A Section For Women

By "Therese"

That Food Question

THE question “what can we make that’s different?” is an ever-recur ring one to tropical housewives, who are forever seeking something new to tempt jaded appetites. Tinned foods solve many a problem and, with a little ingenuity, can be made into most appetising dishes.

I can remember when canned foods were seldom served in the well-managed household, except in emergencies. The housewife who was known to resort to tin-opener teas was held in scorn, as lacking in culinary skill, or worse still, shirking her duty.

To-day, however, the story is changed, and women in the tropics have reason to be grateful for the wide variety of tinned foods presented by manufacturers,

All humanity likes to know how the other half lives. That, especially, is true of Islands women.

Contributions to this page are invited. Send along your favourite recipe or household ingenuity. Those published will be paid for.

a tremendous point of favour being that they very often provide an ingredient that it is impossible to obtain in any other way. Even the despised tinned mince can be turned into something really worth while. Try this recipe, and 1 am sure you will agree with me.

Sandwich Meat Loaf Take 3 lb. of mince, 2 tablespoons chopped onion, 1 teaspoon salt, pepper, 1 tin cream of tomato soup. Combine all ingredients and mix well with two-thirds of the soup. Press half the meat mix ture into a greased loaf pan. Cover with a moist bread stuffing. Cover this with the rest of the meat. Spread with a little butter and bake for two hours.

Make a gravy with the remainder of the creamed tomato soup. Be sure to serve a green vegetable with it and a good relish to give further piquancy. This dish can be served hot or cold. In the latter case, have a salad as accompani ment and garnish with pineapple.

Tomato Jelly Salad Ingredients: i pint tinned peeled toma toes, a little water, 1 good sized onion, 2 or 3 cloves, salt and pepper, 1 level teaspoon sugar, small sprig of parsley, 2 oz. of gelatine, 2 or 3 tablespoons water (to dissolve gelatine), 1 dessert spoon lime or lemon juice, 3 tablespoons vinegar, green salad, 1 or two hard boiled eggs.

Turn the tomatoes into a saucepan with the water, peeled and sliced onion,

cloves, parsley and a little salt. Cover and simmer gently till tender, then rub through a sieve, removing the cloves, etc.

Put the gelatine into a small pan with two or three tablespoons cold water and dissolve slowly, then strain into the tomato mixture. Add the sugar, lemon juice, vinegar and seasoning to taste, and turn into small wet moulds to set.

This quantity makes one pint. When set, unmould and garnish with slices of hard-boiled egg and serve with a bowl of green salad. Sufficient for six indi vidual moulds. Increase the amount of gelatine if you have no refrigerator.

Bean Cutlets Tinned beans may be used for this, or you may cook haricot, soya or lima beans as required. (If you are using tinned beans, drain them from their sauce). Mash finely and add a small minced onion, pepper and salt, a cupful of fresh breadcrumbs, and one beaten egg. Turn on to a floured board, shape into cutlets and leave in a cool place until needed. Beat up another egg with a spoonful of milk, roll cutlets in flour, dip in beaten egg and milk and roll in breadcrumbs. Fry in smoking fat until golden brown. Drain on brown paper and serve very hot round a mound of potatoes. Garnish with parsley.

To Preserve Parsley Parsley adds sauce piquante for many an otherwise humdrum dish. Unfor tunately it is not always available to the housewife in the tropics. However, there is an excellent way of preserving it, so that it is ready to hand for all occasions.

Method of preserving: Wash it per fectly free from dirt and grit. Put into boiling water which has been slightly salted and then let it boil for two or three minutes. Take out, let drain, and lay on a sieve in front of the fire. Dry as auickly as possible. Store away in a very tight place in bottles, and when wanted for use pour a little warm water over it and let stand for about five minutes.

Quenchers

TROPICAL drinks require to be nutri tious as well as refreshing. They must also look colourful —that’s half their success. Serve in tall glasses of the coolest green or sunny amber. If, like the American housewife, you scarcely call a home a home if it hasn’t a refrigerator, you are twice blessed.

But don’t be discouraged if you have to

resort to more primitive methods to cool your drinks. They are delightful, any way. Here are some easily made thirst quenchers which will be greatly appre ciated:- Honey Punch Half a cup of honey, 1 cup of water, juice of 4 oranges, grated rind 1 orange, juice h lemon. Boil water, honey and rind for 3 mins. Strain. When cold add the strained juices. Serve in glasses diluted with water and shaved ice. Add a sprig of mint.

Fruit Cup One quart weak tea, I doz. oranges, 4 lemons, sugar to flavour, and if liked, wine to taste.

Method: Make the tea very weak and allow it to become quite cold; add the strained orange and lemon juice, then add the sugar and whatever wine pre ferred. Let the jug stand in the re frigerator or the coolest spot you can find for one hour before serving. The juice of any fruits can be added, such as tinned peaches, pears or pineapples.

