Feminine Interests

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 812, 5 November 1929, Page 5

Feminine Interests

kitchen lore

Practical Hints for Saving Time VALUE OF LEMONS Before baking apples they should pricked with a fork so they will „nt break open during the process. « * * If linoleum is varnished on the wrong side an thick brown paper is spread on the floor before laying it, it will give longer service. Many women prefer long-handled psh mops to dish cloths, for these keep their hands from the water and, with linoleum or varnished floors, the long-handled, self-wringing floor mop is preferable to the scrubbing brush. Brushes with long handles are also better to clean vegetables and the sink. m Lemon juice will help to remove stains from the hands caused by fruits or vegetables. Hand lotion applied after the hands have been in water will help to prevent chapping. To make hands soft and smooth, gently massage them with cold cream at night and wear an old pair of gloves in bed. Any receptacle with a screw top ran readily be opened with the aid of a square of sandpaper. A recipe calling for juice of one lemon really means three tablespoons of the juice. * * * Brown sugar will not get hard if kept in the box with the bread. Sprinkle a little flour into the fat before frying eggs or apy food that causes the hot fat to pop in all directions. Stirring hash with a spoon will make it lumpy, so always use a fork (or this purpose. Glass bottles which have held bath salts are useful for holding preserves and dry stores. Before use. scour bottle and stopper well with hot soda water and leave bottle unstoppered tn an airy place till all traces of scent have disappeared. To keep preserves airtight, paste a circular strip of paper round edge of stopper.

WASHERS ON TAPS

A PRACTICAL HINT A new washer is required on a tap when it continues to drip, no matter how tightly the tap is turned. Leather, rubber or composition washers may be used for cold-water taps, but for hot water the washer must be of red rubber or of composition. It is very desirable that the water should he turned off at the main or at the stop-cock in the house before the job is started. HOW TO DO IT The top is unscrewed by means of a wrench put round the neck of the tap. This enables the spindle to be taken out, also the washer with its attachment. The job is greatly simplified if the new washer and attachment is bought ready for use—it can be had for 3d at any ironmonger’s. If this is not done, then the washer must be cut, using the old one as a pattern. The washer is next put in, and care must he taken to see that the brighter side is placed downward. The head of the tap is replaced and screwed into position, using the wrench as before, and the water turned on again. THIS WEEK’S RECIPE RHUBARB CREME Six or 8 rhubarb stalks, 1 quart water, 1 cup pearl barley, 1 stick cinnamon, Boz. granulated sugar, 1 tablespoon raspberry jam (or jelly), 1 tablespoon currant jam (or jelly), 2 tablespoons cornflour. Wash pearl barley; wipe rhubarb, but do not peel, and cut into small pieces. Put barley, rhubarb and water into saucepan; simmer for one hour. Put cin-namon-stick into simmering mixture for about five minutes (then wash and dry it throughly for similar uses.) Strain mixture through colander into saucepan, pressing through as much as possible; add sugar and jams, bring to boil, add cornflour mixed with little water. As soon as mixture thickens it should be taken off the fire and beaten with a fork for a couple of minutes to prevent creme from toughening. Pour into dish, from which it Is to be served, sprinkling a little castor sugar over to prevent skin forming. Leave till next day or at least eight hours.

FRIED CHEESE BALLS

Ingredients.—Hb. cream cheese, 2 eggs, about 2 tablespoonsful flour, salt to taste, butter or margarine for frying. Rub the cheese through a sieve, or merely beat it in a bowl till smooth. Add to it the eggs, flour and salt, and mix thoroughly to a paste which must not be stiff. Heat the fat and drop into it a spoonful of the cheese mixture, flattening them slightly. Fry rather slowly. When one side is nicely done, turn on to the other side. Take out, drain well and serve piping hot.

FASHION NEWS FROM FRANCE

(By Luclenne Gui) As the season proceeds, more and more beautiful models are shown by the great ones who say “Thus and thus shall you be clothed.” We see, therefore, how much better it is to wait patiently for a month or so, until every secret is out and the models that began by being a little bizarre j have become charmingly modified, and we can safely say: “That is being j worn now; that is new and Paris- | ienne! I will have it.” The Truth About Waists Remember what an outcry there was | early in the season. “Waists are com- | ing back,” it was said. And then: I “Waists are back! The dumpy, the | stodgy, all must be belted at the \ waistline whether they like it or not!” j Those women who knew of their imperfect figures were horrified. But there was no need to worry. There is never any need to worry, for the designers are far too wise to make their clients look ridiculous. I Most of the gowns are cut on prin-

cess lines, long and slender to well I below the hips where the fullness commences. The slender line can be broken at will. Slim women clip themselves about the waist and are very content. Those who are not so slim place the narrow band where it will just rest on the top of the hips; those who are boyishly straight adopt the newest and most arresting notions in swathed and rucked belts, quite broad ones, folded so low that they come a little below the hips. How Fullness is Introduced Since we must have both fitted lines and fullness, the great question is how to get both without disturbing the neat appearance above the hips or making too much business of introducing the flare below them. One designer has evolved the most perfect model in finest pale mauve chiffon, the whole of the from the top, tvhich has an unusual square deeolletage with very narrow flat shoulder straps, being closely gauged. The stitching on the bodice becomes closer at the waistline to ensure a good shape, and more open again at the hips. Below the hipes, the guaging forms medallions, leaving panels of the plain material to float out in godets. The medallions are arranged lower at the back than in front, so that the flaring material forms a beautiful swishy little tail. A gown for a young girl is made of white chiffon and silver lace so fine that it looks like mist. This also illustrates a novel way of suggesting fullness. The gown itself is quite plain, almost tubular, but all down one side half cones of stiff white silk net are set one below the other, a cascade of the fine silver lace falling from eaph. This gown is a masterpiece, embodyring the new quite tight shape and the cascade form of trimming. Day Frocks People tell us that the jumper line is dead, but many still look for it, and find it, for it is too useful and too youthful to be lost altogether. She who is very young and slender may tuck the jumper into the top of the skirt and pretend it is a blouse, but the majority of us will still wear it outside. It must always be belted, however, and it is here again that we shall decide for ourselves Whether we are going to be normal or low-waisted. I saw a most delightful afternoon frock in printed brown crepe with a slightly flared skirt and finished with a narrow kilting of brown grosgrairi ribbon. The bodice was of long jumper shape, also hemmed with a kilted frill, and the belt of rather broad gros-grain was placed right at the waist, but was a movable feature. The collar and the little jabot front were of georgette to match the brown of the frill. A loose, three-quarter coat of soft brown corded silk went with this frock. One client had the whole thing copied in the new shade of dark wine-mauve, called aubergine, mingled with a soft port-wine pink. It looked beautiful.