HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS.

Otago Witness, Issue 4041, 25 August 1931, Page 58

HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS.

The following suggestions concerning’ the buying of gloves and stockings may prove helpful to those who sometimes, find themselves in a dilemma:— In no other article of dress is the correct size more essential than in gloves, for if they are too tight circula-

tion will be impeded, and if too loose they will appear shabby. They should, be elastic in texture, and stretch freely when the hands are closed. Particular attention should be given to the gussets at the thumbs; these should be well cut and roomy. There must not be any tightness at the tips of the fingers, otherwise an undue strain will be placed on them. It is advisable to give a reasonable price for silk stockings, as cheap ones are never economical. Choose them half a size larger than the required size. The object of this is to enable the wearer to shrink them, and thus lengthen their life considerably. To shrink the stockings allow them to soak for an hour or so in lukewarm water to which a little household ammonia has been added. Rinse afterwards in fresh tepid water.

From the lisle top of an old stocking may- be drawn excellent darning cotton for silk stockings.

Try using nigger brown boot polish for polishing stained wood or linoleum surrounds. It sounds expensive, but the shine lasts twiee as long and looks much richer than that produced by floor polish.

If you are obliged to spring clean your carpets at home and have not arrangements for suction cleaning you will have to rely on handbeating. In that case be sure to beat them out of doors. Choose a windy day if possible for carpet cleaning so that the dust blows freely away during beating. Hang the carpet over the line, and beat thoroughly with a flat cane beater. It will be found less tiring than a stick, covers a larger area, and does not damage the fabric. Brush the carpet down at intervals with a stiff brush to remove loose dirt brought to the surface. Leave it on the line to air while the boards are brushed, scrubbed e with soap and hot water, and left to dry thoroughly. Before scrubbing the floor clean the grate, brush ceilings and walls, rubbing the latter down with a dough ball if very soiled, and wash and dry all the paintwork. When the carpet is relaid stains and soil marks can be removed by the use of a good carpet soap. In spring-cleaning every piece of furniture must receive detailed attention. Upholstery should be beaten, brushed, and, if possible, sponged with a cloth wrung out of soapy water. The framework should also be sponged with soapy water, carefully- dried, -and polished with furniture cream or a good home-made polish. Books should be removed and thoroughly dusted, and not until every detai of cleaning of one room is accomplished should another be begun. In this way much time is saved; and what is more important, cleanliness with comfort is the outcome of springcleaning.

Keep the’ teeth clean. Give them a thorough brushing night and morning. This preserves them from fermenting food-acids, which cause decay. There are several good tooth pastes and powders on the market, or a rub of the brush on a tablet of soap will answer the purpose. Decayed and septic teeth lead to indigestion by preventing proper chewing. and poisou the blood by pouring septic juices down the throat. Every mouthful of food becomes a dose of poison. Aches and pains and rheumatism may- be caused by bad teeth, for their poison travels all over the body-— into the very bones and nerves.

Do row sigh- sometimes when a friend gives-you yet another trinket box? In these days of limited accommodation it is so essential that things should be useful as well as ornamental. But why not use those trinket boxes? They are such pretty, things to look at that it is rather appropriate that they should serve you in the cause of beauty. The small round, boxes may be used for powder, pins, or anything which you are always needing on your dressing table. The larger square boxes find many uses on the dressing table and oil it. Use them for. powder, for manicure requirements, for cotton-wool or face tissues, or just for trinkets. A supply of cotton-wool on'the dressing table always saves your powder-puff and is much more hygienic. It is quite a good plan to keep your puff solely for when you are out. When you make up at home always use cotton-wool. Off the dressing table you may use your trinket box for cigarettes or for sweets. If its lid is detachable and is one of the cut-glass variety it may even find a place on. your dinner table to hold sugar, almonds and raisins, olives, or anything you please.

Home decoration is more popular with the amateur to-day than it has even been. In many eases the necessity for curtailing expenditure is the cause; nevertheless, it proves a most interesting hobby. It is difficult to obtain effects quite like those seen in showrooms, because exhibited work has the advantage of being prepared in dust-proof, moderately heated rooms, which is a great asset to glossy paint. Very often amateurs arc puzzled to find that a surface has failed to dry; it has, perhaps, reached what is known as the “tacky” stage only. They at once imagine that they have used faultymaterial, but the cause is most likely to be dirt or grease. To prepare a ground for painting it is essential to scrub thoroughly the existing surface; if soda water is used the woodwork must be rinsed after washing with clear water, as soda is also harmful to the drying propensities of paint. To wash lightly a surface is insufficient; it may appear clean, but often a certain amount of grease adheres, especially in a kitchen. To make doubly sure on this point it is always a good plan to go over the foundation with a turpentine cloth after washing.

If it can be avoided never choose a very cold or damp day for this work, for it is obvious that this must retard drying; also the paint is more tiring to work with, as the brush gives a far greater pull on the wrist.

In case of necessity this difficulty can be remedied slightly by standing the can of paint in hot water for some minutes. Another important point is the sandpapering or pumice process; decorators are most emphatic over this. Each coat should be rubbed down cither with the finest glass or sandpaper, or, if preferred, pumice powder sprinkled on to a damp piece of felt is equally effective. The surface should be rubbed down in circular fashion.

Lastly—one of the amateur’s greatest pitfalls—do not begin to paint a door from the top; if it is panelled start with the lower panels, then the upper ones. Next come the remaining portions of the door; work upwards all the time and leave the horizontal sections to the last.

