WOMEN’S WORLD.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVII, Issue 220, 15 August 1927, Page 11

WOMEN’S WORLD.

The friends of Mrs F. Pycroft, junr., will regret to hear that she is indisposed. Mrs Richmond Hooper has gone to Auckland to meet her husband, Dr R. Hooper, who is returning from a trip abroad. Mrs Bale and her sister, Miss McHardy, are expected shortly, returning from a trip to Honolulu. Mrs H. Bacon, of Milson’s Line, who was compelled to enter the hospital to undergo a serious operation, is progressing as well as can be expected. The secretary of the Women’s Division of tho Farmers’ Union has had an intimation from the Prime Minister that Cabinet has granted £l5O to the division to assist in extending the work of the "bush nurse and housekeeper to the people in the back-blocks who are unable to pay for such service. There was a large gathering in the Early Settlers' Hall, Wellington, on Saturday afternoon, when a party was given in honour of Mrs Cornfora, one of the oldest surviving early settlers of Wellington, who was present with four other generations of her family. Mrs Cornford is 96 years old, and she came 'to New Zealand in the ship Gertrude in 1841, and has lived in Wellington ever since. She resides at present with her daughter, Mrs Eagle, at Karori.

GIRL GUIDE PARTY, On Saturday night the Ist Palmer-, ston North Company of Girl Guides celebrated their second birthday by giving a party and the three other Palmerston companies in All Saints’ schoolroom. The executive committee were present and competitions, games and campfire songs were the order of entertainment and each patrol had a little play. Several guides received their service stars, having completed one, two or three years’ membership as the case may be. Miss C. E. Warburton, District Commissioner, presented the service stars and Airs Vasey, who is the captain of the Ist Company, organised the entertainment which everyone thoroughly enjoyed.

THE SECOND ACT OF FRANCE.

“The clatter of dishes is as much a part of France a 3 the chatter of dressmakers.” A Frenchwoman’s first thought in the morning is the dinner, not the housework. She spares neither time nor trouble in the preparation of meals. She is not only careful of the price of her materials, but the quality also greatly matters. She goes to market alone or with her maid and carefully selects her purchases, accepting no substitutes. A Frenchwoman scorns margarine, egg powders or packets of made-up cake mixtures and jellies and she very seldom buys tinned foods. Saucepans of every sort, which are kept most scrupulously clean, outside as in; a variety of sieves, through which to pass her soup and gravies; all these are the essential equipment of even a moderate kitchen. Madame is a connoisseur of prunes and always uses wooden spoons. Soups, gravies and sauces are her specialty. Every liquid is sternly reduced so that the flavour may be concentrated; a pint becomes a mere spoonful. Into the stock pot go all the odd scraps of meat, bacon rind, pieces of bread, trimmings of vegetables and bones. She reduces the stock slowly and so makes the foundation of soups and gravies and she vigorously cleans out the pot and starts afresh every twp days. Pea pods, asparagus ends, outside leaves of lettuces, all form the foundation of soups. There is no waste in a French kitchen.

Sauces are not- lrurriedJy made at tlie last moment. The basis of every sauce —indeed one might say of all French cookinsr —is fresh butter. Flavourings are added in different wave. That daily sauce which is known as white sauce, which is melted butter and flour cooked together with milk, can be varied by the addition of onions or tomatoes, herbs or cheese. There is much scope for individual ideas in the making of sauces and the flavouring will be the success of the dish. A Frenchwoman will sometimes boil a few pepper pods in water until all the water lias boiled away and then in that saucepan will make her sauce. This is a better method than that of adding ground pepper. Tlio formation of all thick gravies is a carefully prepared “roux,” made by the frying of flour and butter, before adding the greater quantity of liquid. Wine is very often added to meat gravies and sauces. Meats may be simply cooked and braising is the favourite way of cooking meat. Since the lid of the pan is always kept on tightly the full flavour is conserved. A French woman does not just merely put the meat into the pan or the oven. First of all she cuts up vegetables, onions, a few carrots, a bay leaf, shallots, cloves, a faint suspicion of garlic. These are browned on the fire with fresh butter, some stock is then added, the meat put in and the lid put firmly on and the whole allowed to cook gently until tender. The family roast is smeared with butter before it goes into the oven and all frying is done in butter or oil. Vegetables are a very important item in the French “cuisine” and are often served as a separate course. Spinach is pressed dry and then passed through a fine wire sieve and finally beaten up with a little white sauce or cream. French beans are carefully stripped and if they are a little old can be chopped up. Lettuces may be braised; peas are cooked with a few lettuce leaves and an onion or two and then served with butter. No trouble is too much for the French woman to make her vegetables tasty. French purees are ordered always by the doctor when ho puts his patient on a diet. A “puree de pomtnes de terre,” is very different from English mashed potatoes. A puree of chestnuts is a delightful concoction. Turnips, cleery root, apples may be cooked and beaten to a jmree with good results. A nugget of butter is always added at the last moment before the final beat of the wooden spoon. A French woman realises that thefinal touch to a dish will make it a success or failure and she decorates her “plat” with care. A clump of bright green watercress at the side of a meat dish; finely chopped parsley is sprinkled over potatoes already shining with butter. Vegetables are arranged with an eye to colour, an olive or studded letture make all the difference to the look of a salad. A “jardiniere” or bouquets of different vegetables set round a roast of some sort makes it more appetising when sent to the table. A dish of cold meat set about with golden jelly is much nicer than yesterday’s joint just set on a dish. At the end of a French recipe is “dresser le,” meaning dress it or trim it. There is truth in the saying that French cooking is an art as well as a craft.

