4 Oranges.
3 Bananas.
1 Cup of sugar.
⅓ Cup of water.
1 Cup of claret wine.
Peel the oranges, slice them in thin slices, and remove the seeds. Peel and slice the bananas. Arrange both in alternate layers in a glass dish. Make a syrup of the sugar and water by boiling them together, without stirring, for ten minutes; then add the wine, and remove at once from the fire; cool it, and pour it over the fruit. In half an hour it will be ready to serve.
It will not do to keep this dish long, as the fruit shrinks and loses its freshness. One fourth of an inch is the proper thickness for the slices of orange, and one sixth or one eighth for the bananas.
ORANGE BASKETS
From the end opposite the stem end of an orange cut out sections in such a way as to form a basket with a handle.
The body of the basket should be more than half the orange. With a knife and spoon cut and scrape out all the pulp from the inside. Fill the baskets with blocks of orange jelly, or with raspberries, strawberries, or other fruits. They are pleasing to children, and are pretty for luncheon or tea. The edges may be scalloped, and diamonds or rounds cut out of the sides, if one has time.
IRISH MOSS BLANC-MANGE
Irish moss, or carrageen, is a sea moss which grows abundantly along the shores of Europe and America. After gathering, it is dried and bleached in the sun, and then packed for market. It is exceedingly rich in an easily digested vegetable jelly, and is also valuable for food because of its mineral constituents.
To Prepare.