HOUSEKEEPER

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 964, 3 February 1915, Page 2

HOUSEKEEPER

HOUSEHOLD HINTS. Always cover up the furniture, pictures, mantles, etc., before sweeping; keep door shut and windows open. Collect lirst all you want in tke way of brooms, tea leaves, dusters, etc., so as not to waste time running in and out of the room. Windows should be dusted before washing, and a little liquid ammonia added to the water used for washing windows, mirrors, china, and glass will ensure a brilliant polish. For carpets that are soiled, a wash leather wrung out of warm water to which a little liquid ammonia has been added is useful for rubbing over nna cleansing the carpet; rinse the leather requently. Dinner plates and dishes should be scraped, then wiped with newspaper to remove as much of the grease as possible before putting them in water. Wash them in hot water, to which add a little soda or extract of soap; rinse in cold water. For drying tea or breakfast china, glasses and silver, a soft towel must be used, and silver then polished with a leather before putting in the plate basket. The kitchen sink should be thoroughly scoured after the washing-up is done, and plenty of hot water poured down the drain, for this daily flushing is most essential to prevent any accumulation of fat, etc., which would soon give a nasty odour. Kettles should be rinsed out daily, and a marble put inside will prevent the accumulation of fur. Before filling a kettle in the mornng lot the tap run for a minute or two, to clear the stale water in the pipes. DRESS FOR MIDDLE-AGED WOMEN. There is, perhaps, no one whs finds ■a greater difficulty in dressing becomngly than the woman who, as Barrie aptly puts it, is "forty and a bittock, ' and there is no one on whom modern fashions are so hard or whoso needs are less considered. Take haphazard a dozen designs for up-to-date costumes, and there -will scarcely bo one in any way suited to a waist measurement over 24in., or a figure that has lost the slim grace of early years. Wjth millinery and hair-*A»s-

ing it is the same. Each succeeding style can quickly be adapted to suit a youthful countenance, but is by no means so easily achieved successfully when locks are less abundant and the .passage of time has left indelible marks on complexion and features. • Some women are apt to grow despairing as the years pass by. They give up all attempts to look smart, and limply submit to being relegated to "the shelfj" as far as appearance goes, deteriorating into the dowdiness that custom has grown to connect with the word "middle age." I always think, that is such a reutless word so savouring of lost beauty and dulness, of toneless colourings of drab and grey. Yet why need it be? Middle age has its charm every whit as much as youth, not so sparkling and apparent, perhaps, but undeniably there all the same. Who has not met the woman of fifty who is still a delight to look on, fresh. dainty, upright ; with well-coiffurea hair and well-fitting clothes? The woman who will defy time to the very last, who has not the smallest intention of ever allowing herself to be counted as one whose glory is past. She is still ail aiert and definite personality, and though perhaps, the keeping firm hold of her own attractiveness is sometimes more of an effort than she will ever admit it is an effort that is well worth the while. TONSILITIB. There are two tonsils, one on either sido of tlio mouth at the back of tho tongue. In health they are small and scarcely to be seen. They are composed of glandular tissue, and are engaged in the manufacture of white blood cells. Sometimes the tonsils become inflamed, swoollen, and painful. This condition is called tonsilitis or quinsy, and is accompanied by a fever. White patches form on the tonsils, and there is a discharge. In bad cases the swelling is so great that the tonsils almost meet, and swallowing becomes painful and difficult. The best treatment consists of swabbing the patches with a mild antiseptic, suoh" as listerine, or a dilute solution of chlorate of potash, and gargling the mouth and throat with diluted listerine or peroxide of hydrogen. A hot bath should be given, and the patient kept quiet in bed, and put on .1 light, plain diet. USEFUL RECEIPES. Specially written for this column. SEASONABLE DISHES. Blanquotte of Veal. Required: Two pounds of lean veal, loz. of butter, loz. of flour, one pint of white stock or half milk and half water, one small onion, a small bunch of parsley and herbs, quarter of a gill of cream, the yolk of an egg, salt and pepper, a little lemon-juice. Cut tho veal into neat squares. Put it in a pan with enough cold water to cover it, add tho juice of half a lemon and a little salt. Bring it to the boil, and skim it well. Next add the bunch of herbs and the chopped onion. Cover the pan, and let the contents cook gently for about an hour. Next melt' tho butter in a small saucepan, stir in the flour smoothly, let it cook over. the fire for a few minutes, taking care that it does not colour in the least, then strain in a pint of the stock. Stir the sauce over the fire until it boils, then let it simmer gently for ten minutes. See that it is nicely seasoned. Lastly, add the beaten yolk and the cream, re-beat the sauce, but do hot let it boil. . Arrange the veal neatly in a dish, pour the sauce over, and garnish with crescent-shaped croutons. Buttered Eggs. One ounce of fresh butter, two eggs, two slices of thin brown bread and butter, pepper and salt. Butter _the slices of bread and put them on a dish. Beat the eggs with the pepper and salt. Put the remainder of the butter into a frying-pan, and, when it is smoking hot, pour in the eggs and stir the whole quickly till the mixture is beginning to set. Pour it on to the bread and serve hot. Stewed Tripe with Onion Sauoe. Required: One pound of dressed tripe, half a pint of milk, two onions, half a pint of water, loz. of flour, salt, pepper, toast. Cut the tripe 1. to pieces about two inches square, or any neat size. Put these into a saucepan, cover them with cold water, heat to boiling-point. and boil for five minutes Then throw away this water, pnd scrape off any fat adhering to the pieces of tripe. Put tho tripe back m the pan with the water, milk finelychopped onions, and a little.salt. Let all these simmer for about two hours, or—this is a most important pointtill the tripe is perfectly tender. Next lay the tripe neatly on a hot dish, and keep it hot. Add to the milk, the flour, having already mixed it smoothly and thinly with a little cold milk. Stir this sauce till it re-boils, add the necessary seasoning, and pour over the tripe. Curry Balls. Required: Four ounces of well-boiled rice, half a pound of any cold meat, game, or fish minced, one teaspoonful of curry- powder, one teaspoonful of lemon-juice, two teaspoonfuls of grated onion, half an ounce of flour, loz. of butter, one gill of stock, one egg, crumbs, frying fat. Mix the finelyminced meat with the rice, melt the butter, add to it the'curry-powder and the onion, and let these cook in a saucepan over the fire for a minute or so. Next stir in the flour to the butter, add the stock, and stir the mixture over the fire until the sauce boils. Then mix into it the _ meat and rice, lemon-juice and seasoning, and let the mixture cool, when it stiffens. Shape it into neat balls, and coat them with egg and crumbs. ' Put them aside on a tin covered with a piece of soft paper, and see there is plenty of clean fat ready in the frying-pan. Heat the fat until a smoke is rising from ; it, and then fry the curry-balls a nice, tempting brown. Serve very hot,- with a U**ls sauce or gravy.