Gala-Day Luncheons: A Little Book of Suggestions

Part 4

Chapter 44,248 wordsPublic domain

With this luncheon the ices may be served in beautiful little ships 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

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.

STRAWBERRIES. CREAM OF BEET SOUP. FROGS' LEGS. POTATO BALLS. 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, butter 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 buttered 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.

STRAWBERRIES. CREAM OF BEET SOUP. FROGS' LEGS. POTATO BALLS. CHICKEN CROQUETTES WITH ASPARAGUS TIPS. CHERRY SALAD. SANDWICHES. ICE CREAM IN ANGELS' FOOD. CHOCOLATE. BONBONS.

Memorial Day is anything but an occasion for festivities, but the fact that it is one of our holidays suggests that somewhere about that time one might have

A MILITARY LUNCHEON

Or one with both military and naval accompaniments. There are so many pretty little decorations nowadays for such a meal that the table may be very pretty. One of the guests may happen to have some special interest in the protectors of our country, and she will especially appreciate a table set with a small encampment of tents made of small napkins folded into the desired shape, or little battalions of toy soldiers presenting arms in companies around the central point of interest, which in this case might be a larger tent, draped with vines. The sherbet or ices might be served in military hats of felt or paper, and the favours might be knapsacks filled with candies. One course should be coffee and hard-tack, suggestive of the frugal fare of the soldier on duty. Otherwise the menu would better take its regular course, since bacon and beans and other army rations are not especially appetising.

MOCK BISQUE SOUP. SHAD WITH ROE. Potato Balls. CUCUMBERS. CHICKEN TIMBALES. PEAS. KIDNEYS AND MUSHROOMS IN CASES. POTATO PUFF. STRING BEAN SALAD WITH MAYONNAISE. NEAPOLITAN ICE CREAM. CAKES. COFFEE WITH HARD-TACK.

As the course of shad with roe is rather a solid one, the meat course is lighter than usual. The kidneys are cleaned, cut in pieces and stewed until tender, when they are browned in butter to which seasoning and a dash of sherry have been added and mixed with the mushrooms; after a thorough heating they are served in cases either of paste or of paper. A few olives cut into small pieces may be mixed with the whole, if one likes the several flavours.

The string bean salad is simply made of cold boiled string beans, young and tender, which have lain in French dressing for a half hour before they are put on lettuce and mayonnaise added; one who has not tried this has no idea how good a salad it is. The Neapolitan ice cream is made of alternate layers of cream and ice in contrasting colours; it is too much trouble to make this at home, but another cream can be substituted if desired, such as a rich vanilla with a hot chocolate sauce, or a white cream in which chopped candied fruit has been mixed.

The hard-tack is of course a very large thin cracker, perhaps six inches in diameter; it is much better heated in the oven before serving, and if it is wished a cheese, either a cream, or one of the imported ones, such as Camembert, may be passed with it.

A DELFT LUNCHEON

This is a pretty luncheon to give in a country dining-room furnished in dull blue and white. Plaques of real or imitation Delft may hang on the walls of the room, and bowls of blue cornflowers and white carnations may stand in window-seats and on shelves as well as on the dining-table. The china should be blue and white or plain white, and the cards squares of pasteboard with sketches of Dutch scenes, or blue prints of some native spot of interest. The souvenirs may be small Delft plaques, or toy windmills; or they may be little Dutch maidens in quaint dresses, which will serve as penwipers after the day of the luncheon. The bonbons may be white ones in little wooden shoes placed in pairs around the table. The small cakes served with the ice cream may each have a tiny windmill cut from white paper standing in the white icing on top, and the cream itself may be a white one in meringue shells tied with blue ribbon. Any one of the menus suggested will do to serve, as Dutch food alone would hardly seem attractive; however, a course of doughnuts and coffee may take the place of ice cream and cake, if you fancy the idea.

June

With this month of roses come many gala days; it is the favourite month for weddings, and weddings always bring other festivities in their train. Perhaps the bride gives a luncheon for her bridesmaids, or one of the bridal party gives a luncheon for the rest. Besides these days of rejoicing, there are those other days when the graduates give parting entertainments of various sorts to each other; and since this is the month of Commencements, it is also the time for fraternity meetings and all those delightful reminders of school-days. June luncheons with such backgrounds of interest as these may well be memorable.

