THE UNGRATEFUL HOSTESS

Yes, that is me. I have to own up to the fact that although I love to have guests for a meal, I also like them to listen to me when they politely offer to help. I like to have all the foodstuffs for the table ready at one time on my kitchen table before being taken to the dining corner. I also like all the plates, including the cutlery, to be brought straight to the table in the kitchen at the end of the meal. I have lost more forks and teaspoons from caring guests accidentally throwing them in the garbage bin together with the leftovers, than for any other reason.

I carefully count all my pieces of cutlery before putting them back in their respective drawers or containers, but as this can only be done when they are clean and dry, usually after all my guests have gone, I sometimes have to look through the garbage, provided that a very nice guest did not take it out to the main bin as he left – yes, this did happen one time!

PLASTIC FOOD CONTAINERS

Many of us use plastic containers to store foodstuffs, cooked and uncooked, in the freezer, refrigerator and cupboards. Our refrigerators and cupboards have square corners, therefore it is difficult for me to understand why there are so many round plastic containers on the market, and why those that are available are usually not very high ones, which leaves a lot of height space available. I am still using for my fridge, very, very old Keter containers which, unfortunately, went off the market many a year ago. They are tall, narrow and just fit in between the shelves of the refrigerator and more important, one container fits into another and takes less space in my drawers when not in use.

I now need to add that yesterday I was shown a set of 17 plastic containers plus lids which fitted one into another in two separate shapes with square corners from IKEA for NIS30.

WATER BILL

Did you have a burst pipe that you did not know about at first, and which caused your water consumption to jump up much, much higher than usual? If so, it is worthwhile writing to the water department of your local municipality and explaining about the burst pipe and sending them the bill from your plumber or whoever did the repair to the pipe. Some (maybe all) municipalities have a water committee that sits every few months and checks such claims, and they can reduce the sum of the appropriate bill for water. The last time this happened to me they reduced my bill by 50%.

LEMONS

Lemons are a most useful fruit generally and around the kitchen – here are some simple ideas:

A few drops of lemon on a cut fruit or vegetable the balance of which you want to keep, will stop it changing color, but do wrap it in greaseproof paper or cling nylon before putting it in the refrigerator. Lemon juice will remove many fruit and ink stains from clothing if used immediately. If you or a child suffer from travel sickness, try sucking a wedge of lemon.

Fresh lemon juice diluted with water plus either sugar or sweetener makes one of the best drinks for the summer. Try putting a cut lemon in the fridge to help remove unpleasant odors, and also on your wooden cutting board, which you should then leave on overnight or for several hours before rinsing. And, if you happen to have a lemon tree then know that fresh lemon juice can be frozen for a year and more. More on lemons at a later date.

HINTS: from Marilyn Rosen: If you store your lemons in a bowl of cold water in the fridge they will last up to three months. From Merle Guttmann: To stop hiccoughs try taking 2 teaspoons of lemon juice mixed with 1 teaspoon of sugar.