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    Grandmother's Wisdom: Good, Old-Fashioned Advice Handed Down Through the Ages
    Grandmother's Wisdom: Good, Old-Fashioned Advice Handed Down Through the Ages
    Grandmother's Wisdom: Good, Old-Fashioned Advice Handed Down Through the Ages
    Ebook139 pages1 hour

    Grandmother's Wisdom: Good, Old-Fashioned Advice Handed Down Through the Ages

    By Lee Faber

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    About this ebook

    Grandmothers have been handing out advice for centuries and their tried and tested methods are often the answer to many modern day problems. Did you know that malt vinegar and baking soda are as good as any branded cleaning product? That you can make your own delicious lemonade? Or shampoo that's perfect for your hair colour? Or what the best way to banish nasty bruises and a nagging toothache is?

    In Grandmother's Wisdom you'll find all the recipes, tips and good old common sense that grandmothers have learned and put into use throughout their lives. All the methods actually work - not an old wives' tale in sight! Charming, entertaining and practical, Grandmother's Wisdom is the perfect book for someone needing a little bit of Grandma's guidance.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMichael O'Mara
    Release dateJan 6, 2012
    ISBN9781843178415
    Grandmother's Wisdom: Good, Old-Fashioned Advice Handed Down Through the Ages
    Author

    Lee Faber

    Lee Faber has five grandchildren. She was born in New York and lived there for 30 years before moving to the UK. She has worked in publishing, printing, modelling and journalism. Her other books include Raising Goats, Aloe Vera, Juices and Smoothies and Healthy Oils.

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      Book preview

      Grandmother's Wisdom - Lee Faber

      First published in Great Britain in 2009 by

      Michael O’Mara Books Limited

      9 Lion Yard

      Tremadoc Road

      London SW4 7NQ

      This electronic edition published in 2011

      ISBN: 978-1-84317-841-5 in EPub format

      ISBN: 978-1-84317-840-8 in Mobipocket format

      ISBN: 978-1-84317-366-3 in hardback print format

      Copyright © Michael O’Mara Books 2009

      All rights reserved. You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

      A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

      Illustrations copyright © David Woodroffe 2009

      Designed and typeset by Joanne Omigie

      Ebook compilation by RefineCatch Limited, Bungay, Suffolk

      www.mombooks.com

      Contents

      Introduction

      What would we do without our grannies?