A BRIDAL LUNCHEON

On the wedding-day itself, white should be the colour of the decorations, especially if the day is a warm one, for nothing gives such a sense of coolness as a roomful of white flowers and ferns. Even if pink roses are used in the drawing-room and the halls, the dining-room is most attractive all in white. A beautiful background for the table is made by removing all the pictures and hangings, and covering the walls with asparagus fern hung lightly from the ceiling to the floor; where the lines are broken at door and window the vines are to be drawn back and tied at the side with white satin ribbon.

The table should be covered with a white cloth, as elaborate as one possesses, and the centrepiece should be of lace. On this should be a large mound of white roses and asparagus fern; and if you choose, a canopy of vines from the centre of the ceiling to the edges of the table, fastened wherever they touch the cloth with a white rose. If candles are used they should be white with shades of white rose petals, or else silver openwork. The table should be set with silver and glass as far as possible, and the small dishes which ornament it should be filled with small cakes with white icing, white candies, strawberries covered with white icing, white candied rose petals, and all the other pretty things to be found, such as large white candy baskets filled with crystallised fruits,--those made to represent broad-brimmed hats, bent into odd shapes, are very graceful,--or the simpler mounds of charlotte russe, tied with wide white ribbon.

At a wedding luncheon or breakfast the guests of course sit around the room, not at the table, which is used simply to serve from, and the menu is simpler than for a regular meal.

CREAM OF CLAM SOUP. CRABS NEWBURGH IN CASES. SWEETBREAD CROQUETTES WITH PEAS. ROLLS. CHICKEN SALAD. ICE CREAM IN WHITE ROSE FORMS. ANGELS' FOOD. CAFE FRAPPE.

This is a suitable menu for a large and formal wedding; for a smaller and simpler one the crabs may be omitted, and the frappe be replaced by hot coffee; indeed, in any case, hot coffee may be served as well as that which is iced.

The crabs are prepared by boiling, removing from their shells, and heating in cream mixed with the yolks of three eggs, seasoning, and a dash of sherry; they are more delicate than the lobster prepared in the same way, but unless one has ample time and a number of workers, it is better to have the lobster, as picking the meat from crab shells is no light undertaking: still, the dish is so delicious it well repays some effort in preparing.

If the ice cream cannot be obtained in rose forms, any rich white cream will do, or a mousse, made by whipping stiff cream until solid, sweetening, flavouring, and packing in ice and salt for four or five hours.

If instead of a wedding breakfast or luncheon one desires a more informal meal to be given a day or two before the wedding itself, the menu may be altered to suit the occasion. The prettiest possible cards may be prepared for this by painting the head of the bride in her veil with the date beneath the guest's name.

CLAMS ON THE HALF-SHELL. CREAM OF CORN SOUP. HALIBUT TIMBALES. LOBSTER SAUCE. BROILED SQUABS ON TOAST. CURRANT JELLY. CREAMED POTATOES. STRAWBERRY SHERBET. TOMATO AND NUT SALAD. BROWN BREAD AND BUTTER. ICE CREAM IN WHITE ROSE FORMS. CAKES. CAFE FRAPPE, OR BLACK COFFEE.

The sherbet is made by pressing the juice from two quarts of berries, adding a cup of water and the juice of half a lemon with sugar; this is boiled for a few moments, strained, and frozen. The salad is made by blanching English walnuts and adding them to mayonnaise, serving with sliced tomatoes. The ice cream if in rose forms should be passed on a large silver tray with asparagus fern among the ices. The frappe should be in small glass cups, if it is served at all, but unless the weather is very warm, have the coffee hot as usual.

A GRADUATES' LUNCHEON

The prettiest possible decoration for this occasion is made by the lavish use of sweet peas, the flowers which seem to suggest young girlhood. The brilliant pink ones should be chosen, and bowls of them should stand about the table, one large one in the centre and smaller ones around irregularly; or else one large bowl may be in the centre and a quantity of the blossoms with the stems broken off scattered all over the table. This is one of the times when satin bows are not out of place, for girls generally think a table all the more attractive for them, though for most luncheons they are tabooed, as suggestive of the professional decorator who revels in bows. The bonbons should be pink, and the cards should be small sheets of paper rolled up to resemble diplomas, each tied with a rose-coloured ribbon, with the name of the guest written on the outside.

