EVE’S Vanity Case

Feilding Star, Volume 8, Issue 2504, 18 March 1930, Page 2

EVE’S Vanity Case

TO CORRESPONDENTS The Lady Editor will be pleased to receive for publication in the “Woman’s Healm” Items of social or personal news. Such items should be fully authenticated, and engagement notices must bear signatures. ESSENTIALS IN SOUP MAKING. This is the duy of tinued food, and it is remarkable how particularly nic e sonic varieties are, and soup J* certainly no exception. for about sixpence you can obtain quite a fairsized tin, which may be added to without spoiling the contents, and in these days of rush and hurry many women are only too glad to liave their household tasks lightened by letting someone else do the cooking. But on th e other hand there ar e those who strongly obj- <<t to anything of the canned order, therefore they may be glad to have (me or two hints on the subject of soup making—especially if they are by no means experienced cooks. Like everything else soup requires a good deal of time and trouble to make it really satisfactory. There is no dish which seems to be “guessed” at more than soup. Soule meat, plenty of water, a haphazard quantity of flavouring, and plenty of hard boiling, usually results in a liquid which, when it comes to table, represents u clear mass, with some dark brown sediment at th e bottom of the bow!. This is often disignated beef tea. The principal art of making good, rich broth is to so proportion the ingredients that one flavour will not predominate, and that the additions shall blend. Care must be taken that all herbs and roots are well washed, and perfectly free from grit, and that too much .water js not allowed for the quantity of meat. Olie quart of water to on e pound of meat is generally allowed for everyday soup but for broths, where s peeial richness is required half that qiianlity only is necessary. Gentle stewing or simmering is absolutely essential. Directly the liquid begins to boil its chances of success are considerably lessened. The lid of the saucepan should b e kept tightly closed, its occasional lifting being sufficient for wholesomeness. In cold weather soups ar e best prepared tli e day before they ar e needed, us there. is then the opportunity to remove the cold fat from the top. If it is necessary to take it from th e hot stock, then success is usually obtained bypassing a cloth across the top wrung out of ic-e-cold water. Perfectly clean blotting patter, too, is sometimes used. During tho cooking, the scum must alweys be removed from the top. Clear soup will be quite spoiled unless tills precaution be taken.

Except for white soups, which should be thickened with at rovcroot. tb e tinest and freshest rice flour is th e most suitable medium for giving tlie required "body.” (By die way, rie e flour must not be confounded with ground rice.) This should be added at th e last, and incorporated with tho flavourings of pounded spice, catsup, etc.

.Thickened soups should lie almost the consistency of thin cream. The ric e flour must b e moistened sparingly at lirst with a little of tlie liquor, and beaten with the back of the spoon until there are no lumps. Tbe soup lias been added and then be allowed to simmer for 10 niiuuteg afterwards. A little less than two ounces will thicken one quart of good soup. To brown it place a little sugar, in. an iron spoon. Let it stand °n the flr e until it is a rich brown colour (not in any way scorched), when add to the liquid. If soup is kept from day to day, no vegetables should b e used. Stock madg from meat only' will keep ever so much longer, the vegetable beingapt to turn the meat sour, especially in hot weather. And of course there is no reason why th e vegetables should not bo added as required.

Dried herbs are most useful to have. You never know when you arc going to run out of parsley and so on, and sometimes parsley is very difficult to obtain. If you cannot dry tho herbs for yourself then you will have to buy them all ready for use in bottles. These will last a long time, and cannot be looked upon as an extravagance. On the other

liuml, If .you are fortunate enough to have a stock, they should bp tied into pnjn'r bags and hung in the most practicable place. Lemon thyme and marjoram ar e both delicious, and should be included \vlier e possible. And above all, do not omit to strain —and strain again. I‘en soup should have fried bread as an accompaniment; ; br iths have small squares of toast; hut ordinary soup is served by itself.

Before attempting any particular kind of soup, the foundation must be prepared. The l>asi s tor alj, varieties is known as brown and wliit e stock To make tile former a shin of beef is required, and to each pound put one quart of water. This must lie cold, and one teaspoonful of salt must lie added. Boil up slowly , and add some well-washed . vegetables (say half a carrot, an onion, a piece of celery, and some, well-washed herbs I. Simmer steadily for four hours, when strain. White stock is made in exactly Hie same manner, only that, veal is used Instead of the beef. When you have either of vour foundations made you can go ahead with your special recipe from where it reads “Take one quart of brown (or white) stock,” and make up your dish accordingly. There are excellent recipes for soup of different kinds hut in many cases the making of the foundation is left to tb e imagination. KEEP CHILDREN’S TOYS CLEAN ■ Toys receive such rough treatment and are so apt to be dropped in the street or left lying on the floor, that they quickly become soiled, and if they are not cleaned frequently they may also harbour germs, and be the means of introducing infectious disease into the nursery. Soft furry boys, such as teddy bears, dogs and cats, can be cleaned by being dipped into a bath <Jf v,,lr(il water and soap flakes,' rinsed, and dried with soft cloths. Tile fur must then be brush-, ed, first the right way and then the wrong, and the woolly animals left in the open air until they are perfectly dry. Tlie china faces of (lolls, and even some of the composition ones, are best washed with fine white flannel and tepid water. Rocking horses, carts, trains, and other wooden toys can he scrubbed if they are made of plain wood.

