The Prodigal Parents by Sinclair Lewis

Cold ham, pineapple-and-cream-cheese salad, scalloped potatoes, tea, beer, vanilla ice cream with caramel sauce--it was a Cornplow family supper again, with Cornplow family food, at Howard's flat.

Before supper, Howard and he had what Fred would have called--would have called? He did call it that!--a heart-to-heart talk, taking refuge in the bedroom from the bustling domesticity of Hazel and Annabel and the stateliness with which Sara sat and read the New Yorker.