Clams,Cold Bouillon,Soft Crabs,Mushrooms, Fillets of Beef,Beets, Potato Straws,Tomatoes, Sweetbreads,Chicken Salad a la Prince,Peach Ice,Curacoa Cream,Frozen Melon, Coffee.
The clams are served in ice shells, lying on beds of crisp cress, and the bouillon, strong and highly seasoned, served in little cut glass bowls. With the fricasseed crabs serve a smooth cool sauce, having lemon and mustard as its predominating flavor. Juicy little fillets of beef, that melt in the mouth, are next brought on lettuce leaves, with fricasseed mushrooms on toast, frozen pickled beets and potato straws. The sweetbreads are parboiled, chopped up with asparagus tips and truffles, and formed into cones with white chaudfroidsauce, then chilled to the freezing point. With them are served tomatoes filled with shaved ice, chopped cress and tartare sauce. But the triumph of cookery is the salad, each ingredient proportioned and blended into a pleasing whole. The white meat of two chickens, cut into small fillets and each dipped into a semi-fluid jelly made as follows: Three hard boiled eggs, an anchovy, one tablespoonful of minced capers, two tablespoonfuls of grated ham, one teaspoonful of chopped parsley and a pinch of chili pepper rubbed through a sieve and mixed well with two tablespoonfuls of mayonnaise and three of semi-fluid aspic. Then small molds are lined with aspic and a fillet—ornamented with strips of beets and cucumbers—put in each; enough aspic to cover poured in and the molds set on ice.
A rich mayonnaise is made, and peas, cut up cucumbers and string beans stirred through it. When the time comes to serve the salad, the molds are turned out on leaves of crinkly white lettuce, with a border of mayonnaise around them. The peach sherbet is served in little fluted cups of ice, set in a circle of fern fronds and pink carnations on cut glass plates. Three drops of cochineal are added to the ice just before freezing to give it a delicate pink hue. After the gelatine is dissolved in a rich custard and begins to thicken, the curacoa and the whipped cream are added, and stirred together very lightly. Individual orange-shaped molds are filled with the cream and put on ice to harden. When turned out of the molds, a little twig and leaves of crystalized ginger are insertedin each orange. Sherry wine is poured in the heart of the melon, and, after it has ripened on ice for two hours, the melon is cut open and the seeds removed. Cut out oval-shaped pieces with a big spoon and set back on the ice till wanted. Take to the table in a deep glass bowl, splints of ice shining among its juicy pink morsels. Then the coffee, the toasted crackers and blocks of frozen cheese.
There are but few particulars in which a formal luncheon differs materially from a dinner. Fruit or a fruit salpicon is usually preferred to oysters as a first course. The soup or bouillon is served in cups rather than soup plates, and entrees or chops take the place of heavy joints or roasts. The usual hour for a luncheon is between one and two o'clock, and artificial light is considered inappropriate for such an occasion. If the table used is a handsome and highly polished one, the cloth may be dispensed with, if desired. Instead use a handsome center piece with small doilies under the plates and other dishes to protect the table. If there are a large number of guests, they are usually served at small tables, prettily decorated with a few flowers.
If the luncheon is to be a formal affair word your invitation thus: "Mrs. Harris requests the pleasure of Mrs. Brown's company at luncheon, Tuesday, September twenty-seventh, at one o'clock." If it is an informal affair simply write a little note on this order:
Dear Mrs. Brown,
Will you not join us at luncheon Tuesday at one o'clock? My friend, Mrs. Black, is with me and I should like to have you meet her.
Will you not join us at luncheon Tuesday at one o'clock? My friend, Mrs. Black, is with me and I should like to have you meet her.
Sincerely yours,Date.
Put your street and number at the head of the note. Invitations to informal luncheons are also permissible by telephone or verbally.
White Grapes on Mat of Natural Leaf,Creamed Oysters in Swedish Timbale Cases,Saratoga Potatoes, Twin Biscuits, Pickles, Olives,Moulded Chicken in Aspic, Mayonnaise Wafers,Marshmallow Cake, Orange Jelly, Whipped Cream,Chocolate.