      Grandma knows best

      Household Hints

      The kitchen

      Pots and pans

      Coffee or tea stains on cups

      Cleaning the kitchen sink

      Antibacterial soap

      Cleaning chrome

      Ovenproof glass or porcelain dishes

      Cleaning the oven

      Keeping smells out of your refrigerator and freezer

      Sticky stuff

      Clean your bathroom in twenty minutes

      Limescale

      Vinegar, the miracle cleaner

      Getting rid of moths

      Picking up broken glass

      Recycling torn tights

      Toothbrushes clean more than teeth

      How to fold a fitted sheet

      How to iron a shirt

      How to clean a diamond

      Looking after your pearls

      Remedies

      Stings and how to treat them

      Reducing the pain of burns

      Getting rid of head lice

      Dealing with fleas

      Plants, herbs and spices that heal

      Toothache

      Eat your parsley

      Headaches and migraines

      Natural old-fashioned remedies

      Food and Cooking: The Basics

      Shopping for food

      Keeping salad and soft fruit fresh

      Skinning and deseeding fruit and vegetables

      Get more juice out of citrus fruit

      Keep salt flowing freely

      Opening a jar

      Cookery tips

      Food hygiene

      Cooking with kids

      Fishy odours

      Oversalting

      How to stretch meals

      Creative leftovers

      Cooking with eggs

      Recipes

      The perfect poached egg

      Omelette

      Rice frittata

      Homemade croutons

      The vinaigrette ratio

      Pasta casserole

      Fishcakes

      Everything-in-the-fridge stew

      Risotto

      Steak rub

      Chicken good enough for a dinner party

      Microwave lemon curd

      Homemade baking powder

      Homemade vanilla essence

      Courgette tea cake

      Very easy raspberry ice cream

      Forgotten meringues

      Mixed berry breakfast cake

      Chocolate and cherry brownies

      Old-fashioned lemonade

      Iced coffee

      Plants and Pets

      Advice for the non-green fingered

      Growing your own food

      Repotting plants

      Herbs

      Weeds

      Choosing an appropriate family pet

      Involving your children in pet maintenance

      Puppy behaviour and training

      Cleaning up after pets

      Protecting your furniture from pets

      Pets that provide food

      When your pet dies

      Advice about Children

      Talking and listening

      Don’t always say no

      Discipline

      Embarrassing your children/grandchildren

      Little children, little problems

      Solidarity

      Times change

      Showing favouritism

      Anger management

      Competing to win

      Good manners

      Thank yous

      Giving and getting presents

      Bedtime

      Safety precautions

      How to get your child to eat

      Telling the truth and bending it

      Perception

      Bullying

      Families and Daily Life

      Personal relationships

      Family get-togethers

      Remembering to make memories

      Finding your roots

      Grudges

      Balancing the budget

      Neither a borrower nor a lender be

      Money saving tips

      The value of lists

      Fashion

      Make-up and beauty tips

      Making your own gifts

      RSVPs

      The golden rule

      Acknowledgements

      A lot of people helped me in the writing of this book – my children and grandchildren, my parents, my sister, other members of my family and friends whose experiences are cited here; Louise Dixon at Michael O’Mara for commissioning me in the first place; my editor, Hannah Knowles, who encouraged me all along; and my wonderful husband, John, who has had to listen to and read ad infinitum everything I decided to include.

      To Kelly, Chris, Austen, Sophie

      and Jared, my grandchildren, without whom

      I could never have written this book.

      Introduction

      What would we do without our grannies?

      The current crop of grandmothers are very different creatures from most grandmothers in previous centuries. We juggle jobs, households, families and grandchildren and somehow even find time for our friends, fun and a bit of pampering.

      We generally look different, too – younger and fitter. We also have new ways of doing things because we have new labour-saving devices, but that doesn’t mean we have turned our backs on traditional, old-fashioned methods and ingredients. Why? Because they still work.

      From time immemorial, we, as little children, have perched on kitchen steps and countertops by granny’s side or followed her like small shadows as she set about her work. And through osmosis, we absorbed and learned. And when we grew up and got older, the little children started to watch us. And so it goes on: the lore is not lost.

      Grandma knows best

      This email came to me from an American friend and, for me, defines what grandmother’s wisdom is all about!

      My four-year-old granddaughter picked something off the ground while we were out, and raised it to her mouth. I took the item from her and told her not to do that.

      ‘Why?’ she asked.

      ‘Because it’s been on the ground. It’s dirty, and probably has germs,’ I replied.

      My granddaughter looked at me admiringly and asked, ‘How do you know all this stuff? You’re so smart.’ I was thinking quickly.

      ‘All Grandmas know this stuff. It’s on the Grandma Test. You have to know it, or you can’t be a Grandma.’

      We walked in silence for a couple of minutes, but she was evidently pondering this new information.

      ‘Oh… I get it!’ she beamed, ‘So if you don't pass the test, you have to be the Grandpa.’

      ‘Exactly,’ I replied, with a big smile.

      Throughout this book I’ve tried to gather together all those timeless gems of advice that grandmothers have passed down through the generations – and have added a sprinkle of my own personal experience, too. Hopefully you will find it so useful that you continue the tradition, and keep spreading the wisdom.

      Household Hints

      The kitchen

      Our own grandmothers had a pretty good idea how to keep their kitchens clean, but they weren’t as obsessed with kitchen hygiene as we have become.

      Keeping everything as clean as possible in the area in which we prepare food is a given, but there is no need to keep lots of bottles of chemicals under the sink to do so. Most things can be cleaned perfectly well with six old-fashioned ingredients: vinegar, salt, soda water, lemon, cream of tartar and bicarbonate of soda. Just like our grandmothers did.

      They certainly didn’t have colour-coded cutting boards. Nor do I. I have a twenty-five-year-old wooden board, which I keep scrupulously clean with a table knife, steel wool and bicarbonate of soda. Sometimes when I have a tomato or berry stain, I cheat a little by rubbing the stain with a cut lemon.

      Pots and pans

      Removing burnt food from cookware can be a nightmare. As long as the pan isn’t non-stick, the scouring powder and alternative methods below will work beautifully, and because they use natural ingredients, you won’t have to worry about residual chemicals.

      Make your own scouring powder

      You can make your own gentle cleaner with no artificial ingredients or harmful chemicals that will work as well on porcelain sinks and easily scratchable countertops. Just add one cupful of salt to one cupful of bicarbonate of soda and blend well. Store in a covered container and keep with your other cleaning supplies.

      When you need to use it, shake a little of the mixture on to a wet

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