161. After Cake is Removed from Oven.--A cake which has been removed from the oven should be placed on a wire stand on the stove and the steam allowed to thoroughly escape from it so as to obviate any chances of it becoming heavy.
162. When the Top Cannot be Removed from Fruit Cans.--When the top cannot be removed from a fruit can, if the lid is carefully pried at one point, so the gum can be caught, the rubber can easily be removed. It is not difficult to pull the band from beneath the metal cap.
163. Darning.--When darning must be done in the evening it is more easily done if a light colored darning ball be used.
164. In Pressing a Plaited Skirt.--In pressing a plaited skirt one will gain time and have more satisfactory results if the plaits are basted before the pressing is done. Clean the skirt and brush it on the inside.
Next baste the seams, cover with a damp cloth and press on the right side with a medium warm iron. Dampen the cloth, when necessary and press until the cloth is dry.
165. St.i.tching Down a Seam.--After st.i.tching down a seam, press with a hot iron, and if no seamboard is at hand, it is useful to know that a rolling pin, wrapped in a clean cloth, will answer this purpose equally as well.
166. The Color Meat Should be.--Meat should be red with the fat a clear white. The fat besides being white should be firm, and suety, and never moist. Good meat has very little smell. Bad meat shrinks considerably in boiling. Meat which is fresh and good does not loose an ounce of weight, but swells rather, when it is being boiled.
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167. Buying a New Oil Cloth.--When you are ready to buy a new oil cloth for your kitchen table, take your old one and cut it up for ap.r.o.ns. Have it cover the whole front of your skirt, and make a large bib on it, and you will find, when you are through doing a washing, that you will be as dry as you were before you began.
168. Galvanized Tub.--The popularity of the galvanized tub due to its weight and durability, is the cause of a great many people discarding the wringer on account of their inability to fasten it to the tub securely. If a piece of heavy cloth is hung across the tub where the wringer fastens to it, you will find that it will fasten and hold as securely as to the old-fashioned wooden tub.
169. To Remove Mildew.--Mildew, if not of too long standing, can be removed by the use of raw tomato and salt. Rub the stains with raw tomato, sprinkle thickly with salt and lay in the sun. It may be necessary to repeat the process two or three times.
170. Closed Cupboards in the Pantry.--If there are closed cupboards in the pantry use them for storing provisions kept in screw top jars. There should be bra.s.s hooks for hanging up all the articles that can be suspended from the walls.
171. Keeping a House Account.--There are fewer reckoning days if housekeepers pay cash. If they persist in running accounts for groceries and other staples they should have a book and see to it that the right price is put down the minute anything is bought.
172. Chestnuts as a Vegetable.--Chestnuts have considerable food value.
The boiled and mashed pulp may be used as one would use meat or vegetable, even croquettes being made of it.
173. To Give Starch a Gloss.--A little sugar added to boiled starch will give a desirable gloss to the clothes when ironed.
174. Apples Cored for Baking.--Apples cored for baking are delicious filled with orange marmalade and a little b.u.t.ter and sugar.
175. Beating Eggs.--When heating eggs observe that there is no grease on the beater, as it will prevent the eggs from frothing.
176. If you judge as evil the actions of another, through the judging comes evil to you.
177. A Toy Saw.--A toy saw may be utilized many times in the kitchen for sawing meat bones which are too large.
178. If a White Dress Has Turned Yellow.--If last summer"s white dress has turned yellow, put it in a stone jar, cover with b.u.t.termilk and let it stand a day and night. Then wash well and starch with blued starch. This is better to whiten goods than freezing, sunshine, or the use of borax.
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179. Scorched Food.--A practical cook says: When food has been scorched remove the pan from the fire and set into a pan of cold water. Lay a dish towel over the pan. The towel will absorb all the scorch taste sent up by the steam and the family need never know it was burned.
180. Mutton Chops to Make Tender.--Mutton chops can be made tender quite as much as lamb, if before they are boiled or fried they are allowed to simmer in just a little water on the back of the stove. This also makes the flavor more delicate.
181. Hollowing Out a Tomato.--For hollowing out a tomato, previous to stuffing, a pair of scissors enables a person to remove all the pulp without breaking the skin. They are equally useful for fruit salads as the fine skin which separates the sections of the grape fruit and oranges is easily clipped off.
182. The Easiest Way to Blacken a Stove.--The easiest way to blacken a stove is to use a flat paint brush about one and a half inches wide, and a tin or jar, large enough to receive the brush, to mix the blacking in.
Apply the blacking to the stove as you would paint, and use a newspaper to polish with, which can be burned. In this way the hands do not come in contact with the blacking during the whole operation, and unsightly cloths and brushes, which soil the hands, are done away with.
183. Making Gravies.--For making gravies, thickening of roast gravies, it will be found useful to have browned flour on hand at all times, which can readily be kept in a mason jar or any covered vessel.
