Domestic

New Zealand Tablet, 3 April 1913, Page 57

Domestic

By Maureen.

To Protect Valuable Vases. . ’ * Many a valuable vase has been broken as a result of toppling over when flowers having long stems have been placed in it, the weight of the flowers making the vase top heavy. This damage can be done away with to a large extent by - partly filling the vase with sand, using an inch or more, according to height. The sand, of course, gives the vase weight at the bottom. ' To Preserve Lemons. Housewives know how quickly lemons lose their freshness, and become dry or decay. A simple remedy is to smear them over completely with the white or yolk of an egg, and place them on a shelf to dry. They must not touch each other. Lemons treated in this way can be kept tor a long time, even in the hottest weather. Another way is to place them in a jar of water — water to be renewed every day or two. This will keep them fresh for several weeks. Sultana Cake. One pound of flour, one pound of sugar, one pound of butter, six eggs, on© wineglassful of brandy, one teaspoonful of grated nutmeg, one level teaspoonful of baking powder, and one pound of sultana raisins. Beat the butter and sugar to a cream, then stir in the yolks of the eggs, and the whites stiffly beaten, add the brandy, nutmeg, flour, and baking‘'powder sifted together. Beat the whole together, then add the sultana raisins. Line a cake tin with buttered paper, put in the cake mixture, and bake in a moderate oven for one and a quarter hours or until the cake is ready. To Stone Raisins. It is cheaper to buy new, plump raisins, at a higher price, than old candied ones, as there is less waste. Have a bowl of tepid water on your right hand, a damp, coarse cloth spread on the table before you, the raisins on your left hand, and the bowl to receive them, when stoned, in front. The bowl of water is only to dip your fingers in occasionally; if the latter are too sticky after the seeds are removed, they will cling to your hand and go into the bowl with the stoned raisin. Squeeze the raisins between thumb and finger, and remove the stones you find with a small knife. Some prefer to split them; do which you find the quicker. Put-the stones on the damp cioth as you remove them, and shake it before there are too many, or they will also cling to your fingers, and pass to the bowl with the stoned fruit. Cleaning Wall Paper. Where a room that is papered has become dingy from smoke through the winter, it can be cleaned in this way : —After having blown off all the. dust . from the paper to be cleaned with a pair of good bellows, take bread about two days old, cut it into three-inch pieces, begin at the top of the room, and wipe lightly downward with a piece of the bread, about eighteen inches at each stroke, until the upper part of the room is cleaned all around. Then go around again, with the same sweeping stroke downward, always commencing each successive course a little higher than the upper stroke had extended, till, the bottom is reached. Great caution must be used not to rub the paper too hard nor to attempt cleaning in the horizontal way. The bread must be renewed often, and this operation, if carefully performed, will make old paper look equal to new.