LADIES’ GOLF. The following is the draw for the

NOTES BY “GERMAINE.”

L. silver and bronze medal competition to-morrow: Mrs C. E. Brown and Aliss 0. Haggitt, Miss M. Guy and Miss P. Abraham, Miss S. WatWn and Airs R. P. Abraham, Mrs G. Dixon and Airs Gaisford, Miss W. Scott and Mrs A. Seifert, Mrs H. Collinson and Aliss E. West, Airs G. Trevor and Miss Marie Sim, Mrs Lines and Airs L. Seifert, Miss Moore and Miss F. Guy, Airs P. Sim and Aliss G. Seifert, Aliss N. Lyons and Aliss E. Alacmillan, Mrs Pope a bye, "Airs Wright and Airs J. Fisher, Miss AI. Bendall and Aliss Cunninghame, Mrs Ronald Abraham and Aliss L. Fowler, Aliss F. Alonrad and Mrs Gabriel, Airs R. AlcAlillan and Aliss Goldingham, Aliss Kearins and Miss A. Wason, Mrs Arthur Bendall and Aliss Pringle, Airs J. Miller and Aliss Margaret Sim, Miss Ashworth and Aliss Alildred Sim, Airs Wingate a bye, Airs L. Cooper and Airs AlcDowell, Airs R. Hooper and Mrs Stout, Mrs F. Oakley and Mrs Forrest, Miss Lorna Alillar and Miss G. AlcHardy, Airs Ekstedt and Mrs A. AI. Ongley, Aliss J. McFarlane and Mrs Hall, Aliss Parsons and Aliss B. McFarlane, Airs Keeble and Aliss N. Wood, Miss Thomson and Aliss AI. Fitzherbert, Airs N. Mackie and Mrs F. Coombs, Mrs J. Stevenson and Airs Thompson. _ Any one unable to play is requested to ring Airs J. P. Innes, phone No. 5168, beforo 11 a.m. The committee have decided to extend the time limit for the finals in the senior and middle- , weight championships, also the gun 1 club competitions until August 31.

SOCIAL FUNCTIONS. The High School old girls held the first of their series of social gatherings on Saturday evening, games, competitions, and dancing being indulged in. Alusical items were rendered by Miss R. Purton (pianoforte solo) and Misses G. AlcKenzie, C. Wood and R. Purton (orchestral selections). Airs Gilray and Alisses H. Litchfield and B. Young carried out the duties of hostesses. The next function will take the form of a dajjce. On Saturday evening last in the Oddfellows’ Hall tho Social Club held a monster euchre tourney in aid of the Alayor’s unemployment fund, when there was the good attendance of 252 players. Play-commenced at 8 p.m. and continued until 10.30 p.m., when the following were declared the prize winners : Ladies : Airs AlcMurchie (pair large double white blankets), Airs Wilsher (quarter ton. coal), Airs Newdick (251 b. bag flour), Airs Kingsbeer (one dozen eggs, donated). Alen: Air Newdick (pair large double white blankets), Air Kauta (701 b. bag sugar), Air A. Jones (one bag coal), Air Henry (pair woollen gloves, donated). For the ladies’ consolation prize a beautiful large double Alarcella quilt, donated by Alessrs Collinson and Cunninghame, Ltd., the following will participate with others to be decided next Saturday night in the play off: Airs Hammer, Aliss Shirley, Airs Kelly, Airs Alabey, Airs Thoreau, Mrs E. Robinson, their scores being 10J. For the men’s consolation prize, a gentleman’s watch (donated by Mr Weston Smith), the following will participate with others, to be decided next Saturday night in the play off: Air Persson, Air Lissington, Mr Corsten, Air Carruthers, Air C. Zimmerman, Air Tqoka, Air Reid, Air McCormack, their scores being 14}. The interesting- point in! connection with the consolation prizes is the fact that everyone except the prize winners have an equal chance of winning same. The highest score registered during the evening was 17} out of a total of 24 games played. Great interest was manifested in the announcement of the winners of the aggregate points prizes, which were as follow: Ladies: Mrs Pycroft (£3 order), Aliss T. Wright (£2 order), All's Franklin and Airs Hammer tied for third prize (£1 order). Alen: MrCribb (£3 order), Air Dunn (£2 order), Mr CJooke (£1 order). The counting for the new aggregate started on Saturday night and finishes on December 3rd, quite a large number of tickets being put in. The proceeds from next Saturday night’s function will also be handed to the unemployment fund, , and the committee is expecting a very big response by card players. The ladies’ committee dispensed a very tasty supper to those present, after which the prizes were presented.

