Entertainers Delight

A sponsored post for Vanish Napisan

You know me. I like to eat. I like people. And I love to cook. And there’s not much more I love than to create a meal for people who I love, set a table for them and sit down and enjoy some food and wine for a few hours solving the problems of the world. The whole process makes me happy and fulfilled and I’m pretty certain that someone who sits at my table will enjoy it too. I always have fresh flowers. Candles at night. And of COURSE proper linen napkins. Because that’s JUST GOOD PRACTICE.

The problem with good practice though, can be the stains that are left on your napkins at the end of the meal. Especially when you get your beautiful, fresh white linen ones out to play. Eating is fun, and messy and when you throw some wine into the mix, it can get even messier.

Common offenders at my table are red wine.

And oil stains. From pesto or the like.

It could be just me, but there has been many a time that I have googled just how to get various stains out of stuff. Oh come on! You’ve watched videos on YouTube right? No? Huh. Unless you have Martha Stewart as your Mum, most people don’t know how to get stains out of linen or clothing properly. Vanish have just created an innovative new app called The Tip Exchange that allows you to write down your stain query, or answer any that you may know. Using good old Facebook as it’s platform, it’s a great way to sort out any laundry dramas that come your way.

Now once the guests have left, I am all for the drunken clean up. You know the one? Where you’ve had plenty of wine and you and your partner can discuss the events of the meal while cleaning up, and because you’ve had a few wines you really don’t care or know that you’re doing it, and of course in the morning, it’s a welcome sight. Once I’ve dealt with the dishes and the table clean up, I’m left with the napkins. And one too many times I have chucked them in the bottom of the laundry basket where they are not looked at for a few days and of course any stains that are there get set and worse. I have a new plan and that’s the drunken stain removal! As part of the larger DCU (drunken clean up).

Let’s look at the offenders shall we? Oh pesto! So tasty. SO OILY.

And red wine! So tasty. SO STAINY.

Here’s a crazy tip I picked up for the red wine. POUR SOME WHITE WINE OVER IT. I know! Crackers right? And while it won’t remove it straight away, it does something to it that certainly starts the process of getting it out. Remember, move quickly on it, the sooner the better. Pour it directly onto the stained areas until it’s soaked through. Pull the napkin as tight as you can to when you pour.

With that pesto? Get some DISHWASHING LIQUID onto it. I know! I use dishwashing liquid on loads of stains…I don’t know why it works, but it just does. Pour it onto the dry napkin and without adding any water give it a good rub in. The rinse with hot as can be hot water.

Then fill your laundry sink with a cap full of stain remover, like Vanish NapiSan and soak in hot as can be water and let those napkins soak until the morning. Then pour yourself ANOTHER closing drink, because you’ve earned it!

The next morning you can throw them into a normal wash and you’ll find you have fresh, bright, unstained napkins ready to go for your next soiree.

The new Vanish Tip Exchange would be a great place to whack these two tips in and see if there were any others in there that I could answer. You can bring out your own inner domestic god or goddess expertise and share with the world!

Do you have a great stain removal technique you care to share?
Do you embrace the DCU (drunken clean up) post dinner/lunch party?