Recalling the years in a busy kitchen.

Byline: HOME COOKING By Randi Bjornstad The Register-Guard

Now 92 and living in a retirement center in Eugene, Lora Mae Ellingsworth doesn't do a lot of cooking anymore.

But it's easy to imagine her in the kitchen, effortlessly putting together a company meal, as she did frequently during the 24 years when she and her husband, William Ellingsworth Sr., ran the Ellingsworth's Store for Men in downtown Eugene and during their retirement years afterward.

Easy, too, to imagine the grace with which she did it all and earned the accolades - in the form of dozens of thank-you notes she still treasures - for her hostessing skills.

Straight and slender, wearing a teal dress and matching shoes with jade earrings and pendant, her white hair in an immaculate up-do, Ellingsworth reveled on a recent morning in the memory of favorite recipes from years gone by - ginger steamed pudding, lemon sherbet, luscious lasagna, creamy creme caramel.

Cooking experience: She's been cooking for family and entertaining guests at luncheons and dinners for well over a half-century.

Ellingsworth keeps volumes of calendars filled with dates, times, guest lists and menus, chronicling her busy entertainment schedule.

"I started doing that so I wouldn't prepare the same food again if I invited the same guests to dinner," she says.

For example, on March 9, 1983, she greeted her guests at 6:30 p.m. They had Scallops St. Jacques as an appetizer; a main course of roasted chicken accompanied by rice with condiments of fresh coconut, slivered almonds, chives, chutney, ginger, currants and grapes; side dishes of peas and cranberry molded salad; and fudge pie and coffee for dessert.

"I wish I could still do those things," Ellingsworth says wistfully. "I loved to entertain."

She hasn't cooked much since her husband of nearly 66 years died in 1998, she said.

Biggest cooking success "I remember one thing that made my heart happy - I learned how to make chocolate leaves," Ellingsworth recalls. "I went outside and got some long slender leaves with deep ridges."

After washing and drying the leaves, she spread them with melted chocolate and let them set in the refrigerator. Then she peeled the real leaves away and arranged the chocolate ones on a white-topped cheesecake.

"When I put it on the table, you should have heard the oohs and aahs," she says.

"Everyone wanted to know if they could eat them, and they kept raving and raving - I just kept feeling taller and taller."

Another high point: Cooking dinner for renowned pianist Van Cliburn and his mother, when the musician came to Eugene to perform at McArthur Court.

Before construction of the Hult Center in the 1960s, Ellingsworth said, she belonged to a group instrumental in bringing performing artists to Eugene and seeing to their comforts - including meals - during their visits.

Biggest cooking failure: Nothing comes to mind. However, "No one can cook and not have things turn out better one time than another," Ellingsworth says. "But I don't remember ever making anything that absolutely couldn't be served."

Favorite cookbooks: She has her own collection of a lifetime of favorite recipes - from cookbooks, newspapers, magazines, relatives and friends - gathered together by her daughters and others, filling looseleaf notebooks and spiral-bound volumes.

Why this recipe: This is the recipe Ellingsworth's longtime friend, Virginia Gillmore of Yachats, mentioned when she nominated her for home cooking honors, although she also commented on Ellingsworth's widespread "reputation as a good cook and hostess."

"An invitation from her was always a delight to look forward to," Gillmore wrote.

"Her parties were a delight - she entertained with a simple grace and elegance enjoyed by all."

The mustard served as a token of affection.

"For family and friends, her gifts of homemade mustard in pretty little jars were truly gourmet," Gillmore said.

Champagne Mustard

9 tablespoons dry mustard 

1 cup sugar

3 tablespoons flour

5 eggs, beaten

1 cup apple cider vinegar

1 cup Champagne

Dash of Tabasco sauce

2 tablespoons butter

Mix dry mustard, sugar and flour together in the top of a double boiler or a heavy saucepan.

Beat the eggs well and add to the flour mixture, along with the vinegar, Champagne and Tabasco sauce.

Cook over boiling water if using a double boiler or low heat if using a saucepan. Stir constantly until mixture becomes thick; this will take a long time.

Remove from heat; add butter and stir to melt.

Sterilize several small jelly-type jars and lids by submerging them in boiling water for several minutes. Invert on a clean towel and let dry.

When mustard has cooled, pour into jars and cover. Store in refrigerator.

Yields about 2 cups of mustard.

To nominate a cook for this feature, send mail to Home Cooking, P.O. Box 10188, Eugene, OR 97440; fax [phone]; contact Randi Bjornstad at 338-2321 or [phone], ext. 2321; or e-mail [e-mail]. Include the nominee's name and phone number, your name and phone number and what makes your choice an interesting cook.