Notabilia

Miscellaneous

Nifty Knacks

501 through 525

Back to where you came from. The same text in Greek.

  1. Economise on kitchen paper.
    Economise on kitchen paper by using paper bags to pick up peel and crumbs.

  2. Shiny furniture.
    Window cleaning products put a nice shine on all furniture with a laquered finish.

  3. A newspaper tidy.
    A folding wine rack makes an excellect newspaper tidy.

  4. Keep cats away from your plants.
    Does your cat spoil your plants by choosing to sleep in your plant pots? Scatter a few pieces of orange peel around the plants. Cats hate the smell.

  5. Protecting lawns from birds.
    You can use an old video cassette to keep birds away from grass seed. Open the cassette and fix the tape on small stakes so that it zig-zags across the seeded area. Birds will be frightened as the tape reflects the sun and moves in the wind, so they will stay away from the seed and let it grow without problems.

  6. Don't cover up leather garments.
    Plastic, in fact all coverings in general, don't let leather breathe.

  7. So leather garments keep their shape.
    Use broad, padded coat-hangers. That way your leather garments won't lose their shape.

  8. Look after your leather garments.
    Do not use silicone or wax on leather. They don't let it breathe. Generally speaking, before using any leather-care products on your leather garments, you should do a test patch on a small area to make sure that it does not do any harm.

  9. No sun for leather.
    Do not expose leather to the sun or to any source of heat. You may air it though.

  10. Revive leather garments.
    Do not spray perfume or hair spray onto leather garments. Brush suede with a soft towel to bring up the pile.

  11. Leather bags and shoes.
    Stuff leather bags and shoes full of paper, preferably facial tissues (so they do not get soiled). That way they will not lose their shape.

  12. Keep the juice from plum tomatoes.
    Whenever you only need the flesh of tinned, peeled, plum tomatoes, put the juice in ice cube trays and freeze it. You can use it in soups and sauces.

  13. Stop crackers and rusks from breaking.
    Put crackers and savoury rusks on a slice of pre-sliced bread when you want to spread something on them. It will stop them from breaking.

  14. Ready-made vinaigrette salad dressing.
    When the mustard is getting low, put some olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper in the jar and you will have a ready-made vinaigrette dressing for your salads.

  15. Revive a limp lettuce.
    Revive a limp lettuce by leaving it for twenty minutes in a bowl of cold water with two raw, peeled potatoes in it.

  16. So minced meat does not stick to your hands.
    Dip your hands in cold water before handling raw, minced meat and it will not stick to them.

  17. Crispy biscuits and rusks.
    Biscuits and rusks will stay crispy if you put two cubes of sugar in the tin you keep them in.

  18. Crispy skin on chicken.
    To make the skin of a chicken crispy, sprinkle water and salt on it twenty minutes before you take it out of the oven.

  19. Transparent ice cubes.
    Make ice cubes with hot water and they will be transparent, just like crystal.

  20. Peel garlic easily.
    Peeling garlic is not such a chore and will not make your hands smell if you soak the cloves in very hot water for a few minutes. The skin will just float off on its own accord.

  21. Give store bought sauces a personal touch.
    Give store bought tomato sauce a personal touch by adding a fresh tomato which has been chopped, seeded and peeled, and a little basil, garlic and olive oil.

  22. Grate chocolate and confectioner's chocolate easily.
    Chocolate and confectioner's chocolate is easy to grate if you use the same knife you use to peel vegetables.

  23. Better mashed potato.
    The texture of mashed potato is better if it is made with hot milk rather than cold.

  24. Save left-over wine.
    If there is a little wine left in the bottle, don't throw it away. Put it in ice cube trays in the freezer. You can use it in sauces.

  25. Flour worktops and rolling pins easily.
    Keep a clean powder puff near the flour bin. You can use it to help you flour the worktop and rolling pin without getting flour all over the kitchen.