Here's your Answer

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 109, 29 July 1927, Page 5

Here's your Answer

T ET THE SUN Service Bureau assist you with your problems, whether they relate to dress, health, and beauty culture, cookery, homecraft, travel, sport, or any other of the many things on which we are all constantly needing information. Whatever your particular puzzler may be, we will be glad to give our advice whenever possible. All communications must be accompanied by the inquirer's name and address (not for publication), and sent to THE SUN “Service Bureau,” Women's Page, THE SUN, Auckland. Answers will appear weekly in this column. BUN LOAF Two Readers write: “May we have a recipe for a good bun loaf?” Mix a pinch of salt with a pound of flour. Rub in two ounces of lard or butter, add two ounces of granulated sugar, two ounces of currants and two ounces of sultanas.

Cream one ounce of yeast with one teaspoonful of castor sugar. Well beat one egg and just warm half a pint of milk.

DRIED GREEN PEA SOUP Is it possible to make green pea soup with dried peas?—M.L. Yes; soak a breakfastcupful of dried green peas overnight. Then boil them until nearly soft. Drain. Put them in a stewpan with a finely chopped Spanish onion and one pint of white stock. Simmer until the vegetables are quite soft, then rub through a sieve. Return the puree to the saucepan with a liberal seasoning of salt and pepper, and half a pint of milk. Simmer 10 minutes. Then stir in a pinch of dried mint or a little finely chopped fresh mint and one ounce of butter. Serve very hot with toast sippets. CLEARING HOME-MADE WINE

I am taking the opportunity of asking your advice in respect to the clearing of wine. I made some 12 months ago, and it has gone very cloudy; perhaps you might be able to advise me what to do? —A Constant Reader. Home-made wine sometimes becomes clouded through being bottled too soon.

Try the simple remedy first, namely, filtering. You can get filter-papers from a chemist. If this is not successful, the wine can be cleared with isinglass. This will sink to the bottom and carry away any particles with it, but also some of the strength of the wine. One and a-half ounces of isinglass and a pinch of citric acid is dissolved in one and a-half pints of wine, and allowed to stand for several days, when another one and a-half pints of the wine are added. Half a pint of this will clear 18 gallons of wine. LISPING My boy, aged four, has what I think is a very pretty lisp, but my elder sister tells me I should break him of if- Will he not grow out of it naturally ? Lisping, in a boy particularly, should be corrected early. It will be such an easy source of temptation for his schoolfellows to tease him. Later on in life it might prove a serious drawback. You are by far the best person to help him, if the habit arises from careless speaking, by a few bantering corrections. Never let him guess that you find the lisp attractive. You will soon be teaching him nursery rhymes, and that will make a splendid opportunity to train him to articulate correctly. THE LAST OF THE CHILBLAINS I had very bad chilblains this winter, and though the swellings have gone down considerably my fingers still look thick and clumsy. Would massage nelp, do you think?—J.P. Yes, if you were to massage a little stainless iodine ointment into your finSers each night the swellings should disappear. The treatment should be continued for a couple of weeks. NO MORE FULLER’S EARTH My skin is exceptionally dry, so niuch so that even calamine lotion makes it feel tight and drawn. The only powder I ever use is prepared fulearth. Can you help me? —P.T. Fuller’s earth is much too drying for yo y? type of skin. In future dust with cold cream powder, and use a trace almond oil skin food to hold your ?f!S dep grains. Pat a little camphorated vaseline into the face each night jor a week or two. This is very healing. CLEANING DOESKIN GLOVES , have a pair of expensive doeskin gloves which are very dirty now. They re a light fawn in colour and the gauntlets are lined with white fur. I ?ant to clean them, but as they are MJod ones I am afraid of spoiling them. Mrs cT U me k est jpnethod? — Cleaning your gloves with petrol will e best, especially as the gauntlets are nned with white fur. thS’° ak them in a basin of petrol for ” ree minutes. Then lay them on a . ay . and scrub them with a soft nail\vih dipped in Petrol. >Vhen they are nearly clean rinse in

fresh petrol and scrub again if necessary. Finish them off by wiping with a clean cloth. Remember that petrol is most inflammable. THE VALUE OF DRY CLEANING Since shingling, my hair has got steadily more and more troublesome. It’s lank and greasy two days after it’s washed. I wondered if you could account for the change, and perhaps you would suggest a remedy at the same time?—H.G. In nine cases out of ten the explanation is quite simple—over-shampooing. Once every three weeks is quite a fair shampoo average. I want you to try “dry-cleaning” your hair between one shampoo and the next. Orris root containing a trace of powdered borax, or any of the prepared dry shampoo mixtures, sprayed on to the hair last thing at night, and brushed out next morning, should remove all traces of grease and dust. Diet may also be partly to blame for your trouble. To be on the safe side eat sparingly of such things as cream, sweets, salad dressings and fried dishes, sweet and savoury alike. AN INLAID LINOLEUM

We have our kitchen floor covered with inlaid oilcloth, and as it does not look so nice polished would you kindly tell me if an occasional washing, say, twice a week, would hurt it? Also, could you give me any recipe for ensuring that the squares will not become loosened by water? A friend suggested a solution of size and water, but I’m not sure about this.—U.L.C.

I scarcely think that sizing the linoleum would permanently prevent loosening of the squares. A better plan would be to cement the lino to the floor in order to prevent wrinkling and consequent chafing and rubbing. Cementing is rather a tedious job, as it involves getting the floor absolutely flat by planing off any knots or roughnesses, and filling in the spaces between any shrunk floor boards with thin bits of wood driven in flush with a mallet, and planed off true to the floor surface. Paint the bits of wood with glue before driving them home. Use good glue for underneath the linoleum, but recollect that you will not be able to remove it in large pieces once the job is done. Anyway, the flatter you lay it the longer will the floor last, and the less chance there will be of the trouble you fear. I do not think the occasional washing will harm ti e linoleum if you get it perfectly dry and treat it with a little polish. If you varnish it over with a good transparent varnish this would certainly add to its life and would only necessitate subsequent sweepings. THE SECRET OF FRENCH POLISHING I have made an article of furniture, which I want stained mahogany. As French polishing is a secret process, would you kindly let me know how I would go about my job so that it looks as much like French polishing as possible?—G.S. There is not so much mystery in French polishing as, perhaps, you imagine. Where the professional scores is in the deftness he acquires through continued practice and in the patience he cultivates. He is, for obvious reasons, seldom in a hurry to get results! You can French polish by adoprting one of two methods. The first is the easier and the more expensive, and consists in buying an amateur Frenchpolishing outfit from a firm which specialises in such sets. The set contains everything needed to French polish in any shade of wood. The second plan is to learn to French polish yourself. The polish itself is made according to many recipes, of which the most usual is: A pint of methylated spirit.

Two ounces of orange shellac. Stir together over a gentle heat. Do not place directly over a naked fire or gas jet, but use a saticepan with water in it and a jam jar, holding the polish, in that. Now make a “pad” of lint or cotton wool covered with a clean piece of linen. Rub the polish carefully over your furniture. You can get the mahogany shade by making a mixture of methylated spirit and powdered dry colour, such as Bismarck brown, or Venetian red, or the umbers.

Having first dipped your pad in the French polish, next dip it in the colour and smoothly go over the work. For the finishing coat get some white shellac and mix it up separately, as described for the orange.