WOMAN'S PAGE

Waipukurau Press, Volume XXIX, Issue 212, 15 September 1934, Page 6

WOMAN'S PAGE

WEEKLY ARTICLES ON MATTERS FEMININE

Specially Written for the “ Press ” by a Leading Sydney Exper (Copyright)

COOKING

SOMETHING NEW FOR STRAWBERRY TIME

Rico Border with Strawberries: —

You will want two eggs. Beat them. Heat one pint of milk and add to the egs, then turn them into the top of a double boiler. Cook them over another pan of hot water, stirring the custard until it thickens. Then take it off the heat and stir in three dessert spoonsful of castor sugar and two and a half ounces of dessicated coconut. Leave the custard to get cold. To obtain the cooked rice, boil some rico in a pan of boiling water. Then ■drain it in a colander and pour cold water through it to separate the grains. Then drain the rice again before weighing it. As rice increases in bulk when it is ;ooked, you will only require about one-and-a-half to two ounces of raw rice to give you the six ounces of cooked rice you require for this dish.

Dissolve half-an-ounce of gelatine in a pan with half-gill of water, and strain it into the coconut custard. Add the rice and one teaspoonful of vanilla essence and when the mixture begins to thicken, turn it into a wet mould to set.

Meanwhile prepare the strawberries. You will want half a pound. Remove the hulls and put the berries into a pan with three dessertspoonsful of castor sugar. Let them stand at the side of the fire until the juice begins to flow and the sugar is dissolved. Then leave the fruit to become cold.

To serve the mould, dip it in warm water and turn it out on to a glass dish. Decorate it with some of the perpared berries and put a stalk of angelica in each. Serve the remainder of the strawberries in a sauceboat with the juice.

THE HOME

A COLOUR-SCHEME FOR COTTAGE DINING-ROOM

Here is a pretty colour-scheme recently adopted by a Sydney bride for her dining-room:

Paint the woodwork to match the table, and colour the walls the new parchment shade. Have the curtains of a striped linen in green and parchment shades, and paint the window casement the same green as in the curtains. On the floor have a darker green carpet or matting, and on the table a cloth of coloured linen with green the predominant colour. Your table-glass should be of amber colour, and an unusual touch would be to have small brown oak bread-plates and brown-handled knives. These table Accessories are quite inexpensive and help the colour scheme greatly.

GENERAL

SAY IT WITH—

Promptness when you want to congratulate or condole with a friend. Don’t wait until the next time you see her. A kindly word a the moment means much. Courtesy, if you have to make a complaint. A pleasantly-worded request will probably do much more for you than an outbusrst of annoyance, however natural. Generosity, if you have need to apologise. Honour may be satisfied with a few formal words, but you’ll have more respect for yourself if you! are ungrudging in your apology. Frankness, if you have a favour to ask. Don’t beat about the bush, or try to “lead up’’ to your request. If

i is a reasonable one, you’ll find that most people rather welcome the opportunity of bestowing a favour. It reflects their noble-mindedness.

Clarity, if extending an invitation. If you really want someone to come, don’t just say: “Do run over some week-end.” Say: "What about the week-end after next? Come on Friday, if you can; and it’s quite as easy to get up in time for the office on Monday morning.’ ’ Then your guest will know how long she is asked for; and when.

A smile, if thanking for a service

done. It’s easy to say "thank you”' almost automatically; it’s the smile accompanying the words that gives them sincerity and meaning. i Silence, if you are angry. A word spoken can never be unsaid, or cancelled by kinder words. Silence, as ever, is golden.

THE LAUNDRY

WASHING COTTON AND LINENS

The weekly wash should be treated sections, according to the material of which the articles are composed. The white cotton and linen articles must je sorted out and placed in one heap; his heap wi’ 1 include sheets, pillow-

lips, towels, white table linen, cotton pnder-clothing, und so on. Coloured icotton garments make the second heap. Many housewives wonder whether it is really necessary to put the white articles in soak before washing them. I always recommend this being done, for if there are streaks df dirt, as on collars and shirt-bands, no good service is rendered by plunging these garments ■straight into hut water, as this will 'only set the dirt more firmly in the material; soaking in cold water for some hours—preferably overnight—will loosen the dirt and it will come away far more easily afterwards. Perspiration stains are also lessened by thorough soaking. All body linen should be turned inside-out before attempting )o wash it.

