THE HOME.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 12853, 29 April 1905, Page 4 (Supplement)

THE HOME.

THE TABLE. SrAN[sii Stew: One pound and a-half of rump steak, three-quarters of a pint of rich gravy, one dozen button onions, four ounces of haricot beans, half an ounce of flour, a. cauliflower. Cut the steak into one inch squares and stew slowly for two hours in rich brown gravy with the button onions and the haricot beans (previously soaked overnight). Thicken and colour the gravy, and serve with a garnish of boiled cauliflower or any vegetable in season. Mock Hare: Ha'if a calf's liver, slices of bacon, veal forcemeat, rich, brows gravy. Parboil the liver carefully, divide it in half, and spread with good forcemeat, place the other half of the liver on it, bind together with wide tape, and cover with slices of rather fat bacon. Bake in a moderate oven for one hour and a quarter, basting constantly. Dredge thickly with flour ten minutes before serving. Place the liver oh a hot dish, pour some good brown gravy over, garnish with slices of bacon. Hand red currant jelly with this dish. Fruit Cookies: One cupful of butter, two cupfuls brown sugar, three eggs, three tablcspoonfuls soda, one cupful chopped fruit (currants or raisins); all kinds of spice; mix soft; do not roll very thin, and bake in a moderate oven. Drop Cakes: Take a pound of flour and dry it in the oven or in front of the tire, then work to a cream 6oz of sugar with 607, of butter, to this add three well-beaten eggs; mix with the flour a teaspoonful of baking-powder, a pinch of salt, and Boz of currants, then add the eggs, butter, and sugar, beat all the ingredients well together for a-quarter of an hour, then drop the mixture on floured baking sheets in lumps the size of a. pigeon's egg; if properly mixed, the dougn should be stiff. Bake in a brisk oven.

Cocoanut Cake: Half a pound of Hour, a teaspoonful baking-powder, 3oz grated cocoanut, 3oz castor sugar, 3oz butter, one egg. and a little milk. Mix the dry ingredients together, rub in the butler, then add the beaten eggs and the milk. Bake in a good oven. Scotch Shortbread: There are so many spurious imitations of the genuine article that some of our readers may glad to have one taken from a Scotch authority on this subject. Here it is: Take- 1407. best: pastry flour, 2oz rice flour, butter, 6oz castor sugar, 1 teaspoonful baking-powder (not heaped). Wash the butter well, and squeeze it dry. Mix the butter and sugar well together, then add the flour and baking-pow-der, kneading all thoroughly. Then cover a baking tin with white paper, and roll or knead the dough into this in any sizes liked. Never move the cakes about, but let them remain where they are flattened out; but if you are particular to shape, then cut them with a tin mould, removing the superfluous piece?, but not the cakes themselves. Pinch round edge with finger and thumb, and prick with fork in the> centre. See that the oven is brisk but not too hot. When first put in leave the oven door off the catch for ten minutes till the cakes rise a little, then close it gently. Bake about 40 minutes. Let the cakes harden before*taking them off lie paper. A little castor sugar, plain or pink with cochineal, may be dusted over the cakes when taken from the oven.

HOUSEHOLD HINTS. To Clean a Meerschaum Pipe : Place 1 lie pipe in cold, sweet milk in an earthenware jar stood in boiling water, and let it boil very slowly. A Good Furniture Polish : Mix together equal parts of linseed oil and vinegar, apply sparingly to the furniture with a piece of flannel, and then polish well with soft cloths. A paraffin tin should always be kept tightly corked. Unless this is done he oil will not yield such a good light as it ought to do. How to Clean Bronzes: Rub in sweet oil, and then polish with soft cloths. Not a particle of oil must be left. Finish by giving a final rub with a chamois leather. Stains on White Flannel: A mixture of equal quantities of yolk of egg and glycerine is most useful for removing stains from white flannel and other white woollen fabrics.' Spread the compound on the stain, leave it to soak in for half-an-hour, then wash the garment as usual. How to Hang Clothes to Dry: First, remember that the thickest part of the garment must be hung highest, for were the thinnest part uppermost the water would run into the thick part, and thus the drying would be greatly prolonged. Next, hang up everything inside out, for then any accidental soil is likely to come 011 the inside of the garment, where its presence will, generally, not very much matter. When washing knives never put the handles into the water, for thus the handle would be discoloured and the blade loosened. Instead, dip each blade into hot water with soda, and dry it at once. Another method is to have a large tin or basin with a tin or wooden cover. In the cover slits arc cut, through which the 'blades of the knives pass to the water, while their handles rest oil the top. To .Make Soap Jelly: Rubbing soap on flannels and other " woollies" generally means ruin to them. They should be washed in a lather made-by adding soap jelly to warm water. Make the soap jelly before the washing day, so that you may begin work as early as convenient. Take as much soap as will be needed, and shred it finely with a knife. Put it into a saucepan and cover it with water. Allow the soap to slowly melt over the fire till clear and without lumps, then pour it into a jar or basin and let it stand till required for use. When melting the soap, do not boil it quickly, and do not fill the saucepan, for the soap is very apt to boil over, and this not only wastes it, but. causes a disagreeable smell in the house. Any odds and ends of soap may bo used up for the soap jelly, but it should be made freshly each week, for it loses its strength if kept- many days. EXERCISE. Exercise is quite as necessary to health, physique and complexion as diet, baths, and massage. Horseback riding is the best of all, as it brings the muscles well into play, and quickens the circulation. Rowing, fencing, skating, dancing, and cycling, al' are excellent forms of exercise if taken with proper consideration of age and condition of health. The very best time for it is early in the morning, when the muscles are in repose, after a night's rest, and require waking up for the day. No exercise should Vie taken before ot just aftei a meal, nor should it be prolonged so as to induce fatigue. As exercise causes the temperature to rise, avoid after it draughts, cold liquids, and do not bathe when overheated or fatigued. HUMAN HAIR MARKET. The human hair industry is a very active our in France, tho department* most frequently visited by the hair merchants being those of Correze, 'reuse, Allien, Cher, Dordogne and Haute Vinnc. The average price given for a full, long head of hair is from eight shillings to twenty-five shillings foi tlr. very best quality and colour. The girls of the districts mentioned above, which are exceedingly poor, stipulate that their hair shall not be cut .short in front, and conceal thr shorn appearance at the back by a draped coloured handkerchief. The best, shades of light- and blonde hair are obtained from Germany and Switzerland, and for these high prices -ire given. FRUIT BREAKFAST. There is a class of cases which makes the most enthusiastic doctor alive w\sh he had chosen any othei vocation than medicine. Patients with thick, non-circulating blood, torpid lymphatics and dormant secretions. Patients with stiffened joints, gouty deposits, chronic neuralgia, torpid livers, uric acid kidneys, and the irrritable nerve centres that go with them. These patients, and' others who suffer froiP errors of nutrition, can be greatly benefited, not to say cured, by the simple dietetic procedure known as the fruit breakfast. This means just what it says. Fruit, all the patient wants, and nothing else, for breakfast. No chops, bread, cereals, coffee, tea, or anything but fruit before twelve o'clock. By fruit is meant apples, oranges and grapes only..