Green peas are now to be had preserved in tins, not only very good but very cheap. Good preserved peas should be small and of a light green. When the peas are large and high coloured, they are inferior. The fact is that the former are young and the latter old. Preserved peas are best served in a course by themselves, though, of course, they can be handed round with ordinary joints. The art of sending preserved peas to table is to make them look and taste as much as possible like green peas freshly gathered. For this purpose you should act as follows:—Make the peas hot in the tin and take, say, a dozen fresh mint leaves and scald them in the water in which the tin is being made hot. Next take these hot mint leaves and put them in a vegetable dish. Open the tin of peas, strain off the liquor, and pour the peas on to the mint leaves. Now add a small saltspoonful of powdered sugar, half a saltspoonful of salt, and a small pat of butter as big as a five-shilling piece. Toss the peas for a minute or so lightly together, so that the butter is dissolved and the sugar and salt melted, and the fresh mint leaves brought to the surface. Now send the dish to table. The fresh mint leaves help to convey the idea that the peas are fresh. In everything we eat and drink imagination goes a long way. Who, for instance, would care to drink port wine out of the spout of a teapot, even if the teapot were solid silver? I might here mention in passing that a small sixpenny tin of peas will be found very useful in ornamenting a boiled leg of mutton. If you want to make a boiled leg of mutton look really nice, proceed as follows:—Of course you have boiled turnips and carrots with it. Boil the turnips whole, and when they are tender take them out of the water and cut each turnip in half and scoop out the centre, so as to make it like a cup. Now take the outside part of the carrot, which is a brighter red than the inside part, and chop it up into small pieces. Place the leg of mutton in the centre of the dish, and pour over it either some of the water in which it is boiled or some thick caper sauce. Now fill up these cups made out of the scooped turnips cut in half with a tablespoonful of green peas and a tablespoonful of chopped-up carrot alternately. It is a very simple garnish, and gives but little trouble; but what a difference it makes in the appearance!