The white wash should be placed in a vessel deep enough to allow it all being covered when filled up with water, and it will be a great saving of labour to i add a reliable soap-powder to the water. I always rub a little good soap into such places as the backs of the necks of shirts or blouse collars, wristbands, the middle of the pillow-slip where the head has rested, and into kitchen rubbers and roller-towels. This saves much rubbing the next day, and we must always remember that not only is the rubbing tiring but that, at tho same time, it shortens the life of the fabric considerably. Next morning I fasten my wringer to the side of the bath in which the wtsh is soaking, an J I pass the articles through it into a waiting basket. Some people soak their wash in the bailer and just boil it up in the morning, but thia is not advisable b-’cause. if the soaking has ben satisfactory, tho water will contain a considerable amount of dirt, and this dirt should not be boiled back again into the washing. Instead, prepare fresh soapsuds in the copper or boiler, using a reliable soap-powder, atl the strength of a tablespoonful to a gallon of water. Beware of putting more clothes into the boiler than can be comfortably covered by the water; the results of overcramming are never satisfactory. The wash should be Brought to the boil and allowed to boil for 20 minutes, during which times it should be stirred occasionally with a stick. If the white wash is particularly grey, some safe bleach can be added to the water before boiling; manyThbusowives add a cut lemon to the boiling.

Once they have been boiled thoroughly, the clothes should be removed Ito a sink or bath, where they must be examined for dirty marks which have persisted in spite of the boiling. TRese bad patches' can only be treated with soap and warm water and a little elbow grease. Now the wash goes through the rub-ber-wringer once more, and into the first rinsing water ,w?ileh should be warm. The second water is cold, and the colour of the rinsed article is improved if a little blue is added to this last rinsing water. See that the blue is firmly tied in a piece of closely woven white material; otherwise some of the particles may escape and your nice wash will ~be streaked with blue. If convenient, it is an excellent method to place the bath of clothes under a running tap and allow the ■water to run on to them until clear. Thon blue as described. One final wringing from the blue-water to the washing-basket, and the clothes are readv for the clothes line.

BEAUTY

SPRING SUNSHINE

Spring flowers, spring perfumes, and fair spring weather. New suitings and new hats, and most important of all, new faces to go with them. The old winter ones won’t do at all. They must be renewed and refreshed. Tinkles caused by cold wirids must go smoothed away, and the drab “dirty” look, brought about by fogs, must be banished. What the skin needs -at this time of the year is plenty of nourishment. Cleanse it with a nice, soft, cleansing cream, and pat in a nourishing skin food, both in the morning and when you go to bed. Leave a little on at night.

Use a good skin tonic before making up, pat in briskly but gently, until the skin is glowing; then supply a soft emollient foundation. There are some lovely silky ones, just made to give the right bloom to a “spring face.” Eyes frequently look tired after the winter, and a good way of refreshing them is to dip little pads of cottonwool in cold water and a skin tonic, and place them over the closed lids. A little muscle oil patted into the skin underneath will help to eradicate any fine lines and wrinkles.

A face pack about once a week is the best and quickest way of lightening and revitalizing tho skin. Any look of sallowness or dullness can soon be got rid of in this way. There are excellent packs which can be bought inexpensively, and used at home quite simply. If you prefer to use a home-made pack you can do it In the followingadd one taKlespoonful of carbonate of way: Put about a quarter of a pound of Fuller’s earth into a basin, ancr magnesia. Mix this into a smooth paste with a little water to which a few drops of lemon have been squeezed. Cleanse the face thoroughly with a soft, cleansing cream. Remove thecream with a clean rag or paper-tis-sue, then sipread on the paste and leave* to dry. Take off with a pad of cot-ton-wool soaked in luke-warm wafer, and then massage in a good supply of skin-food. FASHIONS CHILDREN IN SPRINGTIME — September is the first out-of-door month of the year. We are now'planning the children’s days so that they can spend as many hours as possible in the bright, warm sunshine. It is also tho month when all the pretty cottons that have been made and are being made make their appearance.

Since cottons are lovelier than ever this year, it is quite safe to fortell that all the children will be wearing them,, and I think you will find that bright, gay, vivid colours will be most popular, leaving the pastel shades for the silks, which, of course, are for best-wear dresses. Field-flower patternings in bright, poppy-red, cornflower-blue, da.ndelion yellow, and grass-green are tho favourite shades to be see® in the printed cottons, and since all the new branded materials are dyed fast to washing, we need not hesitate to buy the jolliest of them. For special occasions, voiles with drawn-thread, checked and striped weavings and with the most delightful spotted embroidery designs will be extremely popular. Crease-resisting voiles of this type are perfectly lovely, and you will want to include at least one little frock of this material. Don’t forget the linens. These areexcellent for little boys ’ wear and very popular for making summer coats. Incidentally linen is warm as a lightweight tweed, so it is perfect for summer wraps.

If you are planning frocks for tiny bridesmaids, then taffetas and organdie are the two fashionable materials to bear in mind and since both are easy materials to make up, I know you will like them.