Breakfasts, luncheons, and ball suppers

not recommend it. The quantity to be used is a some- what disputed point ; in cafe au lait an ounce for a breakfast cup is the usual measure, but if cafe ?ioir is to be good that quantity is very insufficient. I have heard that there should be a cup of ground coffee to each cup of water to be really good, but I think this is a little over- doing it; so let me put it as a general rule — use two ounces of ground coffee for each half-pint of water. Coffee machines, like the kinds of berries, are endless, but I really think “Adams’ Coffee Percolator” is the best; it is less liable to get out of order than any other, and with common care makes very good coffee. Directions for Use. Remove the cover, take out the percolator and put the coffee in the well on top of the strainer ; return the percolator, pour in the amount of boiling water required, put on the cover and put the pot on the side of the fire until the water has drained through. Remove the well part from the top of the pot and let the coffee get very hot before serving or pouring into the coffee-pot,^^which is to be sent to the table. For “ Cafe au Lait, send in with the coffee a jug of boiling milk, and let me beg of the mistress, master, or servant who fills the cups to take the coffee-pot in one hand, the boiling milk in the other, and pour both at the same time into the cup; it mixes so much better and the flavour is greatly improved thereby. . , , For “ Cafe Noir,” if the coffee is good, strong, and hot, nothing is required except a little crushed sugar-candy, but as ''some people'’ take cream witli it, I suppose I must say, “ hand round cream.” TEA, COFFEE, COCOA. 71 COCOA. No. 12. Cocoa nibs, like coffee, are better fresh roasted ; so if you have a coffee-roaster you can procure the cocoa beans, roast and rub them through a sieve. The quantity used should be half a teacup of nibs to a pint of water. Directions to Make. Put half a teacup of nibs to every pint of water, put the nibs in a common coffee-pot and pour the boiling water on them, put it on the fire and let it boil up, when put it on the side to simmer for three or four hours. Strain it, and it will keep for some days. The chief reason cocoa is seldom good is that it is not stewed long enough. There is not time to make it before breakfast, unless it is put on at six o’clock; as this is seldom the case, a poor, watery, weak mess is generally produced. To serve, make it very hot, send in with it some boiling milk, and pour out as Cafe au Lait. CHAPTER XII. EGGS AND OMELETS. TO BOIL. No. 13. Eggs to be good should not be more than two days old ; after that they lose the creamy substance over the yolk which makes an egg so delicious. A new-laid egg takes a minute longer to boil than one which has been laid some days, and if you wish the white set it should be put in boiling water and allowed to boil four minutes and a half. If you prefer the white running all over your plate, and dropping all over your dress on the way to your mouth, let it boil three minutes and a half. BUTTERED EGGS AU JUS. No. 14.