HOUSEHOLD HINTS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 17 June 1907, Page 1

HOUSEHOLD HINTS.

— To Keep Leather Bags from — Cracking. , Once a month, rub into the bags a little soft soap applied with a sponge. — To Take Marks Out of a Crepe-de-chine Skirt. Get some liquid ammonia and a piece of soft black stuff, and rub marks until they disappear. When nearly dry get someone to hold out the skirt, and press on wrong side with a cool iron. — Some Simple Remedies. — Not everyone knows that the application of the juice of an onion to a wasp or bee sting will produce almost instantaneous relief. If left in the wound the stinger should first be removed. Figs soaked in water overnight and eaten in the morning before other food will often prove a relief for constipation, especially in young children. The half of a level teaspoonful of soda stirred ito a glass of water and sipped at intervals during the day is a great relief for heartburn. A small dish of bran moistened with lukewarm water and used in lieu of a breakfast food will in a few weeks produce a marked improvement in the digestive organs. The seamstress who is troubled with perspiring hands should keep at hand ■a flannel bag of powdered afum ax ordinary talcum powder with which to dust her hands at intervals. 1 A tea made by steeping the leaves of v the blackberry bush will frequently lessen severe coughing. —Home Remedy for Crackling Noises in the Head.— Place a good, hot linseed meal poultice on the nape of the neck at bed time large enough to reach below the collar line, keep on for half-an-bour or longer, have ready a piece of double flannel to put round the throat when the poultice is taken off. —For Getting Spots Out of a Quilt.— If it is an iron-mould spot, wet the, spots, rub on salts of lemon just over, the marks, pour on boiling water, wash. Boil and rinse the quilt. If It is a tea spot steep all night in borax and water. If old and fixed, steep in weak chloride of lime water. If, it is a fruit or pickle spot, treat it like ink spots or tea spots. —High Church Puddings.— Take ilb of flour, 2oz of suet, a small teacupful each of milk and black currant jam, a little sugar, half a teaspoonful of carb. soda. Mix well together and put in well-buttered mould. Tie a cloth very loosely over and steam ova and a-half hours. This is enough to fill a pint mould. The mould must bo only half-filled, to be served with a custard sauce. This is a nice light pudding. —Plum Mould.— One pound plums, 6oz. of loaf sugar, half ounce of sheet gelatine, half a pint of water, one lemon, and a few drops of cochineal. Wash and dry the plums, put them in a pan with the water, sugar, and very thinly pared rind of the lemon. Boil till the fruit is soft, take out the stones, and rub the pulp through, a fine sieve. Melt the gelatine in two tablespoonfuls of hot water, add it to the pulp, mix well, and colour prettily with cochineal. Rinse a mould with cold water, pour in the mixture and leave till cola and set. When wanted fee use dip the mould in warm, water to loosen it, turn out on a glass dish ; serve plain or with custard or cream. —Parsnip Cakes. — Boil enough of the vegetable to measure one quart when it is mashed, and before doing this the cooked vegetable must be scraped clean from the skin; then mash and sift through a sieve, adding one tablespoonful of butter and one half-pint of sweet cream; beat this measure until light as a feather. Place floii" on the board and put the parsnip mixture in the centre, and mix until enough of the flour has been worked into it to allow it to be rolled one inch thick; then cut into small rounds; prick with a fork, and set in a greased pan ill a. hot OVeU tfl bake UII--til lightly brown; then remove, and with a small fork tear out a well in the centre and fill this with a teaspoonful of tart preserves. — Sprats Preserved Like Anchovies. — To half a peck of sprats allow lib of salt, 2oz. bay salt, 2oz. saltpetre, 1 oz. salprunella, a pinch of cochineal. Prepare above seasoning, pound well. Arrange sprats in a pan, with seasoning between each layer of fish ; press tightly down, and cover them close; in about six months they will be ready for use. For anchovy toast or paste fry them in butter, turning them carefully. Take off the heads .tails, and remove bones; beat them to a paste. Put into pots, and pour clarified butter over. —Beef CakeOne pound minced cold roast beef, 4oz. breadcrumbs, 2oz. cooked ham or bacon, two teasponfuls onion chopped, one teaspoonful parsley,, little pepper and salt, Mix well togehter, and moisten with one egg, anyone gill of gravy or stock. Graasa'ag small cake tin and well cover withy fftspings, putin the mixture, pressing 1 ' it ''down evenly, place * piece of greased paper on tha top. and baie in a moderate oven Ml to 40 minutes; theu turn out and-ssrve.