The standard book of recipes and housewife's guide, comprising as complete cook book

Rice. — Take one-half cup of rice and pick out the specks. Wash and rub it with the hands in two or three waters to make it white. Then dry it in a clean cloth. Put it, with one and one-quarter cups boiling water and salt, into the top of a double boiler and cook from thirty minutes to one hour, until perfectly soft. If it becomes dry in cooking, add one tablespoonful hot water occasionally. A few raisins, seeded and cut into small pieces, may be cooked with the rice to flavor it. If the rice is cooked in milk instead of water, one and one-half cups hot milk to one-half cup rice will be a good proportion. When the rice is done, press it into small cups, let it cool two or three minutes, and turn the shapes out on a pretty dish. Serve hot with sugar and milk. Boiled Hominy. — Soak over night ; put in pot with two quarts water to a quart of hominy ; boil slowly for three hours, or till soft. Drain in a colander, and stir in butter, pepper, and salt. There are two grades of hominy, the large and the small grained- The latter may be boiled till as thick as mush, and eaten as a breakfast dish with sugar and cream. Fried Hominy. — Cut into slices cold boiled hominy, and fry in hot lard, or moisten with milk to a soft paste; add melted butter, and a beaten egg, and form into round cakes. Dredge with flour and fry a light brown. Cakes and Cake=Making. General Directions for Making Cakes. — For cakes which contain butter, cream the butter, warm slightly if hard, add sugar gradually, and beat. When smooth add the yolks of eggs or w^hole eggs (beaten light) and the milk. Then sift in the flour, which has been mixed with the baking powder and spices. When the yolks and whites are beaten separately, the whites are usually added last. A cake can be made fine-grained by long beating ; light and delicate with a small amount of beating. Never stir cake after the final beating. For cakes which do not contain butter, separate the whites and 3^olks of eggs. Beat the yolks until thick, add sugar gradually, and continue beating ; add flavoring. Beat whites until stiff" and dry and add to mixture. Sift the flour with the salt and cut and fold in lightly at the last. Do not beat mixture after flour is added, if baking powder is not used. Light Cake. — Cream one cup of butter, and work in graduall}^ one and one-half cups of sugar. Separate three eggs, beat the yolks, pour in one-half cup of milk, and add to the creamed butter. Sift with three cups of flour two teaspoonfuls baking powder and add to mixture. Beat well to make a smooth batter. Beat the whites until stiff" and fold lightly into the batter. One cnp currants or nuts, well flavored, may be added. Bake in round, shallow pans ; put the cakes together with jelly between. Spong-e Cake. — Three eggs, one and one half cups flour, one and one-half cups sugar, two teaspoonfuls baking powder, two teaspoonfuls vanilla or lemon, one-half cup boiling water. Beat the whites and yolks separately until light, then put together and beat again, sift in sugar, a little at a time, add flavoring, flour and baking powder, beat all together, last stir in hot water, bake in two layers, and ice.