Have the fruit at each place when the guests are assembled. Garnish with any preferred flowers, which should serve also as a souvenir of the occasion. Substitute other fruit if grapes are not seasonable. Both timbale cases and Saratoga potatoes given in the next course, may be prepared early. The potatoes, of course, must be reheated. Fill the creamed oysters into the cases, surround with the potatoes and serve the biscuits, olives and pickles on the same plate. Make the biscuits with baking powder, roll out the dough half the usual thickness, cut out and put two rounds together, brushing first the lower round with melted butter. To make the moulded chicken, separate some stewed chicken into small pieces. Fill loosely into small buttered moulds with a slice of hard boiled eggin the bottom of each. Cover with the strained and clarified chicken broth, to which sufficient gelatine has been added to stiffen it, and stand aside to harden. Turn out on shredded lettuce and serve surrounded with mayonnaise. Bake a sponge cake in a large sheet, cover thickly with boiled icing and decorate with marshmallows cut in halves, and placed on the top at regular distances. Cut in squares, with a marshmellow in the center of each. The orange jelly may be made more elegant if candied fruit and nuts are added to it.
Salpicon of Fruit,Sweet Wafers, Cream of Celery, Crisp Crackers,Olives, Pickles, Salted Almonds,Lobster á la Newburg, Puff Paste Points,Fried Chicken, Vermicelli Toast, Shredded Potatoes,Oyster Patties, Mushrooms, Waldorf Salad,Popcorn, Bon Bons, Nuts, Figs and Raisins, Macaroons,Frozen Pudding, Cream Mints, Coffee.
For the salpicon of fruit, make a foundation of three-quarter orange juice, one-quarter lemon juice, and powdered sugar to sweeten. Add sliced bananas and other fruit in season. Serve very cold in punch glasses. Serve the cream of celery in bouillon cups with whipped cream on top. The puff paste points and patty shells may be made of the same paste. Serve the fried chicken, vermicelli toast and potatoes on one plate. If very young spring chickens are used, cut in halves or quarters; larger chickens may be cut in smaller pieces. It is nice, only rather expensive, touse the breasts only, cut in two or three pieces. To make the vermicelli toast, cut the bread in rounds and toast it, cover with a rich, thick cream sauce, to which add the chopped whites of several eggs, and sprinkle thickly over all the yolks rubbed through a ricer. A pretty way of serving the Waldorf salad is in apple cups. Cut off the tops and hollow out some large red apples, fill with a mixture of the scraped apple, celery, nuts and mayonnaise, replace the top and insert a celery plume for the stem. Serve surrounded with hot buttered popcorn. A plain, but very elegant frozen pudding is easily made of whipped cream, sweetened and flavored. Pack in a mold in layers, dot each layer liberally with candied fruit, nuts and grated chocolate. Pack in ice and salt for at least four hours.
Of course these dishes can be varied to suit the season and the occasion. The main thing is to be prepared for your company by being at home yourself, and in this way you will make everybody else at home.
For table decorations, ribbons and candle shades use crushed strawberry tints; flowers to correspond. Primroses in a pinky purple are good. Blossoms tied with white satin ribbon make pretty decorations.
Instead of an oyster course, have strawberries served European fashion, with their hulls on, sprinkled with powdered sugar. At the end of the meal serve strawberry shortcake, the real Southern article.
Fill the rolled French omlette with strawberry jam.
The bonbons are strawberries dipped in white fondant.
For a small luncheon have on the table four cut glass bowls filled with waterlilies, resting on the lily pads set on chop plates filled with water. In the center of the table three tall cathedral candles rising from a mass of asparagus fern. Have the bonbons in green and white and the pistachio nuts in bohemian glass bowls of pink, gold, violet and green. Make the place cards of waterlilies cut out of water-color paper and painted. The menu is red and white raspberries, iced clam bouillon, lamb chops, peas, potato roses, cucumber and nut salad served in green peppers cut to imitate lily buds, ice cream of pistachio and lemon ice molded in pond lily forms, cakes iced in green and white and coffee.
For the main course prepare young chickens cut in halves and fried Southern style. Serve with hot cream gravy and corn fritters. On the side of the plate put potato croquettes and two slices of thin, crisp bacon. A crisp salad of sliced tomatoes or stuffed tomatoes and strawberries and cream would make this a simple appetizing meal which you need not hesitate to serve your city friends. A delicious dish is macaroni Milanaise. Cook spaghetti well, fry it in butter and serve with mushrooms. Also serve small bits of tongue, grated Swiss cheese and a tomatosauce. Morning glories make a pretty table decoration. Place them on the vines in a cut glass bowl in the center of the table and let them run riot over the cloth. Paint morning glories in the corner of the name card. Serve the strawberries from a china platter wreathed in the morning glories.
