Some might consider sugaring flowers 'too fancy,' but not Elsie Swann- every cake she made carried some sort of beautiful flower or herb from her garden, whether it was candied rose petals or pansies, or fresh mint or lavender sugar.

'It's only when you try to get too fancy do you find trouble,' Elsie was fond of saying, letting Nellie lick the buttercream icing from the beaters as she did. 'With lemon frosting and some violets from the garden I sugared.' Her mother had often made the cake for social gatherings, telling Nellie everyone appreciated a simple cake. “My mom's Busy Day Cake,' Nellie said, lifting the carrier slightly. The pages were polka-dotted in brown splatters and drips, evidence it had not sat forgotten on a shelf the way cookbooks would in Alice's kitchen.” Whoever this Elsie Swann was, she had clearly used the cookbook regularly. Comments like Eleanor's 13th birthday-delicious! and Good for digestion and Add extra butter. Through the middle were recipes for Pork Pie, Jellied Tongue, Meat Loaf with Oatmeal, and something called Porcupines- ground beef and rice balls, simmered for an hour in tomato soup and definitely something Alice never wanted to try- and plenty of notes written in faded cursive beside some of the recipes.

Opening to a page near the back, Alice found another chart, this one titled Standard Retail Beef Cutting Chart, a picture of a cow divided by type of meat, mini drawings of everything from a porterhouse-steak cut to the disgusting-sounding 'rolled neck.' Across from it, a page of tips for housewives to avoid being overwhelmed and advice for hosting successful dinner parties. Going through the first few, age-yellowed pages, Alice glanced at charts for what constituted a balanced diet in those days: milk products, citrus fruits, green and yellow vegetables, breads and cereals, meat and eggs, the addition of a fish liver oil, particularly for children. There was an inscription on the inside cover. Resting the spine on her bent knees, the cookbook dense yet fragile in her hands, Alice opened it carefully. Alice tilted her head as she read across, down, across, and up the cover's edges. Bordering the cookbook's cover were hints of what could be found inside. The cover was red with a subtle crosshatch pattern and distressed, the book's title stamped in black ink- all of it faded with age.

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