Gala Day Luncheons Part 5

"Of good discourse, an excellent musician."

"My affection hath an unknown bottom."

Still another menu may be given for those who cannot obtain some of the articles suggested, such as strawberries, crabs, or fresh mushrooms.

MENU

GRAPE FRUIT.

BOUILLON.

SARDINES ON TOAST.

MUSHROOM PATTIES.

CHOPS. PEAS. FRENCH FRIED POTATOES.

CHOCOLATE.

LETTUCE SALAD WITH SHREDDED BANANAS.

FRENCH DRESSING.

COFFEE MOUSSE. CAKES. BONBONS.

In this menu the patties are to be filled with canned mushrooms, cut in bits and creamed. The salad is made by cutting bananas in halves, and then cutting each half into strips no larger than a knitting needle; these are to be arranged on lettuce with French dressing poured over the last thing before serving.

[Ill.u.s.tration: YELLOW-SHADED CANDLE.]

A beautiful decoration for an April luncheon may be arranged with crocuses, flowers seldom or never seen on our tables, and therefore especially desirable by way of novelty. Have a large flat basket in the centre of the table filled with moss, and in this stick crocuses of all colours with their leaves, crowding as closely as possible. Repeat the colours in your candle-shades, if you use candles, having them delicate lilac with yellow touches on the edges, and use ribbon candy in lilac, yellow, and white. Serve yellow ices, or white ones in lilac baskets, and lay some of the crocuses on the plates with the finger bowls which appear with the coffee.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

May

The first of May is not always a gala day; to many it means the coming and going of moving vans, and meals eaten in cold comfort from the traditional window-sill. But where one has a permanent home, especially in the country, no day is pleasanter on which to give a luncheon than on May Day, with its charming a.s.sociations of Spring. There are several fancies which may serve for suggestions; one of these is the use of the "Mayflower" of our early history, and the flowers which bear the same name as the s.h.i.+p, the trailing arbutus of our Northern States. The two have no connection, really, but one suggests the other.

A MAY-DAY LUNCHEON

[Ill.u.s.tration: FOR A MAYFLOWER LUNCHEON.]

The table may be laid with a cloth, by way of a change, one with an open border preferably. The centrepiece may be of lace over pale pink silk, and rows of baby ribbon may be drawn across the table, three or four strands each way, with a bunch of the ribbon where they cross. In the centre may be a large toy s.h.i.+p, all in white, with the word "Mayflower"

in gilt on the prow. The deck should be heaped with mayflowers, if this loveliest of our spring blossoms is to be had, and around the table at irregular intervals may be shallow bowls of the same flower. The cards may have the monogram of the hostess at the top, and a cl.u.s.ter of the arbutus painted below, if that is fancied. Care should be taken to keep all the decorations of the table in a very pale shade of pink, or the effect of the flowers will be spoiled.

MENU

CALIFORNIA CHERRIES.

CLAM BOUILLON. HOT CRACKERS.

SALMON CROQUETTES. SAUCE TARTARE.

CROWN ROAST OF LAMB. MASHED POTATOES.

PEAS. HOT ROLLS.

MINT SHERBET.

ASPARAGUS SALAD. CHEESE CRACKERS. PIM-OLAS.

STRAWBERRY ICE CREAM. CAKES.

COFFEE. BONBONS.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BASKET OF CHERRIES.]

The first course of cherries may be made very pretty by arranging the fruit in cl.u.s.ters of red and white with a few leaves and fastening them with invisible wire to bits of stem, and arranging them in baskets of rough green straw tied with green ribbons.

Crown roast of lamb is a rather unusual dish at a luncheon, but it is an attractive one and not too heavy for the meal. It is the whole saddle of lamb, cut down the back, with the two sides carefully trimmed of the meat until the chop bones stand up alone as in French chops. The sides are then put together, bent in a circle, and fastened with skewers to form a crown with the bones standing up. The centre is filled either with mashed potato or with peas before it is served; it should be carved on the table, on a round platter, or, if it is carefully cut between the chops before it is brought in, it may be pa.s.sed to the guests for each to cut for herself.

The sherbet to follow this course is made by adding a handful of crushed mint to boiling hot lemonade, letting it stand till cool, straining, adding a little sherry or rum if you use them, and freezing. A few drops of green colouring improve its appearance. Sometimes a sprig of mint is put in the sherbet gla.s.s with the ice, a very pretty idea.

