THE HOME.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13325, 3 November 1906, Page 6 (Supplement)

THE HOME.

THE TABLE. Calves' Liver Roasted: Wash and wipe it, then cut a long hole in it, and stuff it with breadcrumbs, chopped anchovy, herbs, a good deal of fat bacon, onion, salt and pepper, a bit of butter, and an egg. Sew the liver up, then lard it. Serve with good brown' gravy and currant jelly. Pearl Barley Soup: Take some good strong mutton liquor, put about three tablespoonfuls of pearl barley to nearly two quarts of the stock. Add the white parts of three leeks cut fine, add some carrots and turnips cut into dice, also a little onion. Simmer the whole gently for three hours, and, if liked, a cupful of cream may be added, pepper and salt to taste sprinkle some finely-chopped parsley in the soup. Bananas with Fruit Sauce: Pick over one quart of currants, wash, drain, and mash them. Sprinkle over them one cup of sugar and let them stand until the sugar is dissolved. Stir occasionally, then squeeze through coarse cheesecloth, or press through a strainer • fine enough to keep 'back the seeds. Peel four bananas, remove all the stringy membranes, cut them in halves, lengthwise and crosswise. Arrange them in a shallow glass dish and pour the currant juice' over them. Keep it in a cold place until ready to serve. The flavour of the currant juice improves the bananas, and the colour gives a pretty effect. Do not use the currants without sifting, for the seeds will be quite objectionable in the sauce. Blackberry juice'may be used in the same way. A cool, jimple dessert like this is more acceptable on a summer day than a hot, starchy pudding served with meringue or whipped cream. Cottage Pudding: One teacupfiil of sugar, one of milk, one egg. one pint of flour, salt, two teaspoonfuls of baking powder, two ounces of butter. Rub the butter into the flour, then add the salt,-bak-ing-powder, and sugar, mix .the egg with the milk, .and beat it into the pudding'. Put the pudding into a buttered basin and steam for one hour and a-half, turn it out, and serve with melted butter sauce. Ginger Cake- Whisk up three eggs with lib of treacle till light, then add Jib of butter, and beat, for ten minutes. Mix in by degrees lib of flour, 2oz of ground ginger, whisk well for another ten minutes, then add just before putting into the oven half a dessertspoonful. of carbonateof soda. -, , •" Fruit,' Cake: One pound fresh butter, one pound of sugar, one and a-half pounds of flour, two pounds, of currants, three tablespoonfuls of hot .water, one pound of any kind of preserve, two ounces of sweet almonds, ten eggs, one quarter ounce allspice, one quarter -ounce, of cinnamon. Stir the butter and sugar until quite light, adding the spices. In a quarter of an hour begin working in. the yolks of the eggs, two or three at a, time; then beat the whites to a stiff froth and work them in quickly. Add orange peel, lemon, and citron cut in fine strips, then the currants And sweet almonds, mixing. well. At the last add the hot water and sifted flour. Bake in a hoop in a hot oven for three hours, putting twelve sheets of paper under it to keep it from burning. Horse Radish Vinegar: Pour a quart of best vinegar on 3oz of scraped horseradish, loz of minced shalot, and ldr. of cayenne. Let it stand a' week, and you will have a lovely relish for cold meats,, salads, etc. , •; HOUSEHOLD HINTS. ' The possessor of very brittle nails should 'rub them at night with cold cream or vaseline. To cool a bed in hot weather place a strip of matting under the sheet. This will be found very cooling. and refreshing. To revive writing- on parchment take a camel-hair pencil and wash the parts effaced -with a solution of prussiate of potash in water. ■« "..'■ •-- ' • , ,' - --' ■. V To keep out flies, and mosquitoes put a pinch of quassia chips in a saucer of cold water and set one in each window. Renew twice a- week. ~. , Wood for Painting: When - preparing wood for painting apply a very thin coat of glue size and let it get quite hard before proceeding to, paint.. "' ': .*'-■ •'*' ,If you have a . cupboard in • the . house which you cannot use because it is damp, remember that a, dish of quicklime left in the cupboard for a few days; will' remove the moisture. •■ ■> \ : :. " ;. To darken yellow boots mix .ammonia spirits and new milk together well/, This will also clean and darken.. ;If '.not with the \ first . coat,. given two or three;'; It will not injure the leather. Dirty Mackintosh :. A dirty mackintosh can be cleaned by rubbing with cold rain-water and any good soap, and afterwards rins-, ■ ing '■■'" with clear water." Take .' out stains with 'spirits of turpentine. '■■; '■-;■• ■■■-.* - • To make a powder for removing odour of perspiration mix 4oz powdered orris-root, loz boracic acid, loz sub-nitrate bismuth, and 4oz of cornflour. Apply night' and morning after washing the parts affected with Condy's fluid. "'. ... X K An easy- way to soften water delightfully is to throw orange,; peel into it just before the. water is used. .The- peel .will hot. on". prove agreeable to .the skin; bu-h will give a fragrance like that which follows the use of toilet paper. Preserving Lemons: Lemons can be preserved for a long time if kept on a saucer with an inverted glass bowl or wide tumbler as a covering. By this method they are not excluded from the light, but thev remain practically air-proof. To prevent jam rolls cracking when rolled up, dip a cloth in water, and wring out dry ; spread this on a table with a sugared* paper on the top of it, then the cake, spread on the jam and roll' up. quickly. The steam will prevent ' the cake from cracking., - t - : : * .' - THE USES OF LINEN. ' v Linen is not the ideal dressing for beds at all. It is cold and slippery, and ensures sensitive persons the" dream of sleeping on an iceberg, which does well enough for an occasional experience, like seasickness, but which palls on too frequent repetition. Besides that, it wrinkles and tumbles, in spite of its heavier body, much more than cotton does, giving a bed after one night's use a most slovenly appearance. Nobody recommends linen for body wear. Its firm texture and hard surface make it wholly non-ab-sorbent; it allows the body to become chilled'by refusing the perspiration, and so has been known to bring on serious illness. For outside wear in summer, linen -may be tolerated as clothing, but nowhere-else. Where, however, it is at its most useful and best is in household uses. For table service, for the toilet, and for minor ornamental details it is simply invaluable; its smoothness of texture, its brilliancy, which laundering even increases, its exquisite freshness, make it the one fabric fit to drape the dining-table and to use in the toilet, while-its suitability for needlework decoration makes it admirable for all kinds of fancy work. And here it is rightfully used ; but to wear next to the skin and sleep in— OPALS AND ILL-LUCK. Many people regard the opal as an omen of ill-luck, and the following will show how this superstition resolved itself. Two or three centuries ago the stone was very popular in Europe, and the jewellers of Italy were especially cunning in its setting. At the height of its popularity came the plague, which wrought great havoc in Venice. It was noticed by some observant persons in that city that when a victim was on the point of death his opal, if he wore, one, i brightened, while after death it became dull. The reason of this was the heightened fever made the stone become hot, and consequently very brilliant, while after death the chill and damp of the body dulled it. It was, however, declared by many that it brought death and misfortune to their doors, and as this superstition spread the sale Of opals decreased, and to this day people believe that the beautiful stone brings ill-luck.