to demonstrate the inconsistency to a trusting family. Some jokes, of necessity, must be enjoyed alone, though most pleasures are doubled by sharing.
Monday's disconsolate fried egg, Tuesday's tough and world-weary steak, Wednesday's sad lamb chop, Thursday's disappointing codfish ball, and Friday's stewed tomatoes, may all fulfil a designed destiny in Saturday's soup, to the inner satisfaction of the unsuspecting, and the secret amusement of the artist.
For cookery, when all is said and done, is an art, as Dionysius has it:
"Know on thyself thy genius must depend;
All books of cookery, all helps of art,
All critic learning, all commenting notes
Are vain, if void of genius thou wouldst cook."
A famous artist once told an inquiring guest that he mixed his paints with brains. Likewise, good cooking requires intelligence, talent, and inspiration. It is impossible to compose a successful salad with one's mind far afield upon alien subjects. To be both cook and writerine demands that the mind drive a tandem rather than a span. This philosophy is derived from actual experience with a gas-range and a typewriter.
