WOMEN'S NOTES.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LV, Issue 87, 11 March 1935, Page 9

WOMEN'S NOTES.

COOKING. (By Miss Mary Tallis.) Mushroom cake. —It is quite a job searching for new cooking recipes, and that in spite of the many new inventions in foodstuffs that are continually being made. Here is one that is new and very tasty. Mushroom cake. —For the cake you will require; 3oz. self-raising flour, 2 eggs, 3oz. castor sugar, 1 tablespoon melted butter. For the chocolate butter icing vou will require: 2oz. butter, 4oz. icing sugar, 2oz. chocolate, 2 teaspoonsful water. For the outer skin of mushroom you will require : 3 oz. ground almonds, 2oz. castor sugar, 3oz. icing sugar, i white of small egg, a little lemon juice, a drop or two of almond essence, a drop or two of vanilla essence, a little warmed apricot jam. Use a sloping pie-tin measuring across the top, and ljin. deep. Grease the tin and dust with flour. AVhisk the and sugar together until very thick and creamy and pale in colour. Sift in the flour and mix without beating. Add the melted, butter and “fold” it in carefully with a tablespoon. Put the mixture into the tin and cook for 25 minutes. Prepare the almond paste while the cake is cooling. Sieve the icing sugar and mix with castor sugar and ground almonds. Add the essences and lemon to the unbeaten egg-white and mix together to a pliable paste which is not sticky and which can be rolled out on a board. Warm the apricot jam and remove any lumps. AVlien the cake is cold, brush the jam on the underside of the cake, roll out the almond paste to a round large enough to cover the bottom and sides, and press it on well. Leave enough paste for the centre stalk of the “mushroom.” Make the butter icing by creaming the butter and icing sugar together. Dissolve the chocolate in the water and when cold add to the butter. Put the mixture into a forcing bng with a star tube in the end and pipe brown ridges from the end to the middle, and finish with a stalk of marzipan. GENERAL.

Laundry work as a career. —Laundry work as a career for women has.come into prominence in a remarkable way during the last few years. Public laundries, of which there are usually several in every large, town, employ forewomen, supervisors and manageresses, who must understand the principles underlying the successful performance of the work. Some of the large hotels and restaurants run their own laundries and require people who have the requisite knowledge to look after them. In addition to these executive position-,, mas women with spare time at their disposal and a desire to do some remunerative workhave undertaken in their own homes, after having obtained the necessary technical knowledge, to “get up” fine linens, lace, loose covers, etc., for tlieir friends and acquaintances. The next question is: AA r here to obtain the necessary knowledge. The training for an executive position in a public laundry' will necessarily be rather different from the training required to run a small hand-laundry in the home, or elsewhere. Taking home laundry first: If the intending laundress already has some practical knowledge of washing, starching, and getting up woollens, cottons, silks, etc., her theory of laundry work could well he acquired front a reliable text took. Training for an executive position in a public laundry is a different matter; here it is practical experience as well that is required. Any girl desiring to take up laundry work seriouslv as a career should enter a good public laundry as soon as she leaves school. She will receive a small wage while learning, the amount automatically increasing with her age. The branches of work to he learned are: Sorting and marking before washing, sorting after washing (the washing and toiling department is, as a general rule, staffed bv men) and ironing. A7arious machines have to he understood and worked, e.g., the collar machine, the shirt presses, the calendar, etc., as well as ironing by hand. A quick, intelligent worker might acquire a working knowledge of all the 1) ranches of the work in twelve months, but unless she is very luckv she will have to wait until she is 18-20 years of age to obtain a forewoman’s post After that she can work her way up to he an assistant manageress, then if she is forunate, manageress. The salary of the manageress of a large public laundry may range from £4OO to £SOO a year. KNITTING. Winter gloves.—Size 6): Materials about 2loz. 4-ply wool (keep the remainder from 3 or 4oz. for renngering). Four needles, No. 14. (For larger gloves use No. 12 or 13. For smaller gloves, use No. 15.) The wrist: Cast on 50 sts., 16 on each of 2 needles, 18 on one. (Do not knit into the backs of these.) AA r ork 2sin. in a rib of 1 plain, 1 purl. The hand. —Ist and 2nd rounds: Plain. Prepare for thumb thus: 3rd round: K. twice into Ist st. (once jn front and once in back). Knit twice into last st. AA 7 ork 2 rounds plain. 6th round: K. 1, k. twice into 2nd st., k. twice into last st. but one. Work 2 rounds plain. 9th round: K. 2 twice into 3rd st., k. twice into last st. but two. AA 7 ork 2 rounds plain. Continue in this way until there are 68 sts. (27 rounds from the ribbing). Leave the 18 thumb sts. on a thread and continue working the hand, casting on 2 sts. in the gap left by the thumb sts. AVork 18 rounds plain. Put these 52 sts. on another thread. There is no need to remove this thread until all the fingers are finished. Here is the point where the difference js made between the right and left hands. For the left hand.—Fold the glove so that the thumb inset comes at the left when the palm is facing you. The left fold of the glove should come 2 sts. to the loft of the inset.

For the right hand.—Follow the instructions in the preceding paragraph, substituting “right” for “left” throughout. First finger.—Beginning at the fold near the thumb, pick up 5 sts. from the t>alm side of the glove on one needle. On another pick up 6 sts. from the back. On a third pick up 2 sts. from the palm side, cast on 2 sts. between the fingers, pick up 2 from the back. Work 24 rows plain, then decrease for the ton as follows: K. 2, k. 2 tog., k. 2, k. 2 tog., k. 2. k. 1, k. 2 tog., k. 2. Work one round plain. K. 2 tog., k. 1, k. 2 tog., k. 2 tog., k. 1, k. 2 tog., k. 1, k. 2 tog. k. 1. Next row: K. 2 tog., k. 1, alternately all round. Break wool and thread through the remaining sts. Finish off inside. (Note* Although the number of sts. to each finger varies, this will not greatly affect the decreasing of which a rough guide is given for the first finger). Second finger.—Pick up 7 sts. from the back on one needle, take up 4 sts. from gap of Ist finger on another;

pick up 5 from front and cast on two between the fingers. AVork 30 rows plain, then decrease similarly to the first finger. Third finger.—Pick up 6 sts. from back on one needle, take up 4 from gap of second finger on another, i>ick up 5 from front on a third, casting on 2 between the fingers. AVork 28 rows, then decrease as before.

Fourth finger.—Take up 2 from the gap of the third finger on one needle, and pick up the remaining sts. on two others (16 in all). AVork 22 rounds, then decrease.

The thumb. —Pick up the 18 sts. on 2 needles, and with a 3rd take up 4 sts. at the glove edge. Transfer some sts. from the fuller needles to this third needle. AVork 6 rounds. K. 2 tog. at beginning of next round. K. 2 rounds plain. Repeat these last 3 rows twice. AVork 4 plain rows; then decrease as for fingers.