For the first course have luscious fresh strawberries served on strawberry leaves dotted with tiny wild flowers and on flowered plates. With the strawberries the sugar is served in tiny paper cups. The second course is puree of corn served in odd Egyptian cups with whipped cream on top. The chicken croquettes are molded in form of tiny chickens with cloves for the eyes, and bits of celery tops for wings. The chicken rests on a nest of fried shoestring potatoes. With this is served a round of toast with first a slice of fried tomato and on top of that creamed asparagus tips. On the same plate are hot rolls and tiny pickles. Salted pecans and almonds should be passed during the entire luncheon. The salad course is a head of lettuce for each one. The heart of the lettuce is removed and filled with cucumber salad. Cheese straws are served with this. The ice cream is served in the form of strawberries and rests on a paper doily resembling Mexican drawnwork. The cake is a tiny white column, iced, with two candy strawberries on the side. The candies are peppermints in form of strawberries. Coffee served as a last course.
Here is a Valentine luncheon for young girls suggesting the "Sweet Sixteen" idea in a novel and beautiful manner. Spun sugar should be used exclusively in most of the table decorations. Have a round table set in pure white and crystal, the latest fad. At each girl's plate have a flower done in candy in a realistic manner.
On each side of the table have small, red heart-shaped candy baskets filled with red candy hearts. Imitation baskets of rock candy tied with bows of candy ribbons holding preserved citron, ginger and nuts glacé. The fruit salad should be served in paper cases imitating pink roses. Over the salad have a white mayonnaise dotted with pink rose petals. The crackers heart shaped. The ice cream should be served in white candy baskets with tall handles. For place cards use pink hearts.
As most of the evening is spent in the dining-room, particular attention is given to the decoration of it, and the appointments of the table, to make them original and attractive. The national colors prevailin the use of bunting and flowers, and none save those peculiar to February should be utilized; tropical foliage is dispensed with, and, inasmuch as Kentucky was Mr. Lincoln's native state, only such evergreens as are native to that commonwealth—as holly, cedar, laurel, etc.,—should be used to supply the necessary greenery disposed about the room, the particular arrangement of which must be decided by the furnishings therein and by individual taste.
The table is laid in the regulation white, dotted over with American Beauty petals and violets, the edge being draped in laurel tied with tri-colored ribbon. In the middle is laid a round mat of woodland moss to simulate bluegrass, and on it rests a miniature log cabin, around which is built a fancy rail fence made of chocolate sticks; a number of little pickaninnies are seen playing about the house, and grin out at the guests, which renders the effect very realistic and interesting. Little jugs tied with blue ribbon are also prominent features. In front of each cover stands a diminutive barrel labeled "Old Bourbon," but in reality holding nothing more harmful than delicious bon bons, unless it happens to be a stag affair, when the genuine article would be preferable. Ices are presented in fancy moulds decorated with small darkies, and in the form of the dome of the Capitol, or any other suggestive figure that one prefers.
In issuing the invitations the guests are informed that one and all will be expected to contribute to the general enjoyment by relating some story or anecdote of Lincoln.
Menu for Irish Luncheon:
Cream of Potato Soup with Powdered Parsley,Celery Curls (Pigtails),Salted Almonds,Pigs in Blankets,(Oysters skewered in slices of bacon and broiled),Coldslaw,Croquettes shaped like Potatoes, resting in Beds of Cress,Stuffed Baked Potatoes (Fixed with tiny wooden skewers to resemble Pigs),Spinach served in Shamrock Decorated Cases,Shamrock-shaped Bread and Butter Sandwiches,Sweet Watermelon Pickle or Spiced Peach, decorated with Angelica Shamrocks,Salad of French Beans, Peas and Pearl Onions in Lettuce Leaf,Ice Cream in Slices decorated with Green Sugar Shamrocks,or Pistachio Ice Cream,Small Cakes decorated with Harps of Gold Candies,Coffee, Buttermilk.
For favors there are Irish hats, clay pipes, Irish flags, harps, shamrocks, bon bon boxes, green snakes, etc. Oxalis answers for shamrock and pots of this arranged in a "fairy ring" with fairy lamps or green-shaded candles make a pretty, inexpensive centerpiece.
An extremely attractive Easter luncheon is as follows: The table is round, covered with a snowydamask cloth, exquisite china, sparkling glass and silver. The center piece, a small gilded cart, wreathed in violets and smilax, holds decorated eggs colored in tints of yellow and purple, while mingling with them are clusters of violets tied with lavender ribbons, one end extending to the front of each cover and there attached to wee yellow chickens resting in nests of violets, in whose beaks are tiny cards with name in gold.
