The French cook holds no brief against vanilla, and sometimes he flavors his rice pudding with it, but he so guides matters that the very sight or mention of rice pudding does not bring the thought of vanilla to the mind, for with him it may be flavored with pistache or rose or have a geranium leaf baked in it, giving a delightful, indescribable flavor. An ordinary bread pudding becomes veritably a queen of puddings as, indeed, it is called, merely by having a layer of jam through its center and a simple icing spread over the top. Ordinary pea soup exhibits chameleon-like possibilities merely through the addition of a little celery-root, a dash of curry or the admixture of a few spoonfuls of minced spinach, and tomato soup has for most an appeal that even this favorite of soups never had before when just the right amount of thyme is added while it simmers, along with, perhaps a bayleaf. In the recipes appended to the little dinners in this book a great many of the French cooks' materials and methods of procedure are set forth. But if the ordinarily experimental American housewife has the flavorings on hand, she will doubtless herself contrive many an alluring dish of her own. Variety is said to be the spice of life. However that may be, the spices and their friends, the herbs, certainly make for variety in that important function of life, the dinner table. TRUE TRAILS TOWARD ECONOMY In the first place, no trail toward economy in conducting the cuisine of a household lies through the delicatessen store or the "fancy" grocery. It is an unflattering comment on the spirit of thrift of American housewives that the delicatessen store has settled down to such a flourishing existence, particularly in Eastern cities. Any woman who possesses a stove and a kitchen of her own should be ashamed to admit the laziness that more than a semi-occasional visit to these "delicate eating" places predicates. There are few things to be had in them that she shouldn't be able to make better at home and at a cost that is but a fraction of what she has to pay for the usually inferior, impersonal messes that come ready-made. If the housewife has read some of the very excellent instructions that were printed to help her conduct her household adequately amid the necessary limitations of wartime, she already knows that there is absolutely no excuse for ever throwing away a crust or crumb of bread. As for that, neither is there any excuse for ever disposing of what is left of the morning cereal except to the advantage of some later made dish, or of consigning meat scraps or bits of fat or even bones to the garbage pail. It is not only that, in the interests of economy, she should use them; it is rather that if she is a good cook she will be very glad to have them to use.