HOUSEHOLD HINTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 10112, 22 April 1896, Page 3

HOUSEHOLD HINTS.

THE TABLE.

Boiled Sponge, and Apple Pudding.— Ingredients: Some good cooking apples, three ounces of flour, two ounces of butter, ditto sugar, one egg, a teaspoonful of baking powder, First rob tho butter into the flour, add the sugar and baking powder, and then , mix with the egg well beaten. Roll out this paste and line a small, plain mould, fill with sliced apples, sweetened and flavoured with lemon poel. Cover over with tho paste, ami steam for two hours. Serve with custard or a good sweet sauce. Dainty Mashed Baked Potatoes.--Take a few nice large potatoes of a kind that will bake well, wash and clean them, anu place in a hot oven. When thoroughly done take the potatoes out and cut lengthwise. Remove the inside with a spoon, but do not break the skin, mash very smooth, free from all lumps, add pepper, salt, and a little butter. When all is beaten fill tho jackets again and put the two pieces together. Place in the oven and serve vory hot. The beauty of this dish is that the potatoes are really very well mashed and flavoured, and hot. Worcestershire Stew.— two pounds of ox cheek, wash it well, and then cub it in thin slices. Melt some dripping in it pan, and add the meat, leaving it sufficiently long to brown lightly. Then add one pint of boiling stock, and stand the pan by the side of the fire to simmer slowly for an hour. Cut up some vegetables small—the greater variety the better, and add to the meat. Stir all together, and when the vegetables are cooked, serve. Care must be taken that this dish is not overdone, or ib will come to the table like mince instead of stew. Scotch Broth.—Take about ljlb of shin of beef, out it small, and place it in a saucepan, with half a teaciipful of well-washed pearl barley. Add-to the. meat; two quarts of water, and bring to the boil. Skim well, then add two carrots, two turnips, an onion, a leek, and a little celery—all cut into small pieces suitable for serving in the soup. Simmer all for two hours; adding a little chopped cabbage for the last fifteen minutes' cooking.. Skim off the soup all the fat that you are able to take up. Remove the bones and larger pieces of meat, and serve. The bones and extra meat should be reserved for further brothmaking. GENERAL NOTES. Treatment of Thread.—ln repairing or altering cotton clothing ibis vexatious to find that the machine stitching has shrunken, drawing seams, hems, etc., into puckers. To overcome this soak the spool of thread over night in a glass; of water, then stand it whore it will dry, and it is ready for use. To oil coloured thread thoroughly with machine oil will make it stronger, and it will work up easier. Hoarseness.—Hoarseness can be cured by dipping a piece of flannel in brandy and applying it to the chest, over which place a piece of dry flannel, and wear these all night. Velvet.—Odds and ends of velvet may be renovated for . hat trimmings, dress fronts, collar or waistbands, if treatod as follows :—First brush the velvet, using a soft brush, and take out all threads. Have a hot iron, over it spread a piece of damp muslin, then rub the back of the velvet over the muslin, and the pile will gradually rise as the steam penetrates tho material. Inexpensive Cough Mixture.— a quarter of a poutid of good moist sugar in a' pint of boiling water, let it get cold, then add one pennyworth of laudanum, one pennyworth of sweet spirits of nitre, and two pennyworth of essence of peppermint. Mix the ingredients together and stir woll, then put into bottles and cork tightly. A tablespoonful may be taken at any time when the cough is troublesome. Shoes.—lf well-fitted shoes are worn when dbing work about the house the feet will be less tired than when one wears the loose slippers whioh aro'usually supposed to be restful, but are really very wearisome. A Strong Glok for Bottling.—Dissolve lib of good glue in a pint of water slowly by heat. Let the glue cool gradually when once dissolved, and add slowly SJoz of nitric acid. Have convenient bottles ready, and wheh the' glue is quite cold place it in the bottles and cork lightly. This will make a strong cement,:and should not harden. f; ~ ' f . ?-■■■ The Range.—Keep the store or range free from soot in all its parts, A hot-air passage clogged up with soot will prevent the oven from baking well. . Bathing Dresses. — Always remombor that bathing-gowns should not be dried on the sands, but should be taken home and well rinsed in clean cold water to ensure their feeling fresh; and clean when; next being used. - • . • ': N Sheets. —A .' very - good way • to ■ test whether sheets are damp or not is to place an ordinary tumbler , between the sheets for a little while, and if the bed is damp traces of moisture will appear on the iniiide of the glass. 'A Cure for Hiccodgh.—A good authority gives a simple remedy for hiccougha lump of sugar saturated with vinegar, vt -