Cake tips of the savory and sweet variety

Q. Help. I'm making crab cakes for the first time for dinner and have tried but can't for the life of me think of an inexpensive side dish, let alone any side dish. Do you know of a good inexpensive side dish that goes with fried crab cakes, please?- Syn D. A. I would serve a chowder or tomato soup beforehand and then cole slaw or broccoli slaw, cucumber salad or tomato salad, homemade fries or roasted potato wedges, and hush puppies or cornbread with the crab cakes. Baked potatoes or rice pilaf and roasted asparagus or corn on the cob would be good with them, too.Q. I need help making a marble cake. I am making my niece's birthday cake, and she wants marble. I found cake mix for 89 cents each. I have three chocolate and three vanilla. I'm using a 12-by-18-by-2-inch Wilton pan. I know it holds three boxes. What I don't know is how to swirl them together. I'm very nervous about messing up on this. I plan on making all three boxes of each flavor so I can use equal amounts of each in the two layers. Can you explain to me how to swirl them to make it a marble cake? Thanks!#173;- Amy, ConnecticutA. You can do this a couple of ways. You can add the vanilla cake batter to the pan and drop tablespoons of chocolate batter in dollops on top of the vanilla batter, and then use a butter knife, fork, wooden spoon handle or chopstick to make a zig-zag pattern (left to right and up and down) to swirl the chocolate into the vanilla. Don't overdo this, or your cake will end up looking like chocolate.Or you can use round or rectangle cake pans and drop ice cream scoops of alternate flavored/colored batter into the pan like a checkerboard pattern in two layers, and then drag the knife through to swirl the flavors/colors.Q. How do I get dry paint off a Pergo floor? We painted our son's room, and there are dry paint spots on the floor. I know some of them can be scraped up, but some look like they were stepped in and spread around the room. Those won't come up with a scrapper.- Amy, ConnecticutA. Try water or vinegar and a soft cloth. If that doesn't remove it, Pergo.com and one of their consumer line representatives (800-33-PERGO) offered the following advice.bull; Do not use soaps, detergents, or cleaners with wax because they may leave a film, dulling the floor.bull; Difficult spots like nail polish, markers, tar and cigarette burns can typically be easily removed with a Laminate and Hard Surface cleaner. Another option is to mix 1 gallon of water with 1 cup vinegar or 1/2 cup of ammonia per gallon of water.bull; Pergo floors must never be waxed, polished, sanded or refinished, and never use a wet or jet mop when cleaning. bull; For chocolate, grease, juice, cordials and wine, use lukewarm water and a nonabrasive cleaner (such as, ammonia nd water) or Pergo Floor Cleaner.bull; For tar, markers, paint, crayon, lipstick, oil, shoe polish, ink, nail polish and cigarette burns, use acetone/nail polish remover or denatured alcohol. Note: Do not use acetone on Pergo wallbase or quarter round. Don't pour the acetone on the floor, apply it to a soft cloth. bull; For candle wax and chewing gum, let it harden and scrape carefully with a blunt plastic scraper. bull; Sara Noel founded Frugal Village (frugalvillage.com), a website that offers practical, money-saving strategies for everyday living. Send tips, comments or questions to Sara Noel, c/o United Media, 200 Madison Ave., 4th Floor, New York, NY 10016, or sara@frugalvillage.com.