Cooking and castle-building

" Oh, yes," I replied. " Such a pudding, when properly made, and served cold, is a very delicate dessert. I think to serve it warm, however, as it is often served, is as poor taste as to serve a custard pudding warm. To make tapioca pudding, use five measures of cold water to one measure of tapioca. Let it soak over night, or for several hours ; then cook it until it looks clear and transparent. While the tapioca is cooking, pare and core some large greenings, or other tart apples. Leave the apples whole. Place them close together in a deep earthen dish, and pour the tapioca over them. Bake thoroughly, until the apples brown over the top. When quite cold, serve with sugar and sweet cream. " Another tapioca pudding which is very nice, is made by soaking half a pint of tapioca over night in two quarts cold water. In the morning drain, and boil until cooked in two quarts sweet milk. Salt slightly. Remove from the fire, and add slowly the well-beaten yolks of eight eggs. Stir rapidly while adding the egg. Lastly, sweeten to taste. When cool, flavor with vanilla, lemon, or wine. Beat the whites of the eggs stiff, add pulverized sugar, and serve with the pudding." "Kate, I notice people eat much more fruit than they used to, with their meals. A few years ago one never saw melons, peaches, grapes, berries, or any kind of fruit at meal-time, except as dessert for dinner. Now, a great many families make the principal part of their breakfast of such articles, and also eat liberally of them at their other meals." "Yes, I am glad to see the improvement in this respect. Nearly all, perhaps all classes of people crave green food ; and it seems to me the craving ought to be gratified, by their making fruits and vegetables a part of their regular daily diet. When people eat freely of fruits, at their regular meals, as they do other articles of diet, they have little disposition to indulge in the injurious habit of eating between meals ; while, on the other hand, in families where such things are seldom served at meal-time, men, women, and children hanker after unripe fruit even ; and render themselves liable to all manner of diseases by eating green apples, half-ripe cherries and berries, and trash generally. "In one of her letters to me, Mrs. Eose writes : * I never put sugar on berries for tea. It spoils the shape of the berries to let them lie in or under sugar.' Now, there is no doubt it spoils the shape of berries to sugar them ; but, for most persons, it improves the flavor to sprinkle them with sugar ten or fifteen minutes before the berries are served. No one disputes the orthodoxy of Mr. Beecher's opinions on gustatory matters, however much they may differ from him on theological subjects, and he approves of mashing them even. He says : 'Put ripe berries in a dish, add a little cold water, break them down with a spoon to a jelly, adding just enough sugar and water to make them half liquid, and you shall find many another dish less delicious.' This disposition to preserve the shape of articles of food is quite prevalent among housewives ; and the taste of many a dish is sacrificed, in order that it may make a handsome appearance on the table.