, as before mentioned, place the cups in a
_bain-marie_ for a quarter of an hour.

I requested the good-natured nephew to dress me a dish of macaroni,
which he did as follows, one of his many modes of preparing it: He
boiled it till just tender, and no more. The English cook it too much,
he said. When drained, he grated a sufficient quantity of both Gruyere
and Parmesan cheese, and alternately put upon the dish, first
macaroni, and then cheese, finishing with the cheese. Over this he
poured strong beef-gravy, in which some tomatoes had been dissolved,
and put it a few minutes in the oven, and then a few more before the
fire in a Dutch oven; but he preferred a hot hole, and to cover it
with a _four de compagne_, or cover upon which you place hot embers.
He also assured me the following sauce was better even than the
beef-gravy:--

_Tomato Sauce._--Warm your tomatoes until you can skin them; beat the
pulp with finely-grated ham, onion, parsley, thyme, salt, and Lucca
oil, all as small as possible; pass through a sieve, and pour over
your macaroni. Serve hot.

Tomatoes are good skinned, the seeds taken out, and with a little
butter and finely-chopped herbs, beaten into a paste with eggs, and
fried in a light batter.

_Fried Asparagus._--Do not boil it too much, but enough to cut in
pieces and pass through a sieve; mix this with grated ham and Parmesan
cheese, and with butter make it into a paste of good consistency,
which fry in a light batter. Celery is also very nice treated in the
same way. As I like butter, as the French do, without any salt at all,
I found much difficulty in keeping quite sweet what a farmer
obligingly so prepared for me. Without water, it got bad. Made into
pats, and kept in water, it lost flavour; but Madame Miau soon put me
upon a plan by which it remained for ten days as if new churned. As
soon as I received my quantum, I had it well washed in spring-water,
for sometimes the milk had not been taken clean out of it; and then it
was put down with a spoon in a salad bowl, to which it adhered. Every
morning, fresh water, in which was dissolved a little salt, was poured
upon it, and the top _curled_ off for use with a tea-spoon or a small
shell. To the very last, it was sweet and tasteless; and I consider
this a very valuable hint, in hot weather especially.

FOOTNOTES:

[2] Nos. 388 and 416.

AMUSEMENTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

We have become so accustomed to the idea of a soul-and-body-r