"COME TO DESSERT!"

Shannon News, 10 December 1926, Page 1

"COME TO DESSERT!"

A CHARMING FRENCH CUSTOM. (By Doreen Dawson.) One of the everyday experiences 1 most enjoy on my periodic visits to France is flic delightfully informal invitation from hospitable souls, not always overblessetl with this world's goods: \"Come to dessert!" It Is ; issued as naturally as the* 33nglishwoman's "Come and have a' c\jp of tea!" ' And is regarded as the same j plea'sant opportunity for congenial foregatherings and cosy chat —"sans | ceremonie." / j "Dessert" in. France is indeed very | much sort of thing as afternoon tea in England, save that coffee takes the place of the universal .brew,' and the hour is the evening instead of the' afternoon. But the fancy cakes are there, and the big creamfilled gateau as 'piece de resistance, or, in the case of a humbler menage, the beautifully-baked fruit tart made in the giant-sized "tortiere" that is part of every French household equipment. You have to behold one of those tarts to believe it! Its dimensions shout .Hospitality as it is borne to the table —great masses of juicy fruit in a thin case of miraculously light and flaky patisserie. In France, the coffee-drinking is usually preceded , unless funds arc very very, short, by a glass of white wine and a biscuit; and when funds are good, it is followed by a liqueur. But bless you, the French folk don't make a song about it when dessert happens occasionally to fall below 'their usual -standard! There is a 'smiling reference to the empty cellar and the high cost of living; but who cares when "that delicious aroma is arising from the stove where the coffee is brewing, and Madame is busy with a knife and that out-sized fruit tart! "Come to dessert" is such a simple, genial solution of the dinner problem. It is just a tacitly accepted feature of French economics that the household budget, even in comfortably-well-to-do middle-class homes, won't always run to elaborate repast's for a number of guests. But they are always welcome to time their casual calls to coincide with the arrival of dessert. The no.tion is well worth considera-

tion by women whose incomes have to be strictly apportioned, and for whom space, too, presents its own particular problem. And how often has the girl who puts in a bussy'day wished that afternoon tea might be a movable feast! Let her make it evening coffee instead, *and Viola! I prophesy that the "paW*' she cherishes most will respond with gratifying promptitude to her invitation 'a la franeaise: "Come to dessert!"