OUR BABIES. (By Hygia.) Published under the auspices of j the Royal New Zealand Society for the Health of Women and Children (Plunket Society). “It is wiser to put up a fence at the top of a precipice then to maintain an ambulance at the bottom.” THE COST OF FEEDING BABY ARTIFICIALLY. Since there seems to be a fairly widely accepted idea -that humanised inilk is an expensive preparation, and this argument is sometimes brought forward against its use, we are publishing this week a statement of the actual cost of each article used and the total weekly expenditure on humanised milk for a normal average baby of three months old, hoping this may be useful to mothers and others interested in the correct feeding of babies. STANDARD RECIPE AND COST OF 1} PINTS OF HUMANISED MILK. Milk 13oz, at 3d per pint, say 2d Sugar of Milk loz, at 1/7 per lb, say l}d Lime Water . loz, say }d N.Z. Emulsion loz, at 2/6 per lb, say 2d Water 15}oz

Amount 30oz ■ Cost s£d Cost per day s£d Cost per week 3s 2}d

From this it will be seen that 3s 6d per week covers the cost of humanised milk for a normal healthy baby up to three months of age, even including the cost of the essential daily fruit or vegetable juice. Since no baby needs more than 40oz of milk mixture daily, the maximum costs for any baby would not exceed 4s 6d or 5s per week. Humanised Milk No. 11., is made with top milk instead of New Zealand emulsion, works out at a slightly higher cost per day than the No. 111. recipe, given above, as it is necessary to procure just over two pints of milk daily in order to obtain sufficient top milk for a 30oz. recipe. Naturally the cost is reduced if the under milk can be used in the household cooking. With Humanised Milk No. 111. the fat is in a great advantage, especially during the hot summdr time, to be able to make the food with the new milk early in the day, instead of waiting for the setting to obtain the top milk. The No. 111. recipe, given above, is the simplest, thus reducing'' mistakes in the process of preparation to the minimum. MEASUREMENTS. Naturally, wasteful or inaccurate measuring sends up the cost, and both for this reason and to guard against upsetting the baby in one way or another the greatest care should-be taken

in measuring. As a guide tnd check against inaccuracies, it is interesting to know that wllen making the recipe given—lib. of sugar of milk should last 16 days-; also 1ib...0f New Zealand emulsion should last 16 days. OUNCES AND TABLESPOONS.

One ounce of sugar of milk is equal to two tablespoonfuls—scraped off level with a knife. One ounce of New Zealand emulsion is equal to one and a-half tablespoonfuk—scraped off level. (Four level teaspoonfuls are equal to one level tablespoonful). When using teaspoons care should be taken that they are the standard size, neither eggspoon size nor extra large. The average household tablespoon is fairly uniform and accurate. Heaped spoonfuls are quite inaccurate, and should never bo used.

To save waste from spilling it is best to turn the sugar of milk out of the lib carton in which it is bought into a wide-moutlied jar or tin, from which tablespoonfuls can be measured neatly. New Zealand Emulsion can be kept in the tin in which it is bought or be emptied into a glass jar, but the total amount required for the day should be measured out into a jar or similar small receptacle when the milk is made. Dipping spoonfuls out of the tin or jar at each feed is inaccurate and wasteful, and is the usual cause of so-called failure of a baby to digest this form of fat. LIQUID AIEASUREAIENTS. A reliable measure marked in ounces should be used for milk and water, using the same measure throughout. A graduated medicine glass is best for very small amounts, such as tho l}pz of lime water; but if this is not available, a bare tablespoonful roughly equal }oz. It is best to measure out each feed in the same graduated measure as is used for making the milk. The best way of all is to have as many bottle as feeds, measuring out an equal quantity into each when the food is made—say, 6oz into each of five bottles if the baby, three months old, is being fed every four hours. All that is then cessary is to set aside the bottle, standing them in an inch or so of sold water, covered with a damp muslin dipping into the dish of water all round. After each feed the bottle is washed and set aside, and all five boiled before the food is made again next day. TIAIE. The standard recipe for humanised milk given here may be prepared in less than five minutes. The subsequent pasteurising and cooling, etc., needs only intermittent attention— say, half an hour’s work, more or less, once in every 24 hours. Surely this is not impossible even for the busiest mother.