I had won a reputation as a cook by
making a much appreciated Bengal curry, and an English "roly-poly"
pudding, and when I offered my services, Mrs. S. kindly accepted
them, and she and I, with the Chinese cook and a Chinese prisoner to
assist us, have been cooking for a day and a half. I wanted to make
a gigantic trifle, a dish not known here, and we hunted every store,
hoping to find almonds and raspberry jam among the "assorted
notions," but in vain; however, grated cocoa-nut supplied the place
of the first, and a kind friend sent a pot of the last. The
Chinamen were very diverting. The cook looked on, and laughed
constantly, and perhaps was a little jealous: at all events when he
thought we had spoilt some cakes in the oven, he capered into Mrs.
S.'s room, gesticulating, and exclaiming satirically, "Lu, Lu! cakes
so good, cakes so fine!" No intoxicants were to be used on the
occasion, Hilo notions being rigid on this subject; but I hope it
was not a crime that I clandestinely used two glasses of sherry,
without which my trifle would have been a failure. We worked hard,
and made trifle, sponge cake, pound cake, spiced cake, dozens of
cocoa-nut cakes and drops; custards, and sandwiches of potted meat,
and enjoyed our preparations so much that we found it hard to
exchange kitchen for social duties, and go to "Father Lyman," who
entertained the king and a number of Hilo folk in the evening.
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