MOMENTARY MUSINGS There are some people who think it impolite to express preferences. When almost implored to make a definite choice, whether it be of a form of entertainment or a sweet at tlie dinner table, their invariable answer is “1 don’t mind I” It is simply no use offering alternative suggestions to such types. The only way out is to make their dates for them, select their theatres or con certs, or offer them solely and uncompromisingly one of flic two sweets on the sideboard. You will* never get any “forrader” with the ”1 don't minders.” Penally, moreover, they are the most shocking prevaricators They, never fait to make you realise that they mind very much indeed when, having imposed the necessity of choice upon you, that choice proVc s Contrary to tlu-ir secret wish. Once, as a longsuffering hostess, my temptation to turn and rend such a type was so strong that I gave way to it. “But you do mind!” I spluttered. “You’ve made it only too plain that you mind tremendously whenever my desperate guesses go wrong. I'm not a thought-reader, you know, and when you say you honestly don't mind reading a story to the children, or watering tli e garden or going shopping with me, I take you at your word. Only to discover that you’ve been bored stiff. My guest cut short her visit. And, for once, I permitted myself the unaccustomed luxury of (lie phrase: “I don’t mind!” And really meant it. KEEP RECORDS OF YOUIt CHILDREN’S CHARM (By Mary Lovat) How It May Be l Done.—A clever portrait-painter tells me that quite half His commissions arise from the natural wish of parents to immortal ise the charm of their children at fir© attractive stages, of infancy and adolescence. “I want,” says the mother, “to have a record of Joan and. Peter,

while their beauty is still unspoilt, in a few years, childhood’s charm WilS have gone for ever, and even memory will fade in time. Paint them as they are now, so that T may have no chance of forgetting.”

The less wealthy mother may not bo able to take quite the same means of achieving this end. But there are other ways. I know of

one parent who takes a snapshot Of her son on cadi birthday, and keeps ain jalbum especially for these records. Another is investing inn, “movie” camera, which she intends to use every time a new chapter in her children’s lives is begun. Charles going to school for the first time, Mary conducting her first tea-party, the baby taking his first walkinglesson —all these and a hundred other occasions offer so many opportunities for adding to the valuable archiv es.

But perhaps most delightful of all is the new gramophone gadget that enables a. mother to recall the very, tones of her children’s voices. For a very modest sum, she may have a gramophone record of Tommy Tucker singing for his supper, or of Betty Briglit-eyes lisping a nursery recitation. To achieve such records you must take the youngsters to a salon where, in perfect privacy, yon will bo able t° induce them to do the talking or the singing while the apparatus is doing the restDainty T.inon. —A return to tablecloths is predicted by the linen manufacturers, who find an increasing demand for them in place of luncheon sets and dinner mats. There is no great fondness, however, for damask cloths and table napkins. All the newest designs are of plain, soft linen of medium weave, and ecru tints have taken the place of dead white. Few of the new cloths are unadorned, beautiful as is the linen of which they ore made. Edges are hem-stitched, and often there are borders of drawn-thread work above the hems. Elaborate dinner cloths have borders of linen lace, some of them six inches deep, and a line of insertion to match is let ill to the centre of the cloth in a square or a round design. The table napkins match the cloths, except that the lace decoration is confined to the centres and that the borders are neatly hemstitched. Ecru linen afternoon tea cloths are very beautiful in the new designs. The linen itself is smooth and very finely woven, and, for ornasmentations of filet or other fine lace. Dace mats for the dressing table have givens place to f ecru linen duchesse sets, and the newest sideboard cloths and covers for small tables, as well as carving cloths, tray cloths, and supper cloths, are all of tliis new softly tinted linen

NEW SANDWICH SERVERS The hostess who is responsible for party preparations will welcome the novel paper lace sandwich servers which will save unnecessary passing of dishes at tile table. Each “server” consists of several doilies. Olio lies flat upon the dish, aud the others are shaped so that they stand up, making four divisions on tli„ dish to hold different kinds of sandwiches.