COVERING UP THE RENT

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXIV, Issue 18832, 21 March 1931, Page 15 (Supplement)

COVERING UP THE RENT

DEALING WITH TORN DRESSES It is sad when a rent appears in some cherished jumper or blouse, but such a disaster may be entirely camouflaged by the addition of a pocket. This may be crocheted in silk to match, or contrive out of a woven flower applique stitched to a piece of matching ribbon. Should the tear be in a place unsuitable for a pocket, a ribbon waist belt may be posed about it, or if it is too high up for this, a hanging watch fob may hide the rent.

A tear right in the centre of the bodice will be slightly baffling until you remember that jabots and collars with tie witli very long bows and ends are fashionable. Usually some such camouflage can be draped to hide the damage, for fashion allows a good deal of license as to the shapes and extent of these .trimmings. Torn cuffs are tiresome, but may be remedied by the addition of little "turnbacks” of organdi or lace. Double cuffs are quite modish at present, so you will be right up to date with these. Another good way to cover up a tear is to tack to the back a piece of material which matches the garment in colour, and take the whole to a firm of hemstitchers, instructing them to work an ornamental picot over the space and repeat the design elsewhere on the dress or blouse. This method will prove so unobstrusive that the picot work will blend in with quite good effect.

A VEGETABLE DINNER. Take four slices of stale bread, butter, one-third pound of cheese, two cups of milk, two eggs, salt and pepper, the sauce, one small chopped onion, one tablespoonful of butter, two tablespoonsful of flour, two cups of chopped left-over vegetables, one tablespoonfui of sugar. Butter the slices of bread; place in a buttered baking dish with slices of cheese between the bread. Beat the eggs and add them to the milk. Season with salt and pepper and pour this mixture over the sliced bread. Bake for twenty minutes in a moderate oven. The sauce may be made from tomatoes, green pepper, green beans, peas, and celery. Saute the onion in the butter, add the flour, then the chopped vegetables, sugar, salt, and pepper. Cook until thick, and serve hot as a sauce for cheese dish.

JAM MAKING. The housewife should bear in mind the following essential points: 1. Avoid fully ripe or moist fruit. 2. Boil slowly till sugar is added, then quickly. 3. Stir constantly. 4. Warm the sugar in the oven before mixing gradually with fruit. 5. To prevent pips hardening in blackberry jam, add a small quantity of water and bring the fruit to the boil before adding sugar. 6. Jars must be warm and dry.

7. Do not squeeze or press fruit through the bag when making jelly. Allow it to drip. 8. Follow the recipe carefully, particularly as regards quantity of sugar and length of time for boiling.

WHAT CAN BE DONE WITH BANANAS. Serve as a vegetable when the latter are scarce by frying or baking them a golden-brown and serving with meat or chicken. Serve as a sweet, by baking them after squeezing lemon juice over and adding a little butter. Use as the foundation of a curry with apples, nuts, and raisins, which with plenty of rice, makes a good dish. Use with nuts and orange in a green salad, masked with mayonnaise. Make into a quick sweet by mashing with a fork and adding jam or sugar with a little whipped cream. Pile in individual glasses. Another way is to cover the sliced bananas with jam and cover with cream or custard. Make into a jelly by placing thin slices in a masked mould and filling crevices with chopped pistachio nut. Make'layers of banana and jelly-' until the mould is full. Use sliced bananas in a trifle, baked custard, or bread-and-butter pudding.

HONEY FOR COLD DAYS. Give the children honey sometimes during the cold days. It is nourishing and good for sore throats and cold. A piece of oatcake with a wee bit of butter on it and spread with honey, is as good a tonic as you can get. A little honey mashed up with lemon juice is an excellent thing for softening the throat and chest and keeping anyone who has a cold from coughing. Apples with honey cake make a delicious cold sweet. Peel and core a number of large cooking apples, cut them into thick round slices. Spread honey over them in a fireproof dish, pop into the oven, and bake until the apples are well cooked. When ready grate a few Brazil nuts over the dish and serve it cold.

A large cupful of honey in the comb makes a most refreshing drink if you squeeze two or three lemons over it and stir in enough water to mix it, but keep it thick. This syrup can be drunk with water. As a hot drink on a winter night it is hard to beat when a cold is coming on. DINNER TABLE POSIES. Posies for the dinner table are one of the decoration ideas that London hostesses are favouring this season (states an English exchange). The Hon. Mrs Roland Cubitt had early Victorian posies consisting of little pink rosebuds as the delightful decoration for a recent party at which the Duke and Duchess of Westminster were present. Another hostess recently had old engraved vases arranged round her table, and in each was a very tightly made posy of old-fashioned sweet william, pinks, columbines, and moss roses.