HOUSEHOLD HINTS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9214, 18 April 1908, Page 3

HOUSEHOLD HINTS.

Oysters are highly nutritious, and are most easily assimilated' when eaten raw. Allow all starch to become lukewarm before using. Hat staich is apt to spoil colours and make them fade. Before sweeping a carpet sprinkle with moist salt It will both lay tho dust and revive the colours.

Don't throw away burnt milk; instead pour into a oiean jug and stand in cold water. By the time the milk is quite cold the scorched taste will have entirely gone.

To clear Indian brass trays, rub wit]* a lemon cut in half, dipped frequently in salt. If badly soiled, more than one lemon will be needed to clean it properly. New lamp wicks should be soaked in vinegar for an hour or two, aJid then dried, before they are put into the burner Treated in this way, they will give a far belter light, and bo unlikely to amoke, as new wicks so often do. Tako any remains of stale bread and cut into ihin, neai strips; place in the oven and bake till quite crisp and a nice brown colour. Bread treated in this way makes an excellent substitute for biscuits, and is delicious if eaten with cheese. Needle books are much better made with leaves of chamois 'eaiher or fine linen instead of old-fashioned flannel. Flannel is often prepared with sulphur, and this tends to rust the needles. Chamois leather, on the other hand, keeps them beautifully bright. Don't leave your groceries in paper bags, or they will soon become- stale. .^•" se i °**J meal, tapioca and supplies of this kind should be kept in covered glass jars. Coffee and tea are best in tightly-covered tins. Por^ meaa and flour, covered wooden bins should bs used. Parsnip Fritters^— Boil three or four parsnips till tender, remove the skins and mash very finely. Add a teaspoonful of flour, one well-beaten egg, and a seasoning of salt. Mix well, form into ovals with two spoon*; fry on bath sides in boiling butter, or beef dripping. Serve very hot. Apple Oheese-cakw.'— Line some patty-pans with puff-paste, and fill with the following mixture:— Take J!b of cooked apple, add te> it Jib of sugar, melt 3oz of butler in a saucepan, add the juios and grated rind of a lemon, and the apple; stir well orex a slow flrft, and fill the cases, after which bake in a quick oven for twenty minutes. Much time is often lost in trying to remove the stains or coatings on the inside of glass water-botties acd vinegar cruets. Cut up into small bits a whole lemon and put into the bottlo. Add a little water, then shake all over in the bottle. Let sand for ten minutes and shake again until ©lear. Empty, and wn-sh in clean, cleat water, and the glass- look 3 like new, Apple Custard.— Peel, core and quarter about six tart cooking apples, place in a saucepan with a little cold water and some grated lemon rind. Stew until tender, and then boat until quite smooth. Sweeten to taste. When the apple pulp is quite cold beat up three eggs and thin them alternately with a pint of milk to the apple. Four | into a buttered dish and bake for twenty minutes in a moderate oven. Apple and Banana Tart.— Cut ltfb of apples into slices, and stew them with plenty of su^ar un-til they are reduced to a pulp ; then add the grated rind of half a lemon and a little of the juice. Put a layer of the apple into a pie-dish, and cover it with thin slice* of banana; then add more apple, and eont&nne in the same way until the Qi»h is full. Make a small hole with a wooden skewe* in the middle of the apple, and pour in a little water; and when the fruit is cold, cover it wi.h short paste and bake in a moderately hot oven.

Girdle Scojtaa. — Take one breakfast-cupful of flour, i teaspoonful salt, 1 teaspoomful matter, 1 large teaspoonful fine sugar, 4 teaspoontvil carbon**© of eotbt, 1 teaapooaivu cream of

tartar, 1 teacupful sweet milk. Heat tha girdle.. Put the flout, into & basin, rub m the butt«, add tiie sugar, salt* soda and cream of tartar, mix very 7r*il, ueing a knife. Stir the milk in quickly, turn owt the dough, knead a little, divide it in two, form each into a rou-nd, press it out with the hand, then roll, cut eaoh round into four. Place the scones on a hot girdle and fire; when cooked, place one on the top of the other, between the folds of a clean towel.

Af.er coming in out of the rain put the umbrella down, stand it on the handle, and let it dry in this position. The water will thus drip from the edges of the frame and the cover dry uniformly. When placed with the handle upward, as is frequently done, tlio water runs to the top of the umbrella, and the moisture is there retained in the lining underneath the ring, causing the silk or fabrio with which the frame is covered to become tender and soon rot. A silfc umbrella is much injured by being left open to dry; the silk bocom©3 stretched and stiff, and will splii. When not in use let the folds hang loosely. If the silk *_ tightly rolled up the cover wiH wear at the creases.

Quince Jelly.— Out tro 101 b of quinces with the peel and cores. They must be carefully wiped beforehand. Put- them into a jar with. 1 quart of water; cover the jar, and Btand in a boiler of water. Let it cook for hours, renewing the water in the boiler from time to time. Then strain through a cheesecloth. Measure it. and allow lib of sugar to \ pint of juice. Put :he juice on the fire to boil, and at the same time pvrt the sujjar in the oven in flat tin di«hes (meat baking-pane or jamroll tins are best). Stir the sugar frequently, said see that it does not burn. Whe 1 the juice has boiled for twenty-minutee. add the sugar, which should ba very hot. Let it bail, when it should jelly; but sometimes it will require boiling for a few minutes. The quinces should not be ovar-ripo. French Pancakes.— Take the weight of 2 egg's (or it the dish is required for more than fouT persons, use four e?fs) in butter and powdered sugar, with douVe the weight of flour. Beat the butter and sugar together in a basin until the mixture is quite white, then add the eggs ? which should be thoroughly beaten, and stir in by degrees the Hour; mix well, add a. pinoh of baking powder, and then pour in jnst enough warm milk to make the mixture of about the consistency of thick cream. Pour it into small plates, which have been buttered, and bake in a quick oven until the pancakes are lightly browned. When done, spread eaoh panoake with some lemon cheese curd, pile uip on a hot dish, cutting through the centre eacb way, and dust powdered sugar over them.

Treacle Tart.— This is a cheap and very nice sweet, whioh may be used hoi or cold. Line a dinn-er plate with a p-aste made as follows: — Rub, two ounces of butter, dripping or lard into 6eus flour, ada half a teaspoonful of baking powder, one dessert-spoonful castor su?ar, and sufficient; water io form them into a- firm pa*te. 801 l it ou-t until it is abouit one-eighth of an inch thick. Wet the edges of the plate, lay on the paste, trim the ed?es, roll out the scraps, ornament the sides, brush them with wafer and sprinkle with fine sugar, prick the centre of the paste to prevent it rising in blisters. Mixture: 3 tablespoonfuls treaole, or 'syrup, 2oz breadcrumbs, 1 lemon. Mix the crumbs, syrup or treacle, the rind of the lemon (gTated), and the juice* Put into the prepared dish, and bake for about half an hour. '