Evening star., 1948-04-21
Readers Clearing House
SUGGESTIONS.
OO0OEO IoIND,
From Mrs. r. E. L., Olney.)

scour with soap pads. Your tomato
sauce should clean them, since cook
ing tomatoes in a stained aluminium
pan will leave the pan shiny.
II To Mrs. C. M. H., Martinsburg
To remove spots from range unit
reflector, use same treatment as
above. Spots on the unit reflector
are not only unsightly, but they
impair heating efficiency
General comment about brown
sugar: To keep brown sugar moist
enough but not caked, transfer it at
once to a glass jar with screw top,
or to an alright tin container. This
obviates the trouble of heating it
in the oven, or of crowding it into
the bread box.
To Mrs. C. S. L. (again): A simple
recipe for corn bread. We like both
spoon bread (corn bread in bak-
ing dish, somewhat moist) and
corn bread to be served as bread.
The recipes are the same, except
for the amount of liquid used.
For spoon bread: Heat your oven
to 400 degrees. Into baking dish
put 70 cup lard and let it melt in
the oven. In bowl scald IL cups
corn meal by pouring about y cup
scalding water on it and stirring 1t
in. (Scalding the meal is the secret
of moist spoon bread. Stir in cups
buttermilk and a pinch OF soda
(milk is all right. but country
buttermilk makes the better corn
bread. Add 2 eggs, teaspoon OF
salt and 2 teaspoons Of baking
powder. BY then the lard in the
oven should have melted. Swish it
around the sides of the dish TO
thoroughly grease 1t, then pour
the hot melted grease into your
corn bread mixture. Stir, pour back
into baking dish, and cook at 400
degrees for about 40 minutes.
Variations: If you wish lighter,
fluffier spoon bread, separate the
eggs. adding the beaten whites just
before it goes into the oven. Vary
the amount of buttermilk accord
ingly to how soft you like the spoon
bread.
For corn bread eaten in hand, use
the same recipe, but do not scald
the meal, and use less milk. Bake 1T
in a square cake pan, greasing it
as you do the baking dish, and cut
into squares to serve.
Leftover corn bread is excellent
for use in stuffing for fowl or f1sh,
about u corn bread to q bread.
Another general suggestion: A
handy way to warm the small serv-
ings of food a very small child eats:
Use one of the new egg poacher
pans. The one with four sections Is
perfect for the meat, potato, fruit
and vegetable, and these pans are
easily washed.
TRANSFER TO CARIBBEAN.
From Mrs B. C. S., WashingtonJ
will attempt some answer to
Mrs. A. A. P.'s inquiry about a
transfer to the Caribbean. 1t would
help some If I knew which island
she expected to move tony actual
living experience has been limited
to Haiti. In the first place, the
language might be English, Spanish,
or French, or maybe even some
Dutch or Danish influence. The last
kthing I bought in New Orleans When
/ went to Haiti was SO French
English dictionary, which was a
good Investment. ..-.......-...
The climate, though, I think Is
similar in all the islands. Greater
and Lesser Antilles. think you are
wise to store most Of your furni-
ture, the heavy and overstuffed
pieces especially, also carpets and
curtains. During my 20 years IN
Haiti never had any carpets, the
eight different houses lived in all
had bare floors, and sometimes I
gave them a better finish by
painting" with warm linseed oil,
let them dry "a hours, then floor
waxed, the yard boy rubbing it down
with brick wrapped in an old bath
towel. Nor did I need curtains,
there were inner doors with sort OF
jalousied section, and outer solid
doors, no window glass. One could
buy native made grass" chairs for
40 to 60 cents, and paint them to
your desired color scheme, especially
for porch use, where large part OF
the living is done in the tropics. II
you have few favorite lightweight
chairs, you might like to take them.
Paint and bright cretonnes can al
ways be bought at the import stores.
The limit" to the amount one can
take-this might depend on whether
you have free transportation for
yourself and effects via Army trans
port. There Is no limit on a COM
mercial boat, things to be Grated,
of course, as long as you pay the
freight charges, which are not ex-
cessive. If you travel by plane, the
personal baggage would conform to
the weight allowed by the plane
company, but furniture would still
have to go by boat.
Usually there is some family NOV
ing out who advertise their furniture
for sale, and it is quickly bought up
by those left behind. Also, I imagine
all the islands make some kind of
mahogany or wicker-woven furni-
ture, which is cheaper than the
same thing would be in the States.
I would take fiat silver and some
favorite kitchen utensils (these wear
out faster down there, due to serv-
ants and hard water). And OF
course sheets, table linens. and few
blankets df one takes trips to
higher attitudes these are most
comfortable, also from December
through February, the winter
months, when it is just enough COOL
er to need more than a sheeD.
Type of clothes: You can wear
cotton the year round, including
evening dresses. plenty of every
thing. Silks rot, rayon is eaten by
bugs. and you may be in a place
where there is no dry cleaning.
Laundry facilities: This probably
would be done by native servants,
who do satisfactory work generally,
and wages quite reasonable. There
are Chinese laundries who do uni
forms nicely. also reasonably. Baby's
laundry co,,ld eaSjly hp donp at