=Old Fashioned Strawberry Short Cake.=--The real old-fashioned strawberry short cake may be made with sour cream or rich sour milk and soda, or sweet milk and baking powder. Sometimes an egg is added and a tablespoonful of sugar, but it is a far cry from the French strawberry short cake of hotels and restaurants which is really a cake, either sponge or layer, with whole berries between the layers and thick whipped cream or a meringue on top. To make the genuine old-fashioned sour milk biscuit short cake, which is really more tender than that made with sweet milk, put four cups sifted pastry flour in a mixing bowl with a half teaspoonful of salt and mix well. Add three tablespoonfuls of butter and chop fine, using a silver knife. Dissolve a level teaspoonful of soda in a little hot water and stir into a large cupful of sour cream or rich sour milk. When it stops "purring" add a tablespoonful of sugar and one well beaten egg to the milk and turn into the sifted flour. Mix well together with a spatula or flexible knife, handling as little as possible, then turn out on to a floured board. The dough should be soft enough to roll easily. Divide and roll lightly and quickly into two thin sheets. These may be baked separately in well-greased round tins in a paper bag or laid one on top of the other with a thin coating of butter between and baked in one bag. Bake in a very hot oven. When done, separate. Have ready a quart of ripe berries washed, crushed and sugared. This should have been done before beginning the dough, so that the sugar will have time to draw out the rich juice of the berries. Cover the lower half of the short cake with a thick layer of these berries, place the second cake on top and cover with the rest of the crushed and sweetened berries or large whole ones dusted with powdered sugar. Serve with thick cream or a crushed berry sauce. PUDDINGS. =Almond Pudding.=--Blanche one pound of almonds and grind to a smooth paste with two teaspoonfuls of rose water. Add a wine glass of wine and a half cupful of cream thickened with a large spoonful of bread crumbs. Add a half pound of sugar, seven well beaten eggs and a half teaspoonful of grated nutmeg. Put in a thin walled pudding dish, set in bag, seal and bake half an hour. =Apple and Fig Pudding.=--Select large tart baking apples, wash and core. Stuff each apple with a fig rolled small as possible or chopped, as preferred. Put in buttered bag and bake slowly until tender, but not broken. Place in a glass dish and cover with a thick boiled custard. Decorate each apple with a candied or Maraschino cherry and serve with sweet wafers.