Page:Peterson's Magazine 1862.pdf/429

 PARLOR

TRICKS.

may be varied according to circumstances, ranging between the degrees of eighty and ninety-five, which approaches the usual heat of the body. Where warm bathing is employed, we would recommend, immediately after birth, a temperature of eighty-two or eighty-five degrees. This may be decreased one degree every three or four weeks, until it be so far reduced as to produce at first a slight sensation of chilliness in the child. It is a vulgar error to suppose that the tepid bath is productive of relaxation ; its effect is, usually, the most animating vigor, and the cleansing of the impure skin is undoubtedly more complete, as the warmth seems to exert some solvent power on the oily secretion with which some skins are imbued. One most valuable property of warm bathing is, that it may be employed during the existence of internal inflammation. Its benefit as a fomentation and its cleansing properties are simultaneous. The custom of bathing implies, as its consequence, the salutary employment of moderate friction, the effect of which is an immediate increase of circulation in the vessels of the skin, by which internal parts are relieved, and the skin itself rendered healthy. The expression of delight in the child is an indication of its very beneficial tendency.

DESSERTS.

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DESSERTS. Tartlets. Are always so called when made of a small size and uncovered with a crust ; nor should preserved fruit of any kind be put under crust. The paste is made stiff enough to support the contents, being cut thin, put into pattypans, and crimped at the edges. The fruit is then frequently ornamented with small strips of paste laid over it crosswise, which are made thus : Mix a quarter-pound of flour, one ounce of fresh butter, and a little cold water ; rub it well between the board and your hand till it begins to string ; cut it into small pieces, roll it out, and draw it into fine strings ; then lay them, in any way you please, across your tartlets, and bake immediately. The jam of rasp berries, currants, or any other fruits, as well as the marmalade of apricot, quince, and apple, may be made into tartlets, and, when baked in a quick oven, may be filled up with raw custard or whipped cream. Rice Pudding.-Wash two large spoonfuls of rice, and simmer it, with half a pint of milk, till thick; then put a lump of butter the size of an egg, and nearly half a pint of thick cream, and give it one boil. When cold, mix four yolks and two whites of eggs well beaten, sugar and nutmeg to taste, and add grated lemon and a little cinnamon. Bake three-quarters of an hour in a slowish oven, and, when the pudding is ready, strew over it a little powdered lump-sugar and cinnamon powder. Currants may be added to the pudding. Or :-Boil half a pint of rice in new milk until perfectly tender and not too dry ; then add six eggs beaten, a spoonful of ratafia, sugar, and some grated fresh lemon; mix well, and bake in a mould one hour and a half. Turn it on a hot dish, and stick it thick with almonds slit in six. Serve with a rich custard round. It is equally good cold. Lemon Custard.- Strain three wineglassfuls of lemonjuice through a sieve ; beat nine eggs, yolks and whites ; strain them also, and add them to the lemon-juice, with a quarter-pound of powdered loaf-sugar, a glass of white wine, and half a wineglass of water, with a little grated lemon-peel. Mix all together, and put the ingredients into a saucepan on the fire, stirring it until it becomes thick and of a proper consistence. Or:-Boil the rind of two lemons grated, and the juice of one, in a pint of water ; add the yolks of fourteen eggs beaten to a cream and sweetened; stir it one way till it thickens. When taken off the fire, add two spoonfuls of brandy. Excellent Light Puffs.-Mix two spoonfuls of flour, a little grated lemon-peel, some nutmeg, half a spoonful of brandy, a little loaf-sugar, and one egg; then fry it, but not brown; beat it in a mortar, with five eggs, whites and yolks ; put a quantity of lard in a fryingpan, and, when quite hot, drop a dessertspoonful of batter at a time; turn as they brown. Serve them immediately with sweet sauce. Parmesan Puffs .-Take a quarter-pound of cheese, the same quantity of bread-crumbs, and two ounces of butter; pound these well in a mortar, beat up an egg, and mix it up into the paste, making the whole up into balls about the size of a golden pippin ; make a thin batter with flour, milk, and one egg ; dip the balls into this, and fry them a light brown.

PARLOR TRICKS. TO MAKE A MAGIC PICTURE.- Take two level pieces ofglass (plate glass is the best), about three inches long and four wide, exactly of the same size ; lay one on the other, and leave a space between them by pasting a piece of card, or two or three small pieces of thick paper, at each corner. Join these glasses together, at the edges, by a composition of lime slaked by exposure to the air, and the white of an egg. Cover all the edges of these glasses with parchment or bladder, except at one end, which is to be left open to admit the following composition : Dissolve, by a slow fire, six ounces of hog's lard, with half an ounce of white wax, to which you may add half an ounce of clear linseed oil. This must be poured in, in its liquid state, and before a fire, between the glasses, by the space left in the sides, and which you are then to close up. Wipe the glasses clean and hold them before the fire, to see that the composition will not run out at any part. Then fasten, with gum, a picture, or print, painted on very thin paper, with its face to one of the glasses, and, if you like, you may fix the whole in a frame. While this mixture between the glasses is cold, the picture will be quite concealed, but become transparent when held to the fire, and as the composition eools it will gradually disappear. TO PUT A PENNY-PIECE UNDER A CANDLESTICK, AND TO WITHDRAW IT WITHOUT LIFTING IT UP.-This appears a wonderful trick, and yet it is one of the most simple, and never fails to raise a hearty laugh. Place a penny-piece under a candlestick on the table; then bet any one of the party that you will take it from under it without lifting up the candlestick. Thinking it impossible, some will, no doubt, accept your wager ; this being done, knock three times sharply under the table, saying, "Presto, fly, begone !" Then tell your antagonist it is gone, and desire him to lift the candlestick to satisfy himself. This, of course, he will immediately do ; then, on the instant he raises the candlestick, RECEIPTS FOR MEATS. snatch up the penny-piece. You will then win the wager, as you did not take up the candlestick. Mutton Cutlets a la Polonaise.-Remove all the fat, put THE MAGIC SPOON.- Put four ounces of bismuth in a cru- the meat into a covered stewpan, with a carrot and a turnip cible, and, when in a state of complete fusion, throw in two sliced, two onions, a bundle of sweet herbs, a little pepper ounces and a half of tin ; these metals will combine and and salt, and enough broth to moisten the whole; let it form an alloy fusible in boiling water. Mould the alloy stew very gently until the meat is perfectly done, then into bars, and take them to a silversmith to be made into take it out, strain the gravy, put it over a brisk fire, and tea-spoons. Place one of them in a saucer at a tea-table, reduce it to a glaze ; then cover the cutlets with the glaze, and the person who uses it will be not a little astonished to and serve them up with tomato-sauce, or a vegetable puree Sof any kind. find it melt away as soon as he puts it into the hot tea.