The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1902-01-31
CURIOUS ENGLISH MENUS.
Pompeiinn Apples and Butter Made
Many Years Ago In the Reign
of Queen Elizabeth.

Practically, the dinner was vcge-
tartan one, consisting, as it did, of
apples, bread, butter and wine. The
apples were at least 1,S00 years old,
having been taken from hermet.cal-
ly sealed jar unearthed at Pompeii.
The bread was made from wheat
looted from a recently opened Egyp-
tian tomb, the hieroglyphics thereon
showing it to have been grown in the
reign of that Pharaoh ''who knew net
Joseph and who afterward persisted.
together with his armies, in the Red
sea. The butter, discovered on o
stone shelf in an ancient and long
disused well, dated from the days OF
Good Queen Bess,' while the wine
was old when Columbus was a boy.
and came from a vault in Corinth.
Dinners Of sauces have been not
infrequently tried by epicures crav-
ing for new gassronomic sensations
One of the most famous was given
some few years back by an eccen'
trio member of o well=known West
End club. The soup was represented
by gravy sauce; and, in lieu of fish,
oyster and lobster sauces We're hand
ed round. Egg sauce did duty for
a joint, and bread sauce recalled the
memory of pheasant; while the alb.
sent plum pudding was suggested by
brandy sauce.
Flower breakfasts threatened to
become a society fad the season be-
fore last. The viands at these unique
repasts were entirely composed OF
flowers, and infinite was the ingenui-
ty expended in devising new and
appetizing dishes. Salad made from
the snowy, warm-tasting tios,o ms al
the nasturtium alternated with caper
jelly and myrtle-fower soup. Usual.
ly the flowers of a particular species
of pumpkin vine constituted the
principal dish. They were ye low in
color. tieshy and about the size OF
five-shilling piece, The edible
blooms were plucked before the pet,
ais were fully expanded, baked or
stewed in fresh milk, and favored
with cloves, which latter, as every.
one knows. are merely the unexpand-
ed flowers of an evergreen plant from
the Indian archipelago. The feast
was finished off with a plentiful sup
ply of candied rose leaves, violets, etc
OF strange gastronomic fads of
individual eccentrics there is literally
no end.
Death dinners, as they were called,
were gruesome fad of London So
ciety early in the sos. There is
still living certain lady of high rank
who, not so very long ago, used an.
nually to give one of these somber
banquets in memory of her dead
husband. The room was draped in
black and mauve, the linen was
mauve, the ladies wore dresses to
match, while the walters were attired
in black silk knee breeches, black
coats and mauye silk stockings. The
menu was modelled after the memori-
am cards in fashion, and even the
viands were either black, mauye or
white.
An alphabetical dinner was given
only the other day at one OF the
best known Strand hotels. Every
item on the menu began with the let
ter Z. Banquets at which the guests
reclined on couches and fed them,
selves with their fingers, as did the
fashionables of Augustan Rome, CON
stituted another society fad that was
exceedingly popular for awhile. OF
course, the menus for these queer
dinners had to be so contrived as to
permit of the guests feeding them.
selves with the minimum of discom.
fort and grease. Among the items
comprised in bill of fare that lies
before me as I write are bouillon in
cups, asparagus, fried smelts, lamb
chops en- papillote, woodcock and
cheese straws.
The most eccentric diner the world
has ever seen was certain regular
customer of famous Partisan res
taurant known to the walters as
1.-THE butter man. He ate next to
nothing, but his soup toureen, filled
with consomme specially prepared
for him, was always put before him.
He took few spoonfuls and had it
taken away. Next came a whole
fillet of beef, which he barely tasted.
The next course consisted of a fine
fat capon or four quails, but which
| ever it was he consumed of it but
one mouthful, together with two
lettuce leaves and one radish. His
dessert consisted of four grapes
never a single one more-and a tiny
cup of black and highly concentrated
coffee. A bottle of the best claret
and another of champagne were in.
variably served with the repast, but
he only whetted his lips with drop
from each and let them go. He took
two of these meals n day. and the
price for each meal was 100 francs.
But this was not all. Every time the
butter man got up from his extraor-
binary meal he gave 40 francs to the
| head waiter, 20 francs to his table
waiter, 10 francs to the lady cashier
and 5 francs to the porter Thus
each meal came to 200 francs, or
eS! One day the mysterious million
aire doubled his tips all around; the
next day he went away and was never
seen again.
Grain transportation in Turkey.
Horses, mules and donkeys go load
| ed to market in Turkey. but the road