The salad is made by cooking asparagus until it is tender, and when cold sprinkling with French dressing and allowing it to stand an hour before serving on lettuce with mayonnaise.

With this luncheon the ices may be served in beautiful little s.h.i.+ps of silver paper with delicate paper sails, or the ingenious caterer has a form for reproducing Plymouth Rock in caramel cream, so lifelike that even the fissure in the side appears. Either of these shapes are certainly delightfully appropriate for a May-Day luncheon if they are attainable. If not, the cream may be served in little fluted paper cases decorated with the arbutus, tied on in small bunches with narrow ribbon.

AN APPLE-BLOSSOM LUNCHEON

[Ill.u.s.tration: FILLED WITH CANDIED FRUITS.]

A hostess living in the country may offer a group of city guests a real delight in May-time by inviting them to luncheon when the orchards are all in bloom. The invitations should bear the word "Apple-Blossoms" in one corner, and the implied promise should be fulfilled by having the flowers in evidence everywhere in the house and out of it. The rooms should be decorated with bowls of the flowers on the mantels and on the top of the book-cases and on the tables in the halls. The luncheon table should have a bowl of the blossoms in the centre, and the cloth, or rather the table itself, should be strewn with the flowers picked from the stems and showered over it. The same small ribbons suggested for the May-Day luncheon may also be used for this one, as the colour should again be pale. The bonbons used might be tiny candy apples.

MENU

STRAWBERRIES.

CREAM OF BEET SOUP.

FROGS' LEGS. POTATO b.a.l.l.s.

CHICKEN CROQUETTES WITH ASPARAGUS TIPS.

PEAS. HOT ROLLS.

GINGER SHERBET.

CHEESE SOUFFLe.

CHERRY SALAD. SANDWICHES. OLIVES.

ICE CREAM IN ANGELS' FOOD.

COFFEE. BONBONS.

The soup is made by stewing chopped beets until they are tender and adding them to hot cream, seasoning, thickening, and straining, and pouring into the bouillon cups onto a spoonful of whipped cream. The beets should be the dark red ones, and only enough should be used to give a pretty pink colour to the soup. Frogs' legs, fried and served with a bit of lemon make a very good course for luncheon, and one liked by almost every one. The salad is made by stoning California cherries and covering them with French dressing to which a little chopped parsley has been added, and laying them on a leaf of lettuce.

The sherbet is a lemon ice flavoured with the syrup of preserved ginger, with a few bits of the root added. The cheese souffle, which may be placed before the sherbet, if desired, is made by grating a quarter of a pound of cheese and mixing it with two tablespoonfuls of flour, b.u.t.ter the size of a walnut, salt, and a little red pepper, and the beaten yolks of three eggs. Just before putting in the oven add the stiff whites of two eggs, and bake in b.u.t.tered paper cases, or in small tin moulds. They must be eaten as soon as they are taken from the fire or they will fall.

The ice cream is a plain white one, served in a large cake of angels'

food which has had the top carefully cut off, the inside scooped out, and the cream packed firmly in. The cover is then put back and the whole iced, or covered with powdered sugar, and decorated on top with candied cherries. It is to be cut exactly as though it were simply an ordinary cake, and served in slices.

A SCHOOL-GIRL LUNCHEON

A luncheon for a young girl should be of the simplest character, both in decorations and menu, but there is no reason why it should not be pretty. The most appropriate flower to use is the primrose; pots of these may stand on the table, one in front of each guest, tied up with crepe paper and ribbons. If these are of two or more shades of pink, the effect will be more elaborate than if they are all of the same shade. In the centre may be a large pot with a number of the plants closely planted in it. If candles are used, the shades may be of plain cardboard with a wreath of the same flowers on the edge, either artificial ones sewed on, or painted in a simple pattern. Or, hyacinths may be used for the flowers, either pink ones or pink and white alternating. If the school-girls are beyond the time when the gift of a pot of flowers gives pleasure,--and there is a period when they would scorn such an offering as undignified,--let the decoration be a long, narrow box of the growing hyacinths in the centre of the table, which will make a beautiful window-box after the luncheon is past. The menu given above might be modified for this meal, as it is unnecessarily elaborate.

MENU