THE KITCHEN CHEERFUL

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 60, 4 December 1926, Page 18

THE KITCHEN CHEERFUL

Wheu the decorating expert turns Her attention to the kitchen and its decoration it is usually the purely utilitarian aspect of the situation which absorbs her. This is all very right as far as it goes, but it does not go the whole of the distance, for there is a human side to the matter, which the mistress can only ignore at her peril. I mean the side which is concerned with the soul-state (to use a high-falutin’ word, but one which does express the crux of the matter) oi the maid who is to make the kitchen domain her headquarters for the term of her sojourn. Now, a kitchen may be decorated and equipped in the most appropriate fashion conceivable, and yet be a highly unpleasing place in which to pass one’s time It may breathe forth assurance of efficiency, cleanliness, and half a dozen other desirable domestic virtues, and at the same time reduce its occupant to anything but a becomingly virtuous frame of mind, b'or examplej I have known kitchens that, cost their owners as much as, or even more than, any other apartment in the house, on account of the expense of lining their walls with the very latest thing in washable tiles, and covering the floors in the last word in compositional floorings, calculated to facilitate cleansing operations to a remarkable extent. But what actually eventuated was a disgruntled domestic, full of complaints regarding the inhumanity of a mistress who conferred upon her quarters that merely reminded her of a railway waitingroom, and refused to provide her with one hint of that homeliness and cosiness that all of us find necessary to our daily round.

Again,' to many a conscientious housewife a white kitchen, spotless in its panoply of paint and paper, presents itself as a be-all and end-all of kitchen politics. But this, agaittj is apt to scare the domestic (who is a shy creature in these days of shortage), and, reminding her of nothing save her immediate job, to send, her to surroundings at once less hygienic and more congenial. So, when we are considering the matter of kitchen furbishments, do let us remember that this is going to be a home as well as a workshop Woman cannot live by work alone, and there is ever something in the feminine temjierament which res.pomls—and responds generously—to'# that which makes its appeal to the beauty-loving, comfort-appreciating side of it., Unless vou happen to be in the exalted position of being able to offer vour maids a servants’ hall in which to spend their leisure, you are bound to find that anv consideration bestowed on this aspect of the kitchen is bound to reap its reward in increase of contentedness.

Cough Candy. Brown sugar, 3-jlb.; horehound (herb), 20z.; oil' of aniseed, 1 teaspoonful; water, lj pints. Boil the water and herb slowly for 15 minutes, then strain, add the sugar to the clear liquor and boil to 255 deg. Fahr. Remove from heat and rub the syrup against the side of the pan with spatula until it becomes a dark, cloudy mass, then pour in buttered tins.