Among the early spring vegetables, asparagus may be regarded as the most wholesome and delicious, yet few housekeepers understand the art of serving it with variety. The following recipe will be useful for such:

Stewed Asparagus - Wash the asparagus, cut in pieces, reject the tough ends. Put in a saucepan, cover with boiling water, let boil half an hour and drain. Return to the saucepan with half a pint of cream, a tablespoonful of butter and a little salt and pepper; let come to a boil, take up and serve.

Boiled Asparagus – Wash several bunches of asparagus in cold water and cut off the tough ends. Scrape and put in cold water to soak for half an hour. Put into a kettle of boiling water, to which add a teaspoonful of salt, and let boil twenty minutes. When done, take up, drain and arrange on squares of buttered toast; pour over cream sauce and serve hot.

Asparagus in Ambush – Wash a quart of asparagus tops and boil for fifteen minutes. Take a dozen stale, light rolls, cut off the tops and take out the crumb; put in a pan and set in the oven to dry. Put a pint of milk on to boil. Beat four eggs and stir in the boiling milk, add a tablespoonful of butter rolled in flour, season with salt and pepper and take from the fire; chop the asparagus tops and add them to the milk. Fill the rolls with the mixture, put on the top crusts and serve hot.

Fried Asparagus – Cut the tops from asparagus stalks, put in boiling water, and cook until tender; drain and mix in thick egg batter, season with salt and pepper, drop in spoonfuls in boiling lard, fry brown on each side and serve very hot.

Asparagus Soup – Wash a bunch of asparagus, tie, put in a saucepan, cover with boiling water and let boil for half an hour. Take from the fire, drain and cut off the tops. Put a quart of milk on to boil. Rub the asparagus stalks through a colander and add them to the milk. Thicken with a tablespoonful of butter rolled flour and stir for five minutes over the fire. Add the asparagus tops, season with salt and pepper and serve.

Asparagus Salad – Boil a quart of asparagus tops in salt water for fifteen minutes, drain, throw in ice water and let stand until needed. When ready to serve, drain, wipe on a soft towel, put in a salad bowl, pour over a teacupful of French dressing, stand on ice ten minutes and serve.

In the well ordered household special attention is accorded to the refrigerator.  It is the daily family food receptacle and, as far as may be, should demonstrate the benefits of perfect cleanliness.

Subject it to a weekly scalding, preceded by a thorough investigation of all nooks and crannies by means of a sponge, a sharp pointed stick covered with a piece of linen or, if you prefer, a small brush, such as is used by the man of paint, and a scrubber for the sides. Sapolio may be employed in lessening this part of the labor, and a valuable auxiliary in dispelling disagreeable odors will be furnished by adding a tablespoonful of ammonia to each gallon of water employed in this purifying process. A simple precaution is to deposit a bit of charcoal, renewed when necessary, in the corners of the cold storage box.

At Left: An ad from a Victorian publication for a Leonard Cleanable claims to be the only refrigerator with separate compartments and movable flues.

Wash the ice from every suspicion of sawdust before consigning to its accustomed position. Some housewives reason the feasibility of wrapping it in paper, contending that so it melts less readily, and in the days of extortionate prices for the luxury their advice is certainly deserving of a measure of consideration, at least.

Nothing heated should ever be placed therein; it will tend to raise the temperature and be the means of causing other things to spoil.   If you reside in a climate where a continuous use of the convenience is uncalled for, you will do well to leave it open at such times as not in requisition.

Many people bestow a generous supply of ice upon their refrigerator when it is first desired for service; they declare if once entirely cooled in this manner and conducted upon correct principles thereafter, it needs less in proportion to maintain the proper temperature.

The Victorian ad below is for a Stoneware Lined Refrigerator which reads

“It neither sweats nor absorbs moisture and never becomes sour or musty. It is made without open seams; is practically indestructible and is very easily cleaned.”

Numberless patents frequently evince no improvements, judging from practical experience; therefore, though the eye may approve of the external beauty as an article, it may be, for dining room adornment, have none of it, for it is comparatively worthless for the purpose designed. The common wooden box, zinc lined, charcoal or sawdust filled, with a waste-pipe in the bottom to conduct the water into a tub or pan underneath (in some houses it is carried directly to the drain, thus economizing time and strength), though possessing no pretentions to the aesthetic, being the least expensive, from several points of view is the most satisfactory; it is the best economizer of space, too; the wire slats with which it is provided are not only movable, but removable. It is altogether a nonpareil, though only a simple ice chest which has never been christened in honor of some notability.

An outside enclosed piazza is an excellent station for this piece of furniture, but if you have it here and there is no door which may be fastened, I advise you to consider as to the expediency of adopting the “ounce of prevention” in the shape of a padlock, if nothing better. A portion of womankind deem the putting of it in the cellar no violation of hygienic principles. Few such underground apartments are sufficiently free from dampness to ensure exemption from musty odors or mildew tainting effects, besides the added weariness incurred in going up and down the stairs is another argument against the reception of this measure.

It may, however, find a resting place in the entry at the head of the cellar stairs or in a pantry in which is a window.

Blocks laid behind the back legs are handy in keeping the refrigerator from touching the wall, so holding the Croton bug or any other unwelcome insect intruder at bay, securing the passage of air around it and allowing sufficient slant to the lid, when raised, to prevent it from falling.

Do not drop the cover carelessly with a bang, else the screws will be jarred from their sockets and often the hinges injured beyond repair.

Never, if you would keep the piece of merchandise in first-class condition, use or permit others to use the pick on the ice while within it, otherwise the zinc may be impaired and ever thereafter charcoal dust be disagreeably perceptible.

It is the part of wisdom to attack the ice previous to its deposition.  In times gone by an arrangement styled a safe was in vogue for the preservation of milk, butter, eggs, etc.; this consisted of a box whose open sides, excepting top, bottom and back, were covered with a fine wire netting; it was elevated from the floor on legs sufficiently high to afford immunity from the approaches of noxious animals. A door in front allowed the ingress and egress of the viands, for which a shelf had been prepared. It usually stood in the lower hall of basement dwellings or found a refuge in the cellar.

Of course, it was quite inferior to the modern invention, but, in lieu of a better convenience, served the purpose to a certain degree of satisfaction. Its day is over and man’s ingenuity has improved upon the old-fashioned idea.

Magazine article from April 1895

A very pretty and useful handkerchief case is made of several pieces of celluloid artistically painted, and put together envelope fashion. A puff of a pretty shade of silk forms the sides of the case, and is put on full to allow the case to spread. A pad of silk sprinkled with sachet powder is laid in the bottom.

A simple receptacle for veils is made of a square of celluloid laced together at the corners, and decorated with flowers and verses. But a box is much better for veils, since the veils need not be folded so tightly as to crush them. Cut the celluloid by any old cardboard box. Make the cover a trifle larger than the bottom, lace the corners, and tie in long loops. Decorate the box in water colors, and print on the top in fancy letters, Trifles Light as Air. A pad of silk should be made to lay in the box; this, plentifully sprinkled with sachet powder, will give the veils a delicate perfume.

 

 

 

Celluloid can be cut and bent into any shape, and there is no limit to the pretty things that can be fashioned from it. One need never be at a loss in decorating celluloid, as it is transparent, and designs can be traced and copied from any pretty card or picture. In short, this delightful art work offers unlimited possibilities to the amateur as well as to the worker who finds in it a means of livelihood.