Finally, keep an extra pillow or cushion or two handy for the one who breakfasts in bed. See that they are sitting up comfortably and have some-

thing round them to keep them warm. You will realise that it is a little difficult for them to rise from their couch to fetch dressing-gown or jacket once you have planted their breakfast firmly on their knees! Besides, you may as W’ell do the job properly. And for myself, as a last touch to the perfect breakfast in bed, I would add a morning .paper. But that perhaps is asking too much!—Answers.