A Cocktail Here is a really stirring cocktail for mere man:— Take a medium-sized tumbler, pour in the juice of half a lemon, add a

small quantity of chipped ice, half a teaspoon of sugar, a wine glass of brandy, a teaspoon of raspberry syrup and a little cayenne pepper. Strain off —and drink with relish.

Household Hints

CANE chairs should be scrubbed clean and then wiped with a cloth wrung out in rice water. This forms a protective film over the cane and gives it a bright and glossy appear ance.

Coffee Stains To remove coffee stains, first soak the garment in methylated spirits for five minutes. Then lay the stained part in a shallow bowl, containing thick, cold, dis solved soap. Wash the material with out cleaning it. It is a good plan to lay it flat on the hand and rub gently till clean. Rinse well and dry in fron< of the fire.

Cold tea leaves bound on a burn relieve it at once.

Rub lamp glasses with salt after cleansing them, and much better light will be had.

After using paint or hat dye, a little brass© will quickly remove stains from the hands.

Never bother to grate breadcrumbs for treacle tarts. A much more delicious flavour is obtained by sprinkling the treacle with finely-grated coconut.

In Step With Fashion !

FASHIONS to-day are lovelier than ever; and, though often it is not practical to adopt advanced styles in the tropics, don’t think that because you are miles from shopping centres that you have been forgotten by the

world of fashion. With the aid of a sewing machine, a length of dress mat erial and a good pattern, you can be as well dressed as your more fortunate sisters, who have a whole range of models from which to choose.

There’s not a style presented that you cannot emulate if you buy a good stan dard fashion book each season and choose from it the patterns that best suit your individuality. Even if you’ve never made a dress before in your life, the patterns are so concise in their instructions that it would be almost an impossibility to fail, and after a little practice you will find yourself turning out frocks well up to professional standard.

For the tropics, the simple styles are best. Shirtmakers always look well with their semi-tailored lines, and the linens, pastel and patterned, that are always so popular, are far and away their best means of expression. There are dozens of lovely designs in cottons and linens from which to choose, and stores in the cities cater so well for the mail-order shopper that they forward on request patterns from almost their entire range, from which you can make your choice; and all of them washing fabrics and many of them crease-resisting.

The secret of success for the dress making amateur is measure, tack, and, as each seam is sewn, PRESS! The latter is most important, and gives a professional air to the finished article.

The new silhouette is young and mock innocent. Put out of your head the thought that you will look like mutton dressed as lamb, for mother and daugh ter can be clad alike, and it would be difficult to say who would be the most attractive —always, of course, if mother is wise enough to eschew the frills and furbelows that essentially belong to

youth, and remember that simplicity is the keynote to chic.

Foundation frocks are ideal garments to have in your wardrobe. In the twinkling of an eye they can become several frocks, all with their own indi viduality, by merely changing the acces sories, or adding bits and pieces that have been ingeniously designed. Have a plain spectator sports frock in what ever colour your fancy pleases. If it is a pastel shade, gay it up with bright colours —a gay scarf, hankie and belt.

Wear it with a bolero, spotted, check, or contrast, and have your accessories to match. Button on a jaunty little short cape and wear a bright bow at the neck line. If the frock is patterned, wear plain accessories with it and see exactly how far you can express your indivi duality.

Many of the styles chosen for winter frocks are ideally suited to hot weather wear because of their tailored lines. The sleeves will be short, of course, and cottons and linens chosen instead of woollens, but they can be adapted to tropical wear with little difficulty, so that you will always be in step with fashion. Even if you can’t wear winter clothes it is wisdom to be aware of what is worn, so that you will at all times be fashion conscious.

Some Fashion Highlights

Fruit, instead of flowers, as a posy for the lapel of your frock or coat.

Tailored white panama, high crowned, dramatically trimmed with one large shiny palm leaf.

Turban - like evening head - dresses caught with a diamante crescent.

Waisted jackets with kick-out pleats at the back and plain fronts.

Lingerie trims in every form (will keep the laundry boy busy).

Stand-away pockets emphasise, even enlarge the hips.

Evening gowns slim and sophisticated.

Evening gowns bouffant and young.

Hats madder than ever with brims shooting upwards, sideways and front wards.

In fact, everything to make you cheer ful, bright and gay.

You're Getting Fat

When your toes start to turn out and you develop a tendency to waddle —try to keep your feet straight ahead when you walk.

When you think your clothes shrink more each time they are cleaned or washed —they cannot shrink as much as that! What about your figure?

When you go on leave, and the sales woman in the chic little shop says, “I don’t think it would fit you, madame — it is a very small size.”

When a small hat makes you look out of proportion, instead of a long straight line.

When people tell you you are “just the right size”—that means that you are probably about ten pounds overweight.

People generally err on the kind side.

When a walk seems a “fag”. When you cannot touch you toes. When you go up the stairs slowly instead of two at a time.

Hon. Gerald Hogan, Crown Law

Officer in New Guinea, arrived in Sydney from Rabaul at the end of April to spend several months’ leave with Mrs.

Hogan.