Domestic

New Zealand Tablet, 20 September 1906, Page 33

Domestic

By • Maureen '

Beef Tea. When making beef lea do not add 'salt to the meat ■until it has been cooking for some time, as the salt prevents some of the nourishment from 'being. extracted. To Keep Macaroni. Macaroni deteriorates very rapidly if it is kept in anything but covered jars or bottles. The great secret - in cooking it is to plunge it in salted water which is boiling quickly. How io Clean Mirrors. Finger marks on looking glasses may be removed by means of a few drops of ammonia. "Fly specks should be washed off with cold water, the mirror being afterwards polished with chamois leather. Strawberry Microbes. The cold eye of science has seen that strawberries are a favorable resting place for air-borne poisons. It is suggested that before they are eaten all strawberries should be washed in clean water. The process will not injure the fruit in the least. Cutting New Bread. Cutting bread while it is new or fresh is a very wasteful and unpleasant process when done in the usual way, but if a hot knife is used the slices will be more even, and there will be less waste of the crumb. How to Store Blankets. Before blankets are put away for the summer, they should be washed, dried, and thoroughly aired. They should then be tied up in sots of four, and pieces of yellow soap scattered between the folds. This will effectually guard against the inroad of moths. Linoleum Polish. Linseed oil and vinegar may be made into an excellent polish for linoleum or oilcloths. It should be applied with a piece of flannel, polishing being effected by meant of a soft cloth. A mixture of beeswax and turpentine gives a belter polish, but it makes the floor very slippery and glassy. To Test the Heat of an Oven. Put into the oven a piece of clean white paper : if it at once becomes dark brown the oven is fit for pastry and too hot for cakes. If the paper turns yellow or very pale brown- cakes may be put in. If t-he heat of the oven is inclini d to reach too high a temperature and - scorch pastry or confectionery, which is in course of baking, a good plan is to place a tin or enamelled saucer on the lowest shelf of the oven and fill it with water. - How to Utilise Sour Milk. It frequently happens that a certain quantity of milk turns sour and is thrown away as useless, but a delicious bread or scone loaf may be made from milk which has turned. A toaspoonfui of bicarbonate of soda should bo used to a pint of the milk, and as it effervesces mix quickly with flour inio a dough, adding a pinch of salt. Place in a tin, and stand in the oven for twenty minutes. For the Complexion. The beauties of Denmark have a habit of bleaching the skin. They wash t,lip face in oatmeal water. Instead of plunging the face in a basin of plain, hard harsh water, they take a big basin of hot water and drop into it a handful of finely ground oatmeal, almost a powder. This they stir until the water is all milky. It is then ready to be used. A Danish girl with a skin like a rose will come in from her skating of an afternoon, prepare her . facial bath of oatmo-a'l and hot water and will wash her skin thoroughly with it. She will go over and over her face as carefully as though she were washing lace, and when she has 'finished there will not be one flaw in her complexion. Sometimes she washes in bran instead of oatmeal.