Whiter Than White

Tony and I are having some friends over for dinner tonight. We haven't seen them in quite some time, so we decided to go all out and eat in the dining room using the good dishes and silverware. Of course, that also calls for a tablecloth and napkins to complete the atmosphere.

I used a striped tablecloth and threw a bunch of beads down the center of the table in honor of Mardi Gras. As I was folding some plain white napkins to put at each place, I noticed that some them had yellow stains. That made me incredibly frustrated, because I know they were clean when I put them away! Before I went to the store to buy more, I decided to do a little investigation to find out if they could be cleaned. Today I used everyday products to remove stains.

According to Chef Noah, I could remove stains by using dishwasher detergent and bleach:

Mix one-half cup dishwasher detergent, one-half cup bleach, and one gallon hot water in a plastic bucket. Soak clothing in this mixture overnight, dump the solution and clothes into the washing machine, and wash as usual.

I mixed everything in a container, added the napkins, and left the whole thing in the laundry room. I couldn't completely follow the directions, since I needed the napkins tonight; after a few hours I threw the napkins in the washer. At the end of the cycle, I was pleased to see that five of the six napkins had no stains left, and the stain on the sixth was much less noticeable.

Chef Noah saved the day!