Auntie Ruth was Granddaddy’s older sister – a kindergarten teacher and the darling of all the tots in the family. She passed down the one truly infallible cure for hiccups, time-tested in all her decades of dealing with five-year-olds: ten swallows of water, with no pauses for breath or anything else. She also was a wonderful cook who turned out perfect, elegant meals in the cubbyhole-sized kitchen of her studio apartment in the Robert Frost building on the Plaza.

• 12 slices bread
• 6 tablespoons butter
• ½ pound mushrooms, sliced
• 1 ½ cups cheddar cheese, shredded
• 6 eggs
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 cups milk
• 1 ½ teaspoons dry mustard
• ½ teaspoon paprika
• ½ cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon onion flakes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter bread and cut into inch-wide strips; spread on bottom of buttered baking dish. Sauté the mushrooms in butter, then spread mushrooms and cheese over bread. Beat eggs until blended, then stir in remaining ingredients. Pour egg mix over bread; bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

from Ruth Helen Marshall