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Show Wednesday, January 17, 2001 The Park Record C-5 Ask Martha by Martha Stewart PHOTO BY MARIA ROBLEDO Store shoes on racks or package them in acid free boxes to keep them from piling up or scuffing one another. Tips for baking and cleaning from the home pro QVESTION: What is the best way to protect shoes that are being stored? Jeanette Tavella, via e-mail MARTHA STEWART: Even the best-quality pair of shoes will wear out quickly if not treated well not only when you wear them but also when they are stored away. Never put shoes away immediately after removing them; let them air out first to ensure that as much moisture as possible has dissipated. Store them on racks or in acid-free boxes to keep them from piling up and scuffing or denting one another. The toes of backless shoes should be stuffed with tissue paper. Other shoes, particularly leather ones, are best placed on cedar-wood shoe trees: These preserve the shape of the shoe and keep them smelling fresh while absorbing any lingering moisture. If you're packing shoes for travel, do not use plastic bags, as these don't allow shoes to breathe. Instead, invest in a few cotton flannel shoe bags: use one for each pair, and pack them toe to heel. Naturally, if you're putting your shoes away for any length of time, you'll want to make sure they are clean first. Leather shoes can be cleaned of dirt or mud with a soft brush, lightly sponged, then stuffed with paper and allowed to dry thoroughly. Use a rubber, nylon or brass-wire brush to remove dirt from suede, then sponge with a suede shampoo. To raise the nap on suede, steam it lightly by holding it a hand's length above the spout on a kettle. ket-tle. Give patent leather a gentle cleaning with a soft cloth sprayed with an ammonia-based glass cleaner. If any cracks are visible, apply a leather conditioner to the shoes after they are stretched onto shoe trees. QUESTION: My pancakes never brown evenly. What could be causing this? Shelly Blake. . Wintersville, Ohio MARTHA STEWART: To make pancakes that look as delicious as theyitaste, it's essential to use a properly prepared cooking surface1. sur-face1. The surface should be flat, and it should distribute heat very evenly. The best choices are a , griddle or a large cast-iron skillet; if neither of these is available, a large nonstick frying pan will do. Whichever surface you use, make sure it has reached the right temperature before you ladle on your batter. Heat the pan to medium-high (or 375 degrees Fahrenheit), and test to see if it has reached the proper temperature tempera-ture by flicking a few drops of water onto the surface with your fingers. If it's hot enough, the drops will bounce, sizzle and evaporate in a second or so. You also need to be sure you have just the right amount of fat on the griddle. J Too much melted butter or oil is the most common reason for the splotchy, uneven pancakes that the first batch so often yields. The fat gathers in tiny puddles beneath the batter, preventing sections of the pancake from coming into contact with the hot surface. As a result, those areas never brown. To avoid this, add a small amount of fat to the pan, then wipe the surface gently with a folded paper towel before you begin cooking. This will remove any excess fat, leaving behind a thin film that will yield a perfectly browned pancake, QUESTION: How do you determine deter-mine whether oil or latex-based paint has been used on a surface? K. E. Bergldnd; St. Clair Shores, Mich. MARTHA STEWART: To expe rienced professionals, oil and latex paints are relatively easy to tell apart. There are a couple of clues that can help make the differences dif-ferences clear to you, too. Oil paints, especially glossy varieties, tend to have a smooth, hard feel to them, while latex (or "water-based") paints fee more rubbery to the touch, Of course, the difference is subtle and by no means foolproof. If you're repainting the walls or another surface in your house, it's very important that you know what you're painting over before you start because, quite literally, oil and water don't mix. The easiest test to determine what kind of paint is on your walls is to apply a small amount of denatured alcohol (found at hardware and paint-supply stores) to a cotton ball or clean cloth, then rub an area of the painted surface. (Be sure to choose an inconspicuous location unless you've committed to repainting right away.) Latex paint is dissolved dis-solved by alcohol, so if the paint softens, becomes tacky to the touch or comes off onto the cloth, it is latex. If there is no change to the surface, it is oil based. You can paint over an old oil surface with oil paint, or an old latex surface with latex paint, but if you want to apply latex over oil or vice versa, you'll have to do some prep work first: Lightly sand the entire surface (especially if the old paint has a gloss finish), then apply a primer that has the same composition (oil or latex) as the new paint you plan to use. Questions should be addressed to Martha Stewart, care of The New York Times Syndication Sales Corp., 122 E. 42nd St., New York, N.Y 10168. Questions may also be sent to Stewart. by electronic electron-ic mail. Her address is: mstewartmarthastewart.com. Please include your name and daytime telephone number. Questions of general interest will be answered in this column; Martha Stewart regrets that unpublished letters cannot be answered individually. For more information on the topics covered in the askMartha column, col-umn, visit www.marthastewart.com. 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