HELOISE: Quell a smell in the kitchen

Dear Heloise: I love to cook with fresh onion and garlic on Sundays. That way, I will have good food already prepared when I get home after working during the week.

I have a hard time getting rid of food smells in the house. I’ve tried room sprays, burning incense and candles, and opening windows. The smells hang on for several days. While home-cooked food smells delicious when it’s being cooked, it’s not too great the next day. What can I do with lingering cooking smells?

Mary Ann in Brenham, Texas

Mary Ann, here are a couple of odor-eliminating hints:

Put some orange, lemon or grapefruit slices in a pan filled with water, add a sprinkle of allspice, bring it to a boil, then simmer while cooking.

Put a small bowl of apple-cider or white vinegar next to the stove when frying food. And be sure to turn on the vent fan during cooking.

In fact, vinegar is wonderful for all sorts of household hitches. I’ve put together my favorite vinegar hints in a convenient pamphlet. To receive one, send $5 and a long, self-addressed, stamped (61 cents) envelope to: Heloise/Vinegar, P.O. Box 795001, San Antonio, TX 78279-5001. Warm vinegar will help remove limescale from a glass decanter. Pour enough in to cover, and let soak overnight. Scrub, and it should be sparkling once again.

Heloise

Dear Heloise: Much of the parsley we purchase gets wasted. Here’s a hint to help cut down on waste: Wash the parsley and drain it in a colander for several hours or overnight with a paper towel covering it. (Or, wrap in paper towels and pat dry.) Divide and put half in the refrigerator in the vegetable bin and the other half in a freezer bag and freeze. For cooking, just cut off what you need. This also works well for cilantro; just make sure you label the bags!

Patricia in Harrison, Ark.

Dear Readers: Here is a letter of laughter from the Heloise Files. A reader wrote in:

“Years ago, when my daughter-in-law wanted to know how I made the icing on my son’s favorite cake, I was glad to give her the recipe. I told her it called for powdered sugar, butter and cocoa, mixed to spreading consistency with cold coffee.

“You guessed it! She used coffee grounds! Later, my son said, ‘Mom, how long does it take for those grounds to dissolve?’ Bless his heart. He was trying to eat it without hurting her feelings.”

Heloise

Dear Heloise: I have a recipe book that I write recipes in. However, I had numerous recipes already written on cards. So, I taped half an envelope on the back inside cover of the book and placed the cards there. I wrote the recipes on the envelope for easy reference.

Sandra Harris in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Send a money-saving or timesaving hint to Heloise, P.O. Box 795000, San Antonio, TX 78279-5000, fax it to 210-HELOISE or e-mail it to Heloise@Heloise.com.

King Features Syndicate