The new practical housekeeping

Bananas and Cream. — Slice the bananas crosswise — not too thin — scatter powdered sugar over, and before it dissolves squeeze the juice of several oranges over them, or oranges maybe cut up and mixed with them, or the bananas may be served with cream and sugar alone. Very nice for tea. They make an agreeable dessert with whipped cream sweetened and flavored with vanilla, poured over them. A tablespoon of gelatine dissolved and stirred into the cream, gives a little body to it. Serve with sponge cake. Blackberry Trifle. — Stew one quart blackberries with one quart sugar and a half cup water. They should cook only fifteen minutes. When cold, serve ^vith powdered cracker and sugar and cream. The cracker and berries should be in separate dishes. Cherries. — ^This fruit may be very elegantly served for dessert by picking in clusters on the twigs with a few leaves on each. An hour before dinner place them in the refrigerator, and when taken out they will be found not only refreshingly cool, but covered with moisture like dew. Or treat the clusters simply in same way. If served plain send to table heaped on saucers or glasses of pounded ice, one for each guest, and pass sugar with them. Or arrange in pyramid on a glass dish. Both red and yellow varieties should be obtained for this if possible. Cherry Compote. — Secure red cherries because of their piquant flavor, and be sure to have only perfect fruit. Do not stem them, but shorten the stems with the scissors. Put the fruit in a preserving kettle with white granulated sugar in the proportion of a quarter pound sugar to every pound fruit, and add juice of one lemon to same quantities; put over slow fire and boil three minutes, removing all scum and shaking. occasionally; take out fruit with a spoon, put in a bowl and carefully drain off all syrup, which should be reduced by further boiling. To thicken the syrup a little isinglass or gelatine may be used, but it is better without, as the thin jellv of pure syrup is beautifully transparent. Pour this syrup or jelly into a disn to cool, and when ready to serve the compote pile the cherries in a pyramid and turn the syrup over them. Or, prepare, cherries the same, take four tablespoons sugar and a pint water to one quart cherries, put in a saucepan, let boil, and skim ; add a half cup raspberry juice, put in the cherries and cook until tender ; pile them on a glass dish, reduce the syrup to a thin jelly, and when cool pour over them. Cherry Sauce. — To every pound well ripened, stoned cherries add a half pound sugar, meltea and poured over boiling hot. Put on ice till cold and serve. Currants. — Select fine large red and white currants and arrange in alternate rows in pyramidal form on glass dish, placing the red on bottom, with a border of green leaves outside, as shown in cut. Sprinkle liberally throughout with sugar, set in refrigerator until ready to serve, when dust fine granulated sugar thickly over, which will cling to the currants, that will have become damp in the ice box. and give a pretty frost-like effect. Raspberries may be served in same way, either red and white, red and black, or alternate layers of each. Currants are also nice served in large fine clusters heaped on fruit dish, always cooling on ice before sending to table ; or intersperse with layers of raspberries or other seasonable fruits.