hains, and
earrings, whom she introduced as 'Mon neveu Antonio'--the son of her
husband's sister, who had married an Italian, and who, like his
father, was at once cook and courier. Their dinner consisted of the
following _friture_, from M. Antonio's own private recipe-book: Have
ready, half-cooked, _1st_, thin slices of calves' liver; _2d_,
artichokes cut in half quarters or quarters, according to their size;
_3d_, cauliflower--only the _flower_, divided in small pieces; _4th_,
calves' brains, previously soaked in salt, vinegar, and water, for
twenty-four hours, cut in little bits: make a light batter, and fry
each separately of a golden brown in the right order, having the dish
in which they are to be served on a hot hearth. Cover the dish with
the liver, then the artichoke, then the brains, and, lastly, the
cauliflower, each distributed so as to decrease towards the top, which
is covered with a larger sprig of cauliflower.

Madame Miau fried beautifully, and, under her nephew's directions,
tried a pretty dish I had never before heard of--namely, the flower of
the cucumber-plant, or vegetable mallow--which is usually, and, I
believe, incorrectly, called marrow--nipped off with the little fruit
attached to it. It was dipped in butter, fried lightly, and served
quite hot.

Creams are very good, made according to the following simple,
inexpensive recipe, which is just enough to fill twelve small cups or
glasses. Take good milk sufficient to fill them, and boil it with two
ounces of grated chocolate, and six of white sugar; then beat the
yolks of six eggs, to which add slowly the chocolate-milk, turning
steadily one way. When quite mixed, pass the whole through a search,
fill your cups, and, if you have not a regular _bain-marie_, a flat
sauce-pan will do, filled to a proper height, so as not to overtop the
creams, and which must continue boiling a quarter of an hour. For a
change, instead of the chocolate, boil the milk with a pod of
_vanille_ broken in pieces, or any other flavour you may fancy.

_Spinach Cream._--Boil your spinach, and let it thoroughly drain in a
cullender; then press it through a hair-sieve with a spoon, as for
food. Take the pulp that has been pressed through the sieve, and mix
it with cream, or very good milk, and two additional yolks of eggs.
Pass the yolks of six eggs through a sieve, add six ounces of white
sugar in powder, and two table-spoonfuls of trebly-distilled orange
flower-water, and