Household Hints

King Country Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 190, 13 September 1909, Page 3

Household Hints

WlN'i'Ki-i TABU, I>K< 'ORATIONS. It used to i«o a point of etiquette, ] says a Melbourne writer, that when a girl visitor stayed any length of time in a house she should assume the daily task of arranging the flowers for the different sitting rooms and the dinner table. As every woman is privately convinced of her own superior judgment in this matter of flower arrangement, this duty was not always an easy one to perform so as to give per feet satisfaction, for most of us know that, while the grouping of drawing room flowers is comparatively easy, the dinner table needs p fair amount of skill, when, as at this time of year, suitable flowers, are scarce, and consequently expensive. However, an abundance of greenery is always permissable for winter tables, and holly and ivy are almost always available. One of the prettiest ornamentations in this respect is a silver rose bowl in the centre filled with ivy powdered with artificial hoar frost—the diamond powder sold for fancy dress purposes is what is mostly used, though a packet of Epsom salts, dissolved in a little water gives excellent results. From the sides of the bowl wide strands of silver ribbon, extending for half a yard or more, terminate in large bows, catching a bunch of berried holly, or small silver vases filled with holly keep the ribboii in place. Then small fiat baskets with bandies, sold for about twopence each, are painted gold and silver, and when laid at the corners of the table filled \ with violets and late roses they are particularly dainty and novel. The centrepiece may consist of a silver lamp or a large round basket filled with blossom to match the comer arrangement. This scheme was recently carried out at a recent Melbourne party, where the simple elegance of the table decorations was admired by everyone.

BANANA CUSTARD. i Take two bananas in their skins, then peel and cut into tbin slices. Prepare i a pint of custard, cither with boiled eggs and milk, or with custard powder. Sweeten, and stir in the banan- ! as. Pour in a disb, and set aside to cool. i UTILISING STALE BREAD. An economical use for stale bread is to cut it into thin slices,which are buttered and placed in a piedish. Sprinkle a few well washed currants between the layers. Six eggs, beaten with one quart of milk, v/ilh sugar and flavouring, nutmeg or cinnamon, are then poured over the slices. Bake for about an hour and ten minutes, and send it to the table in the dish in which it was baked. Don't use soda for washing china with gilt on it. If you do, don't be surpirsed if the gilt gradually disappears. Use a good yellow soap as a cleansing agent, and no harm will be done. Too slack or too fierce an oven will spoil the most perfect pastry ever made. A good hot oven is required, sufficiently brisk to raise the pastry, yet not severe enough to burn or even socrch it. Nothing strengthens the feet more than salt. The right proportion is one heaped tablespooonful of salt to half a gallon of water. Bathe the feet in this once a week. Carpets* in rooms which are seldom used are apt to be attacked by moths. Salt sprinkled round the edges and well under the carpet before it is put down will generally prevent their ravages. A Pretty Flower Bowl. —A clear glass bowl such as is used for goldfish filled with carbonated water will, if nasturtiums and leaves are placed in it, soon become a mass of frostl ike moisture. To Clean Chased Silver.—To eight quarts of soft water add one-half pound of salsoda, stir until dissolved. Into this mixture dip the pieces of silver one by one, rinse in clear warm water, and dry with soft cloths. Polish with chamois. To clean white enamelled furniture rub all \ery dirty marks with a flanncll slightly moistened with methylated spirit, and wipe dry. Next wash the article with warm water and soap and wipe dry. Then rob with a flannel dipped in a little siightly damped whiting, and polish with a leather. TEA TABLE DAINTIES. Plain Soda Scotch Scones. —One pound of flour,- one quarter ounce, of bicarbonate of soda, one-quarter ounce of cream of tartar, and a little salt. Mix with about a half pint of new milk, roll the dough, an cut with round cuttrs. Bake on a hot floured girdle for about 10 minutes. Cream Scones: Half a pound of flour, two ounces butter, a little salt, one tablespoonful of baking powder, half a pint of cream. Mix into a nice paste, brush over with egg, and bake in oven. These scones can be rolled out thinner and baked on a girdle and made into girdle cakes. THE DRESSING ROOM. It is a good plan to keep a piece of chamois leather at hand and to rub the face with it after it has been washed and dried, and a::;o when it feds hot in an airy mace, and be rubbed fre-q-;mnt!y while it is being dried, to make it soft.