XLII Uncle John and Aunt Lucy

4 pecans 4 almonds

Soften the gelatin in milk for five minutes, and dissolve by setting the dish in boiling water. Add the sugar. Allow the mixture to cool. When it begins to congeal, add the flavorings. Beat in the whipped cream, and continue beating until it is firm. Fold in the egg-white and the marshmallows cut in cubes. When the mixture begins to set, pile lightly in sherbet cups. Place one-half of a toasted marshmallow on the top, and arrange pecan meats and candied cherries in a conventional design. Set aside one hour to cool and harden.

Bettina colored the mixture with vegetable coloring of a very delicate green. Then on the top she placed a teaspoonful of white whipped cream, then the toasted marshmallow and the different fruits. Bettina browned the marshmallows quickly in the oven, after she had cut them the desired shape. She used cups with handles, and decorated them with fluffy bows of variegated tulles. To make these bows, she took strips of each color desired, one inch wide, tied them together, and "fluffed them out." She might have gained a real rainbow effect by dividing the marshmallow cream (when mixed, but not yet firm) into three bowls, and coloring them green, lavender and pink, with delicate vegetable colors. Then, having beaten in the whipped cream, she might have placed in each sherbet cup three layers, pink, lavender and green. Then, on the top, she might have placed the whipped cream.

CHAPTER LIX

RUTH COMES TO LUNCHEON

"A ND here we are, busily planning Alice's affairs," said Bettina, "when we might be talking of yours, Ruth. Are you sure, sure, sure, that you don't want any parties, or showers, or affairs of any sort?" "Sure, sure, sure!" said Ruth, emphatically. "I may be silly, Bettina, but to me such a fuss beforehand takes something away from the beauty of the wedding! And then there are other reasons. We've had to postpone building till next summer, and may not be married till the house is done—you know that. So we'll have been engaged a long time. It seems to me that after a long engagement like ours, it is better to have a simple wedding and no parties. Alice's is happening just as I always expected that it would—a surprising announcement, a short engagement, and many parties, with an elaborate wedding as the climax! Sometimes I think that sort would be the kind to have—but you see, Bettina, when you're expecting to be married only once, you want to have just the kind that seems best to you." "And yours will be just right for you, Ruth," said Bettina, warmly. "You are you, and Fred is Fred, and I can't imagine either of you caring for much excitement. And when you are in your new house——"

[200]

"I'm going to have you over at least once a week to just such a dear little luncheon as this! Or rather—as much like it as I can devise. Bettina, how did you have time to cook such good things?" "Well," said Bettina, "Bob will have these same things for dinner tonight, with the addition of some cold sliced meat. So now, Ruth, we have a long afternoon before us—to sew and talk!"

Bettina's luncheon consisted of: Bettina's Mexican Salad Brown Bread Apricot Preserves Orange Cake Hot Chocolate

BETTINA'S RECIPES

(All measurements are level) Bettina's Mexican Salad (Four portions) 1 cucumber diced 2 tomatoes cut in one-inch cubes 1 C-cut celery ¼ C-cooked beets 1 T-chopped parsley 2 T-green pepper, cut fine 1/3 C-cottage cheese 1 t-salt 2/3 C-salad dressing 4 lettuce leaves

Mix all the ingredients in order given and serve on lettuce leaves. Brown Bread (Baked) (Two loaves) 2 C-graham flour 2 C-white flour 2 t-soda 1 t-salt ½ C-molasses 2 C-sour milk

Mix well the graham flour, white flour, soda and salt. Add the molasses and sour milk; mix thoroughly. Pour into two well-buttered bread tins, and bake forty minutes in a moderate oven. Orange Cake (Sixteen pieces) 1/3 C-butter 1 C-sugar 2 eggs beaten separately Grated rind of one orange 3 t-baking powder ¼ t-salt

[201]