BLACK OR WHITE?

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 460, 15 September 1928, Page 23

BLACK OR WHITE?

SEIZING GOLDEN MINUTES PERFECT COFFEE "How do you take it. black or white?” Next to being too slow to catch enjoyment out of life, there is the serious error to be made of being too hurried to enjoy its golden moments. There are 15 lovely minutes lost by many families immediately after dinner every night, the 15 minutes that might have been given to the happy rite of coffee drinking. There is relaxation and good feeling in the air after dinner. In that hour the day's knocks and jars are softened in restrospection and humour is abroad. Tongues are loosened. Incidents of the day are told to interested listeners, or dreams are dreamt of "next holidays,” or “when we can afford new curtains.” If guests are present someone is bound to have a good story. Cigarettes are soothing, the cups are pretty. Perhaps Mrs. Smith did not mean what she said that morning, and what does it matter, anyhow? Or, if Jones did get the best of that deal, perhaps he may get his deserts some other day. Never mind the washing-up, or catching a train, for a few minutes — just enjoy these golden moments. But one thing is essential. That that coffee is good. If no trouble is taken the whole business might just as well be left alone. One well-known chef scorns anything but freshly ground beans. Chicory is the unforgivable sin! To make a pint—a thing he never does, 33 gallons being his average coffee output—he would use two and a-half ounces of Kenya or Java coffee beans, freshly ground, with a tiny pinch of salt. It is, he says, "all nonsense about not boiling coffee.” It needs to be brought up slowly and then boiled gently for four or five minutes. The shell of a freshly-broken egg put in before straining will clear up the grounds. The recipe for 15 minutes’ sheer happiness; there it is, hidden in a coffee bean —two and a-half ounces, freshly ground, and a pinch of salt then, “Abracadabra,” how do you take it? Black or white?

NEW HAIR MODES FEATHERS USED PICTURESQUE SUMMER HATS Which do you prefer —feathers or bunches of curls? The new picturesque summer hats are to blame for another turmoil in the plans of hairdressing modes which have done their best to be independent from dress fashions. Fluffy crowns, huge brims bedecked with every device of ribbons and flowers, make hair modes subordinate to the dictum of femininity supreme. A sleek shingle will not do with a large picture hat, neither are any of those closely-cut shingles in keeping with the latest millinery. Resort to “Birdies” Those who refuse to grow curls of their own must resort to “birdies” which have the annoying habit of falling out of position and becoming tangled, or else to the latest feather puffs which will be worn over the ears by many wearers of large hats. The feather puffs are certainly striking, but one would need to have so many pairs to keep the effect from becoming monotonous, that summer would prove a very expensive time. Red feathers must be worn with red hats, blue with blue, and so on. A hair mode which springs up directly owing to the summer hats, is that of cultivating a long fringe, which is curled at the ends, and long side-pieces which are curled up until no longer than the rest of the hair. Long bobs will be seen everywhere pinned and rolled into sausage-like curls from ear to ear. A prominent style is that of one circular curl made full over the ears and continuing right round the head. SYNTHETIC “Mine are synthetic,” said a smart woman, lunching in a town restaurant, to a friend. She was talking of the wonderful square and oblong emeralds, joined by chains of platinum, she was wearing on her wrist. “But the blister pearls are real,” she added. These synthetic emeralds are very difficult to tell from the real thing. Chrysoprase is being used a great deal on the new necklets and bracelets.