Have also nests of spun sugar containing candy eggs, wax tapers burning under creamy lace shades. At each end of the table tall vases filled with ferns and garlanded with vines and at every plate daffodils growing in pots covered with green tissue paper.
This is the menu:
Clear Tomato Soup,Baked Shad, Bermuda Potatoes,Roast Spring Lamb, Creamed Onions,Orange Halves,Chicken Croquettes, Celery Salad,Neapolitan Ice Cream, Sponge Cake,Chocolate.
For an April fool luncheon write your invitations in red ink on dunce caps, cut out of yellow paper and seal with red seal. Call your luncheon a "Cap and Bells" or "Harlequin" luncheon, as you prefer. Use bowls of red and yellow tulips, or red carnations, in yellow bowls. Rustic wall pockets with pussy willows, tied with pale green ribbon, are delightful April decorations. When the guests assemble givethem snapping bon bons which make paper caps. Let them wear these caps to the dining-room. Do not put names on the guest cards; let each draw a card from a dunce cap. Have the card clowns cut from water-color paper and a suitable quotation and a number on each one. This number marks the order of procedure to the dining-room and the privilege of choosing seats. In this way no one can regard the card quotation as offensively personal. If you wish an "April Fool" menu, serve it as a buffet luncheon before going to the table. You can find imitation dishes of every sort at the caterer's.
Over the round dining table suspend a hoop wound with smilax or red and yellow ribbon. From this hoop hang tiny bells by invisible wires. A Japanese "windbell" is especially suitable. It consists of pieces of metal of odd shapes so suspended that they strike in the wind. Light your table by red candles with yellow dunce cap shades. In the center of the table have a clown or "Pierrot" in costume of red with large yellow dots, driving toy geese by red and yellow ribbons. These geese may be made of water-color paper and filled with salted almonds and bon bons. At each plate have a "fool's stick" or wand. This is made by winding a short stick with red and yellow ribbon, the ends of which are fastened at the top with a gilt-headed tack, and tiny bells are fastened to the ends of the ribbons. Use maidenhair ferns at the base of the center piece and the candlesticks to give a touch of green. Serve:
Clam Bouillon with Alphabet Crackers,Celery Curls, Radishes,Salted Almonds, Lobster Patties,Bread and Butter Sandwiches,Cucumber Jelly, Creamed Peas,Squab on Squares of Hominy in Wreath of Cress,New Potatoes with Parsley,Wild Grape Jelly, Mint Ice,Spring Salad of Sliced Cucumbers,Tomatoes, Radishes in Lettuce Cups,Cheese Straws,Vanilla Ice Cream in Cone Shape with Large StrawberryTipped with Whipped Cream on Top and Ringof Fresh Strawberries at the Base.
This pretty luncheon combines two features—it can be given on Decoration Day, and also as a bon voyage luncheon. Have bands of red, white and blue ribbon radiate from the center of the table to each plate, and a large cutglass bowl filled with white flowers, roses, hyacinths and narcissi and ferns stand in the center. Before each plate have a tiny ship in full sail, the name of the guest written in gilt on the silk sail. The favor for the guest of honor might be a bon bon box made in imitation of a shawl strap. Inside have a tiny silk flag.
Red and white should be carried out in the menu. Have a white soup with whipped cream. The salmon salad served in white paper boats with tiny Americanflags sticking in the prow. The ices frozen in form of flags. The cakes red, white and violet icing.
Have a big pumpkin filled with yellow chrysanthemums for the center of the table and at each place a tiny pumpkin made into a candle with a green pumpkin leaf shade. Light the room with jack o' lanterns or yellow Chinese lanterns. For the menu serve cream of corn soup in yellow bowls. Serve turkey, cranberry jelly, mashed turnips, baked sweet potatoes, on yellow plates. Serve fruit salad in the red apple cups, with pumpkin pie and yellow ice cream frozen in shape of pumpkins, for dessert. Serve coffee in yellow cups.
A beautiful summer dinner for July Fourth is as follows: On the table have a centerpiece of pineapple cloth over pale green satin, on which place a flat willow basket of green and white striped grasses that border the garden flower beds. From this basket have wavy lines of pale green gauze ribbon reaching to each corner of the table, the ribbons ending in flat bouquets of daisies tied with grasses. The dinner cards should be cut out of water-color paper in the shape of long, narrow spikes of lilies and fastened to the glasses by flaps on the backs. The menu is clam bisque; lobster cutlets with egg sauce; