HINTS FOR THE HOUSEWIFE.

Dominion, Volume 16, Issue 154, 17 March 1923, Page 15

HINTS FOR THE HOUSEWIFE.

Domestic Jottings.; v TO CLEAN BAMBOO. Articles made of bamboo are improved by a coat of clear varnish. First of all, wash the bamboo with warm soapy water, and allow it to dry. Perfectly clear varnish should be used, and the work must bo carried out in a warm room. Varnish applied in a cold, damp 'atmosphere is very likely to be cloudy, and this would spoil the appearance of tho bamboo. TO REMOVE SCORCH MARKS. Scorch marks on linen can generally be removed in this way: Press the juice from two peeled onions and add to it about, a tablespoonful of well grated white soap of stood quality and two ounces of fuller’s earth. Stir these ingredients into a teacup of vinegar and then put the mixture in a vessel on the fire to boil. Boil for five or ten minutes, and after the solution is cool spread it on the scorch marks rubbing it well in. After the material has dried wash it and the marks will, in most cases, disappear. Where tho scorch mark is very deer> tho process described may have to be repeated. CLEANING WHITE FELT. , Before wearing a white felt hat cover it with a paste made of powdered magnesia and water: brush this into the felt, leave until dry, and then remove it with a perfectly clean brush. This will prevent any dirt getting into the “pores” of the felt, and when the hat becomes soiled, a second application of the magnesia paste will remove all trace of dirt. If a white felt hat is to be put away for some time, wrap it in blue tissue paper. A white hat which has become vellow-looking will be much improved if a little blue is mixed with the cleaning paste, but this must be a very slqzht amount, only just enough to take away the yellow-grey hue. TO CLEAN ANi UMBRELLA. An umbrella that is shabby in appearance may be restored in this way. Into a pint of warm water put a tablespoonful of strong ammonia. Open the umbrella, and then scrub with a brush over every part.. Usd the ammonia water freely, giving special attention to any very shabby parts. Then put the umbrella in a draught, and wheivth cover is dry, it will be a fine deep black. FOR THE HOUSEWIFE. It is often' verv difficult to remove dirt which has accumulated in cracks apd crevices. For the purpose there is' nothing so good as fresh bread made into dough with water. The dough can bn pressed closely over the Part which it is desired to clean, and on being lifted up it will be found to have collected tho dust. This plan osn'be followed in the case of furniture, carvings, picture frames, and elaborate metal work.

.. The Home Cook. WPOACHED EGGS. Beat up an egg with a gill of milk. Cut the crust from as many slices of bread as required, dip the bread in the eg" and nrilk, then fry golden brown in hot fat. Poach the eggs, drain well, and put one on each slice of the toast. Put a spoonful of cream sauce on each egg and sprinkle with chopped parsley. A cream sauce for the poached egg is of ordinary melted butter to which a tablespoonful of oream or unsweetened condensed milk has been added. Any milk left over after soaking the bread should be added to the sauce.

SPANISH DESSERT. Crush 4 ounces of loaf sugar to a powder. Pour over a few drops of carmine or cochineal, and stir the sugar until in is uniformly coloured. Put it onadish in front of the fire to dry for about 15 minutes. Peel some oranges carefully,, remove all pith and strings, hilt do not break the skin of tho fruit. Roll the oranges in the coloured sugar, then arrange them on a glass dish and garnish with groen leaves, bay, mrytle, or even fbrns’. DEVILLED ‘SANDWICHES. Devilled sandwiches should always be served with hot coffee. Add 1 cup of celery, cut in half-inch slices crosswise, and cooke in boiling salted water till tender, to 2 cups of cooked fresh whole shrimps. Drain, and reserve tho liquor. Melt 3 tablespoons of butter or margarine in a saucepan, stir in 3 tablespoons of flour till well blended, then add gradually ■) cup. of celery liquid, mixed with 1 cup of milk and J cup of cream. Still till smooth, season with salt and pepper 1 to taste, and finely grated cayenne. Reheat the shrimps and celery in the sauce, and use as a filling between slices, of bread lightly toasted. Cut in triangles, and pour over some of the mixture. Sprinkle with paprika and serve very hot.

PUFFED POTATOES. Puffed potatoes are nothing but swollen shells. Place two pans on the lire —one pan of deep fat heatod until it stops bubbling and throws off a thin blue smoke, and one open frying-pan with just a little fat melted in it. Pool the potatoes and slice them into rounds about the thickness of a penny. Wipe them on a clean cloth, put them, a few at a time, into the open pan, and let them ju/ colour at both sides. They must not be cooked, but only just tinted. Now scoop them up with a drainer and drop them into tho deep fat, one or two pieces at a time, with a little oause between each so that the fat mav heat up again. They trill puff violently, swelling up like balloons. Scoop them out with a drainer, sorinkie wtih salt, and serve at once before thev fall flat.