Domestic

New Zealand Tablet, 20 March 1913, Page 57

Domestic

By Maueeen.

A Spectacle Hint.

Wearers of eye-glasses are greatly troubled with the steam caused by the heat or' the eye. This may be prevented by rubbing the glasses with ■ soap daily. They may be polished bright after application, bub an invisible film is retained which willv "prevent the deposit of moisture. . ... -

Wet Shoes or Boots.

Shoes or boots that have been wet through need a little careful treatment, or they may become hard, and crack while drying. When taken off they should be gently wiped with a soft cloth to remove all surface water and mud; then, while still wet, rub them well with paraffin oil, using for this purpose a piece of flannel. Then set them aside to dry in a warm place, but not directly in front of the fire, as the drying process must be gradual and thorough. When partly dry a second application of paraffin is advisable, and again set in a warm place until absolutely dry. They should have, a final rub with the flannel slightly damped with paraffin before applying blacking or boot polish or cream. This treatment insures the leather or kid remaining soft and flexible, so that the shoes or boots are very little the worse for their wettinc.

Why a Baked Potato is the Best.

Potatoes are such familiar everyday articles of food that hardly anybody considers it a problem.to be able to cook them properly. Yet there are good and bad ways of preparing potatoes, and probably the bad ways are the ones most frequently used. The principal value of the potato is in its starch content, but it is valuable besides on account of its mineral salts and tissue-building ingredients. In order to get full food value out of the potato, we must cook it in such a way as will retain all of these valuable food elements. It is a bad practice to peel potatoes, because by exposing the part directly under the skin—which is the most valuable part of all— of its important ingredients are lost. The best way to cook potatoes is to'bake them in their ' jackets ' in an oven of 450 to 500 degrees Fahrenheit. When the potato is taken out of the oven it must be pricked with a hot fork or broken at once, to permit the escape of the steam which has generated in the cooking process, and which will otherwise condense into water and make the potato soggy and indigestible. By doing this there is no chance for the food elements to escape, and if the potato is scraped out well from the skin (where lie the potash salts) pretty full food value will be secured. These potash salts help to feed the cells of the body, and are, of course, very valuable. Never cut open a baked potato; always break it, otherwise it will be soggy and barely fit to eat. The next best way of cooking potatoes is to steam them in their jackets. Potatoes cooked in this way are delicious, and if the peeling is done carefully very little of the nutriment is lost. Another good method is to boil the potato in its jacket. This takes less time than either of the above methods, prevents any slow dissolution of good material, from the potato, and preserves the flavour. Because potatoes are so lacking in fat, proteid, and mineral matter it is becoming the rule to serve them with meats, and to prepare them so as to introduce the food constituents they lack. People who want to keep thin should not eat too many potatoes,. for the large amount of starch they contain has a tendency to pro« duce obesity.

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