184. Kitchen Mittens.--Kitchen mittens can be bought in several thicknesses and sizes for various branches of housework. There are thick ones, with straps across the wrist to wear when polishing the ranges, then there are others to put on when scrubbing the sink or floors, and still thinner ones with chamois cloth inside to use for polishing silverware.
These mittens are a great protection to the hands and finger-nails, and they really simplify the work to a great extent.
185. To Improve Baked Potatoes.--To improve baked potatoes let them stand in a pan of cold water for about an hour, then put them in the oven while wet. This seems to steam them and cook them much quicker.
186. Meat Shortcake.--Give your household a meat shortcake sometimes. Make the shortcake as you would for a fruit filling, a rather short biscuit dough, and put between the layers creamed chicken or creamed veal, and have it served with plenty of gravy.
187. Put a handful of coa.r.s.e oatmeal in the water bottle and half fill with water. Let stand half an hour, then shake well and rinse. The bottle will look like new.
188. Making a Kitchen Ap.r.o.n.--In making a kitchen ap.r.o.n, provide it with an immense pocket in which can be carried a large dustcloth. Often one notices dusty places, on the furniture, windows or banisters while doing the morning work, and the dust-cloth is at hand. Again one has to pick up numerous little articles to throw into the waste basket and the pocket holds such articles until the waste basket is reached. It is equally handy for holding a few clothes pins, while hanging out the clothes; in fact the large pocket is recognized as something decidedly useful in the kitchen ap.r.o.n.
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189. To Make a Neat b.u.t.tonhole.--To make a neat b.u.t.tonhole in thin white material that is likely to ravel when cut, take a piece of white soap and apply it to the back of the goods using enough to make a generous coat.
Cut the b.u.t.tonhole and work; you will find that the work is easily done and the b.u.t.tonhole will not ravel.
190. To Mark Scallops.--To mark scallops place your thimble or spool just outside the circle line and mark around it with a pencil. In this way, any sized scallop can be made.
191. Delicate Fabrics to Clean.--Delicate fabrics can be cleaned perfectly by using gasoline with a teacupful of corn meal. The meal scours out all the spots. Place the meal in a dish, pour gasoline over it, then press and rub through the hands. Apply to soiled spots, rubbing carefully. Brush out with stiff brush.
192. When Using a Lap-Board.--While sewing a garment with the material lying on the lap-board, use gla.s.s top push pins to hold the goods on the board. One pin will oftentimes be sufficient. The pin is very sharp, and is easily thrust through the material into the board, and leaves a hole about the size of that made with a needle.
193. To Shape Cookies.--Cookies can be shaped with the bottom of a "star"
tumbler. Flour the bottom of the gla.s.s and press it into the unbaked cookie until the indentions are imprinted upon the cake.
194. Have You Been h.o.a.rding an Old Foulard Dress--One of that kind of dresses which you liked and hated to part with, but it went out of style.
Get it out, clean it, rip it, and if there is not enough in it to make a scant shirt-waisted one-piece empire dress, make it into a pretty shirt-waist, with knife plaiting down the front.
195. To Wash Tarnished Bra.s.s.--Save the water in which the potatoes have been boiled, and use it to wash tarnished bra.s.s. It will come out as bright as new.
196. Sewing Lace.--When sewing two raw edges of fine lace together, like the tiny lace ruffles on lingerie blouses or dresses, do not fell it in the old-fashioned way, but place the two right sides together and bind the edge with the finest thread, making a b.u.t.tonhole st.i.tch along the edges.
Put a st.i.tch in each mesh, and you will have a neat lace seam which, when pressed, can scarcely be observed, and it will not fray.
197. Roasted Chestnuts.--Roasted chestnuts are said to be very delicious when salted the same as peanuts.
198. Mud Stains, to Remove.--Mud stains will disappear from cloth by the following method of cleansing: After brushing the dry mud away sponge the remaining stain with a weak solution of ammonia and water. This is absolutely safe to apply to black cloth. Colored goods, however, should be sponged with a solution of bicarbonate of soda as the latter does not affect coloring matter.
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199. Drop Table for Kitchen.--A woman can have a kitchen made in a very cramped quarter if she provides it with a small work table, and a drop leaf table attached to the wall. If the stationary table is covered on all sides with a curtain and furnished with an undershelf, it will hold as much as a cupboard. Two large shelves will be found very convenient, even though it will be necessary to mount a chair or stool to reach the kitchen articles. Usually extremely small kitchens are more convenient than large ones, in which many steps must be taken.
200. A Convenience for Ironing Day.--The laundress who knows how to take care of herself has a high stool with rungs for her feet, on which she may sit when she is ironing the light pieces. It will help reserve her strength for the next day"s work.
201. Quickest Way to Core Apples.--One of the simplest and quickest ways to core apples for baking is to use an ordinary clothes pin.
202. To Remove Iron Rust.--Tartaric acid will remove almost any iron rust blemish from material and is excellent for removing yellow marks.