NEW YORK HOUSEKEEPING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18897, 20 December 1924, Page 26 (Supplement)

NEW YORK HOUSEKEEPING.

The American woman, as opposed to her British .sister, lias simplified domestic conditions in New York, says a writer in Good Housekeeping. For one thing, she lias largely dispensed with formality. I seldom went to a house or flat (apartment they call it) where the door was not opened to me by a member of the family. At a large reception the lea was made and served by the hostess and her friends. Two hundred people were corning and going, yet nobody wa; overlooked. I have been to dinner parties were the hostess and a friend cooked and served the meal, and I suppose they do it turn and turn about, "You help mc with my party and I v, II come and help you with youis."' It gives the visitor a delightful feeling of being welcome.' Thai anybody should take so much tremble in older to have you come to see them is warming to the heart. From the beginning such parties go with a swing. Not only is formality a thing of the oast, but the American has turned her practical eye on every department of the home. She does not dignify drudgery with some sentimental name, but determines to have as little of it as possible. and she begins with the kitchen. We have always imagined that a kitchen should be "a large room, that it should have big windows, an unglazed dresser for china, and a scullery for rough work. A good deal of the cook's time is spent "washing over" the floor, dusting the exposed china, polishing brass and copper dish-covers and cooking vessels, which she calls the "brights." When she is ready to prepare the food she has to go in search of the necessary ingredients. They will be outside in larder and store- ] cupboard. The big "kitchen table must j lie scrubbed daily, the fines of the range ! cleaned, its outside blackened and its ! tsteel polished. I The first sight of an American kitchen ; is—to an Englishwoman—quite staggering. In the first place it is about half the size of a self-respecting British bathroom. It contains the larder (ice-box), a gas or clectiic stove, a store-cupboard, sink, and flap table or perhaps only a porcelain draining-board. , which being only slightly aslant, can serve also for the preparation of food. China. silver, earthenware, cutlery are stacked ready for use in another cupboard; and ihe woman,, when at work, has room to turn round and no more. That kitchen is strictly for use. Taps are oxidised, central heating insures a constant supply of hot water, and everything necessary within reach. .