BOUILLON. CREAMED FISH IN SHELLS. ASPARAGUS WITH CREAM DRESSING. BROILED SPRING CHICKEN. PEAS. POTATOES. CURRANT JELLY. CHERRY ICE. LETTUCE AND TOMATO SALAD WITH FRENCH DRESSING. CHEESE STRAWS. INDIVIDUAL STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKES. CHOCOLATE. BONBONS.

The shortcakes may be either made by baking cakes in small tins, splitting, adding the crushed fruit, and putting whipped cream on top, or else in a fashion which all girls will welcome, by using a very small charlotte russe with a quantity of strawberries heaped about the base and powdered sugar over all.

A ROSE LUNCHEON

In this month of roses it is a pretty fancy to have a meal when they shall be especially in evidence. The table may be laid much as for the sweet pea luncheon,--that is, with bowls of the flower scattered over the table or one large bowl, and the flowers themselves, despoiled of their stems, scattered over the cloth. The cards may be of stiff paper, cut out to resemble flat, open roses, coloured pink, with the name of the guest written directly across. A large rose may lie at each plate, or in a pretty fashion they may be laid in a loose wreath around the centrepiece, and at the close of the meal each guest may be asked to take some of those before her plate. The bonbons used should be candied rose leaves.

PINEAPPLE FILLED WITH FRUITS. CREAM OF ASPARAGUS SOUP. SOFT-SHELL CRABS ON TOAST. FRIED SWEETBREADS. PEAS. POTATO CROQUETTES. CURRANT SHERBET. TOMATO BASKETS WITH CUCUMBER JELLY. MAYONNAISE. FROZEN STRAWBERRIES. CAKES. COFFEE. BONBONS.

The pineapple is to have its bushy top cut off, and the inside scooped out; the core is put aside, the soft part picked up and mixed with a little banana, orange, and small strawberries, sugar, and sherry, if you use it, and the whole put back in the shell and passed, the top lying on one side of the dish; small glass saucers, or nappies, as they are called, are on each plate, and the guest is to put a spoonful in hers. The colder the pineapple is, the better. If soft-shell crabs are not to be had, serve a creamed fish in whole cucumbers, as was suggested for a January luncheon. The tomato baskets are very pretty; they are made by cutting smooth tomatoes in basket shapes, removing the inside with a small spoon, and filling with cucumber jelly mixed with mayonnaise. This latter is made by crushing peeled and sliced cucumbers, adding seasoning and a little onion, and stewing till soft; they are then set with gelatine in a dish and when firm they are broken into pieces small enough to go in the baskets. If you are to have crabs, this course is all right, but if you have substituted the cucumbers with fish, you must again substitute and serve another salad for this. The frozen strawberries are made by crushing the fruit to a paste, adding one-third as much boiled lemonade, sweetening well, straining, and freezing. The cakes served with this should be iced in a rather deep pink.

There are so many pretty and appropriate quotations about roses that one may well add one to each guest card.

"Roses for the blush of youth."

"The sweetest rose, where all are roses."

"She looks as clear as morning roses newly washed with dew."

"Mantling on the maiden's cheek, Young roses kindled into thoughts."

"It was roses, roses, all the way."

"The rose is sweetest washed with morning dew."

"The red rose cries, 'She is near, she is near!' And the white rose weeps, 'She is late!'"

"O beautiful, royal rose, O rose so fair and sweet!"

"Gather ye roses while ye may, Old Time is still a-flying."

"Queen rose in the rose-bud garden of girls."

A PEONY LUNCHEON

is certainly novel, and if carried out carefully it is extremely pretty, although at first thought one would think the peony too large and coarse a flower to use on the table. In order to get the best effect, the table must be a round one and quite large. Then the peonies, pink and white ones mixed, and with plenty of their own foliage, should be piled in a mass in the centre, with the bowl which holds them in place completely concealed. The flowers should lie on the cloth as well as rise in a mound from the table. Any one of the menus previously given will do to serve until the final course is reached, when the ice cream is to appear in the peonies themselves. A white cream is chosen, the hearts of the largest pink peonies are cut out, a round of waxed paper laid in the place, and a heaping, rounded spoonful of the cream is placed in the flowers. It is to have a spray of leaves under it as it lies on the plate.

