It was easy enough to provide myself with the materials for a capital dinner, only, unfortunately, in India at that time of the year the variety was so limited, that, whatever I selected, I might be sure that my guests had eaten of it very recently, and cooked far better than I could offer it to them. For the 60th Rifles have a famous mess, and I can testify that the mess of the Gordon Highlanders is excellent.
I was back at the hotel at eight, and after breakfast I had a confab with the khansamah. I gave him my little menu, and told him what I would cook and what he was to cook. I think that I can write out the menu now, it was one I so often fell back upon in the East:—
Sandwiches of caviare and hard-boiled eggs. Olives.
Tomato soup.
Salmon (tinned, of course). Cucumbers.
Beef-steak. Mushrooms (tinned). Grilled potatoes.
Fricassee of chicken livers and sweetbreads.
Roast pigeons with bread sauce and limes. Baked tomatoes.
Asparagus (tinned, but delicious).
Chicken curry.