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ed, on which the nuptial sheet was spread,<br />
and offered up this prayer: "Lord, this is not<br />
lust or lewdness but to make a child to serve<br />
you.<br />
Tita never dreamed that it had taken so long<br />
for the ill-fated marriage to be consummated.<br />
It didn't make any difference to her whether it<br />
was after the wedding or any other day. Tita<br />
was more worried about saving her skin than<br />
about anything else.<br />
The night of the wedding reception she had<br />
gotten a tremendous hiding<br />
from Mama Elena, like no beating before or<br />
since. She spent two weeks<br />
in bed recovering from her bruises. What<br />
motivated such a monstrous<br />
punishment was Mama Elena's conviction<br />
that Tita, in league with<br />
Nancha, had deliberately ruined Rosaura's<br />
wedding by mixing an emetic<br />
into the cake.<br />
Tita was never able to convince her that she<br />
had only added one extra<br />
ingredient to the cake, the tears she had<br />
shed while preparing it. Nor<br />
could Nancha testify on her behalf: on the<br />
day of the wedding, when<br />
Tita went looking for her, she found Nancha<br />
lying dead, her eyes wide<br />
open, medicinal leaves upon her temples, a<br />
picture of her fiance'<br />
clutched in her hands.<br />
TO BE CONTINUED Next month's recipe.<br />
Quad in Ro Petal Sauce.<br />
CHAPTER THREE.<br />
MARCH.<br />
Quail in Poe Petal Sauce INGREDIENTS.<br />
12 roB, prefrrably re 12 chtnut 2 teaoooiw<br />
butter 2 teaipoonJ<br />
coriutarch 2 orB attar of ron 2 tabkpoo anue<br />
2 tabpoon honey 2 cloy<br />
yarlic squad 1 pitaya<br />
PREPARATION: Remove the petals carefully<br />
from the roses, trying not to prick your<br />
fingers, for not only are the little wounds<br />
painful but the petals could soak up blood<br />
that might alter the flavor of the dish and<br />
even produce dangerous chemical reactions.<br />
How could Tita remember such a thing,<br />
shaken as she was to get a bouquet of<br />
roses, and from Pedro besides. It was the<br />
first deep emotion she had felt since her<br />
sister's wedding, when she had heard Pedro<br />
confirm his love, trying to hide it from<br />
everyone's prying eyes.<br />
Mama Elena's eyes were as sharp as ever<br />
and she knew what would happenif Pedro<br />
and Tita ever got the chance to be alone. As<br />
a result, she had resorted to staging the most<br />
amazing acts of prestidigitation, always<br />
managing to pull off her trick of keeping them<br />
out of each other's sight and reach, until<br />
today. She had let one little thing slip past<br />
her: with Nancha dead, Tita was the best<br />
qualified of all the women in the house to fill<br />
the vacant post in the kitchen, and in there<br />
flavors, smells, textures, and the effects they<br />
could have were beyond Mama Elena's iron<br />
command.<br />
Tita was the last link in a chain of cooks who<br />
had been passing culinary secrets from<br />
generation to generation since ancient times,<br />
and she was considered the finest exponent<br />
of the marvelous art of<br />
cooking.<br />
Naming her official ranch cook was a popular<br />
decision with everyone.
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