Hilda's diary of a Cape housekeeper

For orange jelly you want 4 eggs, 6 sheets of white transparent gelatine, 2 sheets of red — this combination gives the jelly a lovely colour (but if you cannot* get that, a 6d. packet of gelatine will do)— i small cupful of sifted sugar, the juice of 4 oranges, strained, and the rind of one orange this should be peeled off very thin and put into a jug with boiling water for a few minutes to draw out the flavour before using. Soak the gelatine in cold water, just covering the sheets for a quarter of an hour ; then pour on the soaked gelatine the water in which the orange-peel was soaked. Whisk the yolks of the 4 eggs with the sifted sugar for a quarter of an hour, then add the juice of the 4 oranges — continue to whisk well — then add the whites of the eggs whisked to a stiff froth, and lastly the dissolved gelatine. Stir all well, pour into a cold wet porcelain mould over-night (or if made to be eaten the same day, set it on ice till wanted). Serve with whipped cream or rich custard. Fairy Cream or Orange Pudding. — For this take i oz. gelatine soaked in cold, and then dissolved in half a teacupful of boiling water, 6 ozs. sifted or rolled sugar, some grated orange-peel, i tumbler of white wine, the juice of 6 oranges (strained), i breakfast-cup of cream. The wine, gelatine, and sugar are first boiled together, and the orange-juice added when boiling. It is then removed from the fire. When it is nearly cold, but before it stiffens, add the cream beaten to a stiff froth, then pour it into a wetted porcelain mould to cool. Lemon Sago. — One of the Army Nursing Sisters, Sister O’Ryan, gave me this recipe for lemon sago. Take half a SAG-O AND PONTAC SHAPE Az^g. teacupful of sago and 2 teacupfuls of boiling water. Stir over the fire till clear ; if too thick add a little more water. Add the juice of 2 lemons and the grated rind, and sweeten with golden syrup. Garnish the mould with slices of lemon, pour in the mixture, and add a layer of slices on the top. Sago and Pontac Shape. — Mrs. Clayton’s recipe for sago and pontac shape is as follows. Take a cupful of sago and boil in sufficient water to make it clear. Sweeten with a cup of sugar and stir in a glass of pontac. Put in a mould to cool. August 24. — Flower-holder. — I must note down how prettily S arranged the flowers for luncheon. There was a large old blue-and-white bowl, so wide for its depth that it was difficult to make the flowers stand in it. She quickly twisted some coarse wire about till it resembled a large ball — with one flat side on which it stood — of large open meshes. K said it looked like a battered old muzzle, which well describes it. This was laid in the bowl, and the stalks of the flowers held by the network of meshes so that they stood out beautifully, as well as the light grass and maidenhair-fern leaves. We shall always keep this mesh netting for placing in our big bowl in future. It has the same sort of result as the strips of lead the Japanese use to hold long-stalked flowers in position in a shallow bowl. ' "A’' ' f. - ' ' % '' I .V ’T I 1^' * ~ ^ '• « i ii i .'J ■7.Va' A \ N September September 2. — Flowery September. — September is a lovely spring month, and the whole country is a flower-garden in the western or rather south-western part of the Cape Colony.