What was going on when I was born?

AT this time of year, when the American love affair with dessert seems to reach its zenith, the pastry chef becomes the most important person in the kitchen. To keep up with the demand for fruit cake, croquembouche, plum pudding, decorative butter cookies - all the treats associated with the holiday season - bakers are stoking their ovens full time. This seemed the perfect opportunity, then, to ask a few of the finest American bakers about their own favorite holiday desserts, the ones they like to serve to family and friends, and to have each baker explain how the treat is prepared. From traditionalists such as Albert Kumin, director of the International Pastry Arts Center in Bedford Hills, N.Y., came a crisp vacherin, a meringue ring filled with creamy chestnut mousse. Maurice Bonte, owner of one of New York's finest pastry shops, provided a Recipes are on page C8. velvety b^uche de No"el with its incredibly rich butter cream. And from John Clancy, for many years a leading teacher of baking in the city, came a buttery Christmas stollen brimming with plump raisins and fragrant with cardamom.

Late last month, a representative of the National Conference of Black Lawyers was reported to have pledged the organization's ''undying support for the Palestinian revolution.'' But, sensitive to what that meant to American Jews, David N. Dinkins - a leading black New York City politician who is a member of the group - publicly disavowed the pledge. In the last week, Jewish leaders have joined blacks on picket lines in New York and other cities to protest apartheid in South Africa. And today, after meeting regularly for a year, a group of black and Jewish leaders will outline proposals to ''revitalize the historic relationship between blacks and Jews,'' a relationship that the group said had ''suffered grievous strains'' in the last 10 years. ''Our aim is to disavow rhetoric that divides the black and Jewish communities and to focus on our mutual concerns and emphasize our many experiences of mutual support and assistance,'' the group said in a draft of its goals that is to be released today.

''An awful lot of people did not grow up marching together.'' - R. Peter Straus, on the tension between blacks and Jews. (B2:2.)

A panel of New York trial judges and legal experts called yesterday for the elimination of nearly all exemptions from jury service as part of an effort to cut in half the number of days jurors must serve in court. ''Our object should be the spread of the opportunity and the burden of jury service,'' said Chief Judge Lawrence H. Cooke of the State Court of Appeals. The judge, who organized the 15-member panel that submitted the recommendations, said, ''If we are to improve the administration of justice, we must have as many citizens as possible participating in the process.'' Members of both the panel and the State Legislature said the future of the proposal was uncertain.

Economists are on the defensive. The most recent victim is the Council of Economic Advisers, which President Reagan is considering abolishing. But while the council's possible demise appears to be more for political than economic reasons, economists everywhere have been carrying a heavy burden as their forecasts seem to stray further and further from the mark. At issue are the forecasts everyone would just as soon forget, the ones that call for higher interest rates just as rates begin edging downward or projections that the economy will keep sliding just as it begins spurting ahead. That was the case with the current recovery, recalls Frederick Deming, senior vice president and economist at the Chemical Bank; in late 1982 and early 1983, as the economy began to expand, most people still doubted that a recovery was imminent. The Council of Economic Advisers was among those who badly underestimated the economy's strength at that time. It predicted that the gross national product would grow by 1.4 percent in 1983. In fact, it turned out to be 6.4 percent.

A table in Business Day on Dec. 1 with an article about the third-quarter results of savings banks in the New York area misstated the performance of the Southold Savings Bank. It had a net operating profit of $1.1 million.

Edward J. Gerrity Jr., an executive vice president of the ITT Corporation and its most senior public relations official, said yesterday that he had been suspended ''because of an internal perception that I have been in disagreement with certain policies of top management.'' At the same time, it was learned that the Securities and Exchange Commission has begun a broad investigation of trading in the shares of ITT., which has risen sharply recently. The investigation was described as covering trading going back at least several months. It could not be determined if there was any connection between the suspension and the S.E.C. investigation.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1984 International The White House accused Iran of taking actions that encouraged the Arab terrorists who hijacked a Kuwaiti airliner last week and killed two American officials. The Reagan Administration also demanded that Iran either prosecute the hijackers or turn them over to another country for trial. (Page A1, Column 6.) Earlier, two American ex-hostages of the hijacked airliner arrived in Kuwait with other freed passengers and said they had seen no evidence of Iranian complicity in their six-day ordeal. But there were reports from Karachi that two Pakistani passengers said on arriving there that the Iranian authorities had supplied the hijackers with weapons, ropes and handcuffs. (A1:5.)

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1984 Companies Phillips accused T. Boone Pickens of tipping friends, officers of Mesa Petroleum and others of his plans to acquire stock in major oil companies. The charge, which Mr. Pickens called without merit, is part of a barrage of litigation initiated by Phillips to fend off the takeover attempt. (Page D1.) Plans to buy Northwest Industries are in trouble, the company indicated, sending its stock down $6.625, to $48.25. Northwest said the leaders of the group seeking to buy it - Kelly, Briggs & Associates and Oppenheimer Strategic Investments - were conducting financing negotiations but could not predict the outcome. (D1.)

The Phillips Petroleum Company yesterday accused T. Boone Pickens, chairman of the Mesa Petroleum Company of Amarillo, Tex., of tipping friends, Mesa officers and members of the Amarillo Country Club of his plans to acquire stock in major oil companies. Phillips, facing an unwanted takeover bid by Mr. Pickens, did not include its name among those about which it said the Texas oilman had given tips. In a suit, however, it specifically mentioned the Cities Service Company, the General American Oil Company, the Superior Oil Company and the Gulf Oil Corporation, all of which have been the subject of Pickens takeover bids. The charge was part of a new barrage of litigation initiated by Phillips, reflecting the company's apparent strategy of trying to fend off Mr. Pickens in the courts or by tying him up in Government red tape. As a last- ditch effort, however, Phillips is known to be lining up suitors to buy the company or parts of it.

Eight pound iron, twelve hour day, Seven Day week, just to make it pay, Sort and wash, press and fold, Bitter rice on a mountain of gold William (Charlie) Chin's song, ''Eight Pound Livelihood'' They came to America with dreams of a gold rush and found themselves holding only a heavy iron in their hands. They were the Chinese laundrymen, and their numbers have dwindled over the years. In the boom time of Chinese laundries in the late 1930's, there were close to 5,000 hand laundries in the New York metropolitan area; there are fewer than 2,000 today, according to Gem Chin, deputy director of the Chinese Hand Laundry Alliance. Just 10 years ago, there were over 100 shirtpressing shops and now there are only 4.

Trans World Airlines said today that it would begin this country's first nonstop twin- engine airline flights across the Atlantic in April, joining the three- and four- engine jet service that now takes people across the ocean. Since the days of propeller planes, Federal safety rules have generally required twin-engine aircraft to fly no farther than 60 minutes from an airport that would be suitable for landing in case of emergency. This in effect has ruled out commercial trans-Atlantic flights of twin-jet planes. T.W.A. announced the new flights in anticipation of final approval of a rule change that would allow airlines to apply to increase the limit to 90 or 120 minutes. The proposed changes, reflecting the increased reliability of modern jet aircraft, have been endorsed by the Federal Aviation Administration, which lays down rules for airlines' operation, and are awaiting the signature of Elizabeth Hanford Dole, Secretary of Transportation, whose department includes the F.A.A. To Paris and Frankfurt The daily T.W.A. flights, one to Paris and one to Frankfurt, are to originate in St. Louis, T.W.A.'s main traffic hub. The airline said it would use Boeing 767 airliners, with several improvements for greater safety, such as a fourth power generator and a third fire-suppression unit in the cargo bays.