HOME INTERESTS. POWDERED SAGE. So delicious is the flavour of dried sage when home-dried that it is well worth the trouble of drying it yourself. Buy two or three pennyworth of sage. Strip off the leaves and put them on a dry baking-sheet in a very slow oven. Watch them carefully. They are to be merely dried, not coloured brown. Then rub them through a line wire sieve, put them in a wide-necked bottle or small tin, cork or cover them lightly, and the flavour will keep good for months if not years. Other herbs such as thyme, marjoram, etc., do in exactly the same way. The great point to remember is not to dry them too quickly. DRIED PARSLEY. By the way, this is not a last-minute hint. Parsley is best tied in a bunch, put in a paper bag in a warm place, and left till dry and crisp, and then it should be rubbed through a sieve. Some people plunge the bunch of parsley into boiling water for a second or two before putting it to dry. POTATO NESTS. Rub 21b of boiled potatoes through a sieve. Melt ll.oz of butter in a pan, add the potatoes and about half a gill of milk and yolk of an egg. Stir until hot, season, and shape the potatoes into as many nests as there are people. Place them on a greased fireproof dish, fill the centres with a mince of meat, poultry or fish, mixed with a wellseasoned brown or white sauce; place the dish in a fairly hot oven for 10 minutes, then serve. FRIED RICE CAKES. Mix two cups of boiled rice with a beaten egg, add two tablespoonfuls of flour sifted with a teaspoonful of baking powder, half a teaspoonful of salt, and a shake of nutmeg, add a tablespoonful of sugar, and form the mixture into balls. Roll in fine breadcrumbs, then in beaten egg-yolk diluted with water, and again in crumbs. Fry in hot fat until well browned. Drain, and serve with cheese sauce made thus: Melt two tablespoons of butter, add two tablespoons of flour, one tablespoonful of prepared mustard, a teaspoonful of salt and pepper to taste. Blend thoroughly, add two cups of milk slowly, then quarter cup of grated cheese; stir well, and serve piping hot. WELSH RAREBIT. Take Jib of rich cheese, slice it, and add 2oz of butter, three tablespoonfuls of beer, half a teaspoonful of made mustard, and a little salt. Stir this in a saucepan till quite smooth, add a well-beaten egg, and pour on to squares of thickly buttered toast. Serve at once, very hot. CHEESE CRAB.

Beat to a paste some good mellow cheese, adding a little made mustard, a few drops

of olive oil, One teaspoonful of vinegar, salt and cayenne to. taste. When it is the consistency of cream of crab add some shelled shrimps, and pile it on a bed of lettuce leaves! Serve with thin fingers of dry toast. PLAIN LAMB CUTLETS AND MASHED POTATOES. Required : One and a-half pounds of best end of neck of lamb, loz of dripping, Joz of flour, half a pint of hot water, IJlb’of potatoes, loz of butter, half a gill of milk, salt and pepper. Buy best end of the neck, and have the chin bone sawn off and the cutlets cut to the required length. It is best and cheapest to buy the piece of meat whole and cut it into cutlets at home. There will be enough trimmings over to make a small stew or hot pot. Wash, peel, and boil the potatoes. Divide the joint into cutlets, cut off some of the fat, and scrape the ends of the bones clean. Heat the dripping till it .begins to smoke, put in the cutlets, and very quickly brown the outside for a minute and a-half on each side. Finish cooking very slowly, and make them tender, eight minutes in all. Strain the water from the potatoes, dry them over the gas, put in the butter, and mash them with a fork. Add milk, salt, and pepper, and pile on a hoj dish. Place the cutlets round and keep hot. Pour off half the dripping, brown the flour, and add the water. Boil .up and season to taste. Strain round the cutlets ant> put a cutlet frill on the end of each bone. (A pound and a-half of small lamb will cut into about six cutlets.) BAKED VEAL CUTLET.

Required: Two pounds of veal cutlet (a thick slice or fillet or a slice from the shoulder), two onions, 11b of tomatoes, loz of butter, loz of flour, half a lemon, salt and pepper, half a pint of stock. Mix the flour, salt and pepper, and dip the veal in it, so that it is well coated. Heat the butter in a baking-tin, and when it is very hot put in the veal and brown the outside as quickly as possible—two minutes for each side. Chop the onions and fry them. Cut the tomatoes in half and put them in a tin, with the meat in the centre lying on the onions. Bake in a moderate oven for 30 or 40 minutes. Dish up with the potatoes round the meat, and make a brown gravy by frying the flour and adding half a pint of stock. Boil the gravy and season well, flavouring it with lemon juice. Strain round the meat. (Enough for four or five persons.) SAUSAGES WITH GLAZED APPLE.

Separate the links of sausages, wipe with a cloth, and bake in a hot oven or cook in frying-pan until brown and crisp. Dissolve one cupful of sugar in one cup of boiling water and boil one minute. Wash and core tart apples, and cut in rings about half an inch in thickness. Cook in the syrup until tender and transparent, being careful not to break them. Cook at a time only as many as can be done without crowding. Arrange sausages in a mound on a hot platter and surround with rings of apple. Serve with toast. BREADCRUMBS (White). Rub some white bread through a hair sieve. Put the crumbs on a baking-tin and place it in a slow oven till they are dry and crisp. Keep turning them over. On no account allow them to get brown. Allow them to get cold, then put aside in a tin or jar. These can be kept for months and used in the place of fregh crumbs in any recipe in which they are named. BREADCRUMBS (Browned).

These can be used when white crumbs are not necessary. Puddings made with these crumbs have a very rich appearance, and they are also used for shaking over boiled ham, bacon, etc. Keep all scraps of crust till you have a good amount. Cut off any black pieces. Put the rest on a tin in the oven till they are a bright golden-brown all over and quite crisp. Then pound them in a mortar, or if you have not one, put them between two pieces of paper and crush them with a rolling-pin. Then pass them through a wire sieve and put them in a tin.