July

The summer days in the country are apt to seem rather long, if the weather is too hot for vigorous exercise, but entertaining one's friends breaks the time delightfully. If the July noontime is warm, still the heat adds to the pleasure a luncheon of cold and delicious dainties gives, especially if such a meal is served on a cool and shady porch, when it becomes fit for the gods. If one's summer home is unfortunately without this sort of outdoor room, a little ingenuity will serve to provide a substitute. In the early spring, some tall, strong posts may be set in the ground on the north or west side of the house about fourteen feet or more away, and the tops of these joined to the wall by some lighter strips of wood; then a floor may be laid, unless the grassy turf is preferred, and quickly growing vines, such as the morning glory or the moon-vine, planted, and soon one will have a really beautiful arbour room.

The first gala day of the month, indeed the only one the calendar recognises, is the Fourth of July; this certainly deserves to be celebrated by a luncheon.

FOURTH OF JULY LUNCHEON

Stand a toy cannon on your table for a centrepiece, draping it with delicate vines; or, if this proves too expensive to buy, and too difficult to borrow, suspend a large bell from two wooden supports in the middle, with the same vines. At each plate lay a bonbon box which exactly resembles a cannon fire-cracker, filled with small red candies; the name of the guest may be printed on the side and it will serve for a guest card. Or you may give the guests small liberty bells instead of the large crackers, and use small crackers for cards. Or, instead of either of these things, you may give each one a bunch of real fire-crackers with her name printed on the outside.

Have several vases of flowers on the table, with red and white carnation and blue bachelors' buttons in each; or if you do not like them mixed, alternate vases with red ones alone, white alone, and blue alone. In your little dishes of radishes, almonds, and bonbons, stand tiny American flags; tie the sandwiches with narrow red, white, and blue striped ribbon, and the handles of the currant cups as well; the table may also have little tents and soldiers as in the military luncheon already suggested.

ICED CURRANTS. ICED BOUILLON. WATER-CRESS SANDWICHES. COLD SALMON. SAUCE TARTARE. TONGUE IN ASPIC. TOMATOES WITH FRENCH DRESSING. RASPBERRY SHRUB. PINEAPPLE SALAD. CHEESE CRACKERS. ICE CREAM IN DRUMS. CAKES. BONBONS.

The currants are to be crushed with a silver fork, sweetened, and put on the ice; just before serving they are put in glass cups and a spoonful of crushed ice put on top. The bouillon is prepared the day before it is needed, and packed in ice and salt for an hour before the luncheon. The sandwiches passed with this are made by spreading very thin bread and butter with chopped water-cress, rolling and tying them, and then inserting a sprig of the cress at either end; it is not absolutely necessary to tie them, but they keep their shape far better if it is done.

Choose a large smoked tongue, and two days before the luncheon boil it until tender, skin it, and lay it in a long narrow pan. Make a bouillon of beef extract, season it highly with red pepper, salt, and lemon juice, and herbs; simmer these together for a few minutes, then add sufficient dissolved gelatine to set the quantity you will need, and strain the whole over the tongue, a little more than covering it. Put this on the ice, and the next day you will have what our grandmothers used to call "a sightly dish." It is to be put whole on the table, and sliced with a very sharp knife. The tomatoes served with this are to be on the same plate, not treated as a salad.

The pineapple is to be picked up in rather large bits and placed on lettuce with mayonnaise. The ice cream is to be put into little paper drums, which may be had at the confectioner's or possibly the toy store; if, however, they are not to be had in the country, the cream may be put in meringue shells and tied with ribbons.

The raspberry shrub may be served all through the meal, or made a separate course instead of a sherbet. It is to be made some days before it is needed; this is a simple and excellent rule: Put two and a half ounces of tartaric acid into a quart of water, and pour over six quarts of red raspberries. After two days stir and strain; add to each pint of juice a pound and a half of powdered sugar, stir till dissolved, let it stand four days, and then bottle. If this is too much trouble to prepare, serve lemonade coloured with raspberry juice, and if you wish to have it very nice, use vichy instead of water in making the lemonade. A fruit sherbet may be introduced if the drink is served all through the meal. For a hot day in summer it is a mistake to have the noon meal too long or too heavy, so in this menu the usual pate or croquette is omitted.

A NAUTICAL LUNCHEON

This meal may be served at a seaside cottage, or near a lake or even a river, or it may be used on board a yacht. If it happens to be in a house or on a piazza by the sea, the walls near by may be decorated with fish nets and oars.