Books and My Food: With Literary Quotations and Original Recipes for Every ..

A PRESENT fashion for serving the small cantaloupes, or muskmelons, is thoroughly to chill the melons on ice; just before serving cut in halves and remove the seeds, putting in each half melon a large spoonful of ice cream, and for this purpose a rather plain cream is preferred. For those whose digestions warrant it this is an agreeable way of combining two favorite dishes. AUGUST I2TH ''In reply to her sarcastic inquiry, he artlessly owned that he should like another cheese-cake." — Thackeray ("The Virginians"). MIX the curd of three quarts of milk, a pound of currants, twelve ounces of sugar, a quarter of an ounce of cinnamon, the same of nutmeg, the peel of one lemon, chopped to a paste, the yolks of eight and whites of six eggs, a pint of scalded cream and a glass of brandy. Put a light thin puff paste in patty pans and Uiree quarters fill them. AUGUST 13TH "There's a pilau, Joseph, just as you like it, and papa has brought die best turbot in Billingsgate." —Thackeray ("Vanity Fair"). FOR a Turkish pillau boil a fowl as for fricassee; add to the water in which it is boiled a teacupful of rice, half a teacupful of raisins, the same amount of blanched almonds, and a red pepper pod, from which the seeds have been carefully removed. Serve with the chicken. It will be a very hot dish. AUGUST 14TH "He relieved the bag of a bottle of wine, slices of meat, hard eggs, and lettuce, a chipped cup to fling away after drinking the wine." — George Meredith ("The Amazing Marriage"). AN excellent variation on the hardboiled eggs of picnics or luncheon baskets is to make them into salad eggs. Remove the shells, cut in halves, take out the yolks, and with a silver fork rub them smooth ; stir in oil and vinegar in the proportion of one spoonful of vinegar to two of oil ; season with salt and paprika. Replace in the whites and press together. They are very appetizing on a journey. AUGUST ISTH ''And lo! two puddings smoked upon the board." — Pope. A SMOKING com-pudding is a pleasant sight when the mercury is low in summer. Scrape a dozen ears of full-grown corn by slitting each row of kernels with a sharp knife, and then with the back of the knife scraping all the soft part out, leaving the empty htill on the cob. Add a pint of milk, a cup of sugar, a teaspoonful of salt and a tablespoonful of melted butter. Bake three hours in a moderate oven. This dish may be prepared in winter from canned com, and makes an excellent variety in vegetables to serve with meat if the sugar is left out. AUGUST i6th ''Have you sent to the apothecary for a sufficient quantity of cream of tartar to make lemonade?" — Coleman ("Man and Wife"). IF we want lemonade as nearly perfect as possible, we use freshly boiled water. This rule has borne the test of repeated trial: For a quart of lemonade take the juice of four lemons and the rind of one, carefully peeled off to get just the yellow outside part. This, cut into pieces, is added to the juice and put in a covered jug or jar with three ounces of sugar. Pour on a quart of water brought to the boiling point as for tea. Let it stand until cold, and turn into a pitcher in which are thin orange slices and bits of pineapple. AUGUST irm ''Deeming that the sight of pickled salmon might work a softening change." — Charles Dickens ("Martin Chuzzlewit"). ANY salmon left over may be converted into this popular dish. Free the fish from skin and bone. Make a sauce by bringing to the boiling point half a cupful of vinegar, two tablespoonfuls of lemon juice, three cloves, a piece of stick cinnamon, a teaspoonful of salt, and a pinch of paprika. As soon as it boils pour it over the cold salmon and set away to cool. It will keep a week or more. AUGUST i8th