A voice came from the kitchen: "I don't care how hot it is. Everybody needs a nice, hot meal."

This was the philosophy of "Muz," the mother of a college friend who accompanied her daughter to the cottage on Vermont's quiet Lake Dunmore. She took over the kitchen as soon as she arrived. She always came to the cottage with supplies that would rival the local grocery, plus all her freshly baked pies and breads. She started cooking before 2 a.m. to have everything fresh before leaving her Peekskill, N.Y. home at 4 a.m. The long drive at a speedy 40 miles per hours always took most of the day.

We loved her and all her wonderful goodies. We could count on cherry pie, lots of cookies and cinnamon rolls.

"Everything that is supposed to be cold should be cold, and everything that should be hot better BE hot," she would repeat often during her stay.

Since she was commander of culinary arts on a supposed holiday, we all just followed her requests for assistance when given. We found some of the table settings in strange places. There were no glasses or glass salad plates in the cupboards. Ice cream dishes were also absent. The tableware was missing. The glasses had been put in the ice box next to the ice so that the iced tea would be really cold even though the glasses were filled to the rim with chipped ice before the liquid was poured.

Lettuce for salads always "stood up" better on the cold plates, Muz said. Since the homemade ice cream was softer than commercial ice cream, it melted more quickly when spooned from the round metal container of the crank freezer.

These special dessert dishes were placed directly on the block of ice in the top section of the ice box for maximum coldness.

When the glasses, plates and dessert dishes came to the table, they were frosty looking like the root beer glasses now served at the Cracker Barrel restaurant. The frosty look in elegant glass gave the sensation that the contents were very cold. That immediately made you feel cooler.

When it is as hot as it has been here in South Carolina this month, I follow the same system. My glasses from the refrigerator lose some of their sharp, frosty look before they get to the table. However, generous amounts of ice in the glass helps make a very cool drink seem even cooler.

Away from the table with a pillow at your back in a favorite rocker, a good book and a cool glass in hand, it is easier to forget the heat. Maybe a hot meal is good for the soul. But a really, really cold drink, salad or dessert rivals whirling fans and air conditioning. These pleasures defy the summer heat.

T&D Correspondent Bettylou R. Terry can be reached by phone at 803-793-3381. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

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