We’ve had an email from Suzanne, asking:

What do you do with dry cake that you can’t stand to throw out? Trifle? Or rebake by slicing in pan and covering with a lemon something or other?

My first thought was “old cake? there is no such thing! there is cake and eaten cake!” but as much of a cake-fiend as I am, there are times when I’m in the same situation as Suzanne – banana bread when it’s past its best or the remains of a giant panettone that will not disappear (I swear those things regrow in the tin).

So suggestions?

In the past, I’ve microwaved old but not very dry cake (or muffin) and covered it in a healthy portion of custard for a speedy pudding. But I also like a biscuit-y idea – re-baking it in slices, maybe with a sprinkling of icing sugar on the top when it’s done – but am not sure it would work for (originally) really moist cakes. Anyone out there a cake expert?

(Photo by marsy)

Following on from the soggy apples earlier in the month, I have some VERY brown bananas sat on my kitchen counter at the moment.

I bought them a few weeks ago to make a loaf of banana bread for my friend’s birthday but they were under-ripe when I bought them and my banana bread always works best with slightly over-ripe ‘nanas (great for using them up once they’re just past eating-raw best) so I left them to ripen. Then I didn’t end up seeing my friend when I thought I would and got distracted by the billion other things going on in my life at the moment and so the banana bread never got made.

I think they’re past the eating point now – even in bread form – but I’m still keen to use them. Like with the apples, I know they can be mixed with honey & oatmeal to make a facemask, or with cream (or yoghurt) & a little honey to make a hair conditioner.

But any other suggestions what I can do with the remaining couple once I’m pampered to oblivion? And any natty suggestions for using the peels?

(Photo by pzado – mine are considerably browner than these!)

We’ve had an email from Mark:

I found your site from Google after getting fed up with old snowboarding gear I have that has no snowboarding use left but could be used for other things. Searching your site I found a use for old plastic bindings, that someone said they could use for a project.

How can I reuse 2 old snowboards (one from 2000, the other 1995?) and one set of aluminium bindings? I am not after anything for them but feel they could be put to alternative uses.

I’m presuming they’re not still usable as snowboards by anyone else for whatever reason – otherwise I’m sure Mark would just pass them onto someone else who could use them (either through something like Freecycle or a snowboard-specific forum or whatever) – and Wikipedia informs me they’re usually made from a combination of wood, fibreglass, plastic and metal so recycling them is probably a nightmare – so we’re looking for reuse suggestions.

I think they’d make a cool version of the traditional cheap breeze-block-and-a-plank shelving unit but I realise that might not fit everyone’s favoured design aesthetic.

So any other ideas?

(Photo by bartgroe)

We’ve had an email from Judith:

My electric steam iron gave up the ghost last year. I was told it was not economical to repair it and had to buy a new one pretty quickly. The old one has been sitting in the cupboard ever since as I hate to landfill it.

Any ideas?

Yes, irons are in the same “annoying cheaper to replace than fix” category with toasters, kettles and numerous other household electricals. Grrr.

As a minimum, in the UK, you can take it along to your local household waste collection spot for proper disposal and recycling where possible and for proper disposal where that’s not an option – many retailers also have “take-back” schemes when you buy your replacement from them.

But what about reuses? If it’s not too heavy, it might be suitable for children playing house – but any other ideas?

(Worrying photo by lusi – people iron towels???)

Apparently, Victoria Beckham has pledged to reuse a pair of fan’s underwear that was thrown onto the stage during a Spice Girls gig the other day.

While I’m somewhat sceptical of her promise, let’s see if we can come up with some non-“shower-cap” ideas for how she can recycle them.

Our old pants usually go in our cleaning-rags bag but any more creative suggestions?

(On a related topic, we featured old bras a couple of years ago – lots of ideas for those babies!)

(Photo by nilob)