HINTS FOR THE HOUSEWIFE.

Dominion, Volume 16, Issue 171, 7 April 1923, Page 15

HINTS FOR THE HOUSEWIFE.

The Home Cook. PEAR SURPRISE. Make some custard, using the yolks of two eggs, and when it is cool pour it into a glass dish and arrange on it stewed or tinned pears. Bu' 7 some unfilled meringue cases,' and in each half place a spoonful of apricot jam and lay carefully on the pears so that the jam is concealed. If a richer sweet is required, whipped cream, mixed with jam, may be used as a filling and be heaped up in the middle of the bowl. STUFFED APPLES. Take one large cooking apple for each person, score round the centre with a knife, and peel the skin from the stem half of the fruit. Core the apples with a corer or sharp knife, and fill the cavities with a mixture of 5 tablespoons of brown sugar, half a cup of seedless raisins, and one-eighth teaspoon of cinnamon. Put the apples : n a baking dish with half an inch of water round and any of the mixture left over. Bake in a moderate oven for 30-40 minutes, or until the fruit ig tender. This sweet can be served hot or cold, and either plain or with whipped cream. ORANGE TARTPeel and slice three oranges and six bananas and arrange them in a pie dish, sprinkling them with chopped nuts and brown sugar. Cover with pastry and bake in a moderate oven for about three-quarters of an hour This combination of fruits is excellent, the acid of the oranges, supplying what is needed in this respect in the bananas. A little freshly-grated coconut adds a very delicious flavour

. ORANGE AND TAPIOCA MOULD. Take three ounces of tapioca, three oranges, two ounces of sugar, one pint of water, and four tablespoonfuls of cream. Let the tapioca soak for three hours in the water and then put both into a saucepan with the grated rind of two of the. oranges, and simmer slowly until quite clear and thoroughly cooked. Remove the pan from the fire, stir in the sugar and the strained juice of the three oranges. When the mixture has cooled a little turn it into a glass dish. Whip the cream, sweeten it to taste, and pile it on the top oi the tapioca. RAGOUT OF BEETROOT. Ingredients.—2 cooked beetroots, 2 onions, 2oz. of margarine, loz. of flour. 1 dessertspoonful of vinegar, half pint of white stock or milk, 1 teaspoonful of sugar, salt, pepper, mashed potatoes, chopped parsley. Method.—Peel and mince the onions, melt the margarine, add the onions, and cook gently without browning for ten minutes, stir in the flour, and gradually add the stock or milk. Stir until boiling, then add the beetroot, peeled and cut into slices. Cover the pan and simmer for twenty mimltes. Add the vinegar and sugar, and season to taste, then serve in the centre of a border of mashed potatoes on a Kot dish. Sprinkle the chopped parsley over.

Domestic Jottings. WHEN “WOOLLENS” SHRINK. ' Woollen articles that have shrunk can often be much improved by being ' washed in soapsuds and rinsed in clean i soapsuds instead of clear water. Repealed wa slung in this way often restores them to their original size and L fluffiness. Woollen garments should always bo squeezed through warm 1 soapy water and rinsed in clean soapy water of the same temixjrature. Rubbing with soap and washing in water that is too hot usually causes shrinking. TO REMOVE TRANSFER MARKS. “Sunshine” asks how to remove a yellow transfer mark from green fuji ■ silk. The only moans of removing , transfer marks is to soak them with ; methylated spirits. Moisten the mark i with the methylated spirit, lay it face downwards on a soft folded white cloth, and rub gently on the back of the material with a small wad of cloth moistened with the spirit. Lift the material every now and then and change the surface of the folded cloth underneath. Continue the rubbing until the mark has been dissolved. , TO CLEAN A KITCHEN TABLE. It should be borne in mind that soap and soda in water tend to give a black appearanoe to white, unpainted wood, such as that used for a kitchen table. For ordinary cleaning there is nothing so good as silver-sand and water applied vigorously with a scrubbing brush. When a kitchen table is a bad colour mix three parts of pipeclay and one part of chloride of lime with water until a paste is formed, then spread this on the wood and leave until it is almost dry. Finally, scrub off with plain warm water and the wood will generally be found to lie clean. If the wood has been much neglected tho process described may be repeated after a few days. Spots on wood will yield to fuller’s earth left over the marks for several hours.

DESTROYING SILVER FISH. Make a thick boiled starch paste, and poison it liberally with arsenic. Spread this on bits of cardboard .and let them dry. Slap the bits of cardboard' into crevices where the pest has been noticed. Care of course must be exercised not to put them in places to which children or animals have access Methods recommended by readers of these columns are: (1) Sprinkle insectibane freely wherever the silver fish have been seen. Lift up the edges of carpets and rugs and sprinkle insectibane underneath, as the silver fish often take refuge there. (2) Brush over the backs of pictures, photographs, and books, and paint the skirting boards, the edges of the carpets, and an inch or two of the floor next the wall with spirits of turpentine. The silver fish have a special liking for wallpapers and the, backs of books and pictures on which starch or flour paste have been used. Where tho pest is very bad only drastic fumigation is of any use, ana this must be done by an expert