ATTRACTIVE DISHES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19891, 9 March 1928, Page 5

ATTRACTIVE DISHES.

Long, hot days are pleasant "when spent in idleness by the seaside or in tho country, but when they, must fee ; passed in sultry , streets or strenuous -work th« heat is apt to prove trying. Spirits droop, the appetite for ordinary food flags, and tho general level of health falls below par. 1 This is not as it should be, for a constitution weakened during the summer will cause its owner to fall an easy prey to tho cold winds and damp days of autumn, which is also the epidemic season of the year. Hot weather ailmeuts are often due to a faulty dietary. Two mistakes are commonly made. Either people adhere "to the winter menu, with its meat; dishes, suet puddings, soups, and so on, or they declare that it is too hot to eat and live off •'snacks" of pastry and ices. Food should be lessened in quantity during the summer but not in quality. On tho contrary, special caro should be taken that all dishes have an extra nutritive value, as less probably l>® eaten of each. It is often wise to have the lighter meal in the middle of the day when tho heat is greatest. Appetites rovivo m the cool of the evening. For a summer lunch an ideal menu should consist of a vegetarian or egg dish, plenty of salad, and bread and butter, with fresh fruit. Macaroni cheeso, eggs au gratm, or an omelette is suitable for a iirst course. Brown bread should form part of the repast as it provides nutriment to a far nigher degree than white. When raw fruit is tired of it is often enjoyed in the new guise of a fruit jcllv. To make these iiso one of tho pint packets of jellj > dissolving in less water than usual; make up the quantity of water by adding soma fruit syrup. Stand the wotted mould in chopped ice, pour in a little of tho jellj, wait till set, and add a layer of fruit, and so on until the mould is full. Cherries (preserved), bananas, and grapes all combine excellently in a lemon or strawberry jelly. Another pretty summer luncheon sweet can be mado by half-filling a glass with chopped jelly and piling white of egjf very stifilv whisked with castor sugar on top. Decorate with morsels of the jelly in different colours. Slices of rye bread with cream cheese make a suitable finish to the meal. This bread is crisp and tempting to the taste, and more digestible than starchy white bread. _ In tlio evening something substantial will bo needed, but even remains of cold meat can be served in an attractive and appetising manner if the cook will make use of aspic jelly. This can now be purchased like fruit jellies in packet form, so that its employment is simplicity itself. A salmon mayonnaise, followed bv lamb cutlets in aspic is a most popular summer menu. Hard boiled eggs each halved and served in separate raraakms surrounded by chopped aspic vs a ouickly prepared but most professional-looking dish. „ . , Custards should always form an »mpor - ant part of the sweet course m summer : not only are they pleasing to tlu eve ancl palate, but they contain much nutriment. A boiled custard can be served > stewed currants or raspberries, to make one of the. many ° trifle. A simple trifle can be soaking sponge cakes m md . . g with sherrv. arranging them m a g dish, sprinkling with ratafias, f e* th SSr¥ln'»W thfKi oUsi.rf, a " m a moald.; ,