The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1899-09-07

rushing out With cups and glasses to
be filled direct from the COW, and the
foaming fluid is drunk without the
needless formality of straining.
In the matter of chocolate making
Cubans are no less expert, and no
where else can be found so creamy.
frothy and delicious mixture. Being
considerably thicker and sweeter
than the American idea of chocolate;
a small mug of it with bit of bread
or fruit, is a sufficient luncheon. Nat
urally in hot country cooling drinks
are in great demand. Among a null
titude OF tempting frescoes, lemon
ade, with little Jamaica rum poured
over the ice, and naraniada (made
from bitter oranges) are very popular;
also almond milk, diluted with ice
and tsweetened, and certain big
pink bean, whose name | have for
gotten, which, crushed in water,
makes a rich, fruity and eminently
satisfying beverage. AS to wines, the
poorest cafe has its Gin OrdinGire,
served without extra charge, at every
meal. Excellent Catalonian wine,
brought from the mother country, is
sold very cheap in Cuba-in Santa
| Clara almost as cheap as drinking
stSater, which in dry times actually
seiis as high as ten cents per bucket.
You should see the queer Spanish
''botellos"-wine bottles, with long,
delicate shouts and sometimes a
coat-of-arms cut upon them-circula-
ting around the tables of the middle
class, from back corners in dingy
shops, where the clerks are fed, to the
servants tables in hotels and the mess
rooms of Spanish ships in the harbor
One botella, or at most two, filled
with vino catalan, answers for a ia
bleful, and briskly it goes from hand
to hand, as frequent but sparing
draughts are taken. Strange to say,
the bottle never once touches any
body's lips, but, held aloft at the cor
| rect angle, the nozzle sends a tiny
stream with unerring precision into
the sophisticated drinkers wide open
mouth
You would be surprised to see such
a variety of food served in this third
rate hotel in the heart of poverty
stricken island where nothing is
raised; and greater would be your
establishment to find everything eX-
cellently cooked. Yet the Santa
Clara" is by no means above the
average of Cuban hotels. In all Cuba
there are only two meals day, not
counting the early coffee, and break
| fast is almost the counterpart of din
ner. At both meals soup comes first,
a savory concoction whose component
parts could only be told by clair
voyant. Hunt around in it and YOU
may find chicken, pork, sausage and
pig-tails, also peppers, almonds and
l.Sggs; raisins, onions and CLANS; posi-
bly, giblets, bits of mutton and ba-
nanas boiled whole in their skins, the
whole colored dark yellow with SAT-
from. Probably everything else
within reach of the cook that is edi-
BILE went into it but what's the odds
since the result is delicious.
About the only difference between
breakfast and dinner is that eggs fig
nre at the former meal. The Cubans,
like their Latin cousins in France and
Italy, know a thing or two in the
line Lof egg cooking, and particu-
larly in omelet making, which colder
blOoded Anglo-SaXons can never mas
ter. 1t is an old saying that only
persons of blue blood and refinement
can compound popular salad; and
equally true is that of the art and
science of omelets belong exclusively
to the poetic races. / presume that
you might get an omelet plain" in
Cuba by giving such an order to the
amazed cook. but | have never seen
one here unadorned or unmixed with
something besides the eggs to give it
color, beauty and flavor. Tomatoes,
peas or potatoes most frequently en-
ter into it, or fruit, nuts, beans,
onions, meat, rice or raisins.
Fish never follows soup, as with us,
but is served late in the Cuban menu.
And such fish! Big or little, they are
always Drowned to delicate perfection
in oil and served with lines, or in
some savory mess of tomatoes, wine
and the inevitable saffron. The fish
market of any Cuban seaport is its
most interesting sight. That of Ha-
vana, called the Pascaderia (the word
derived from Pescado, fish is a great
stone building, mostly roof, resting
upon arches supported by pillars. the
sides being open to secure ventilation.
The market is government institu-
ton and monopoly, and the piscato-
rial display cannot be surpassed, and
seldom equaled, in any part of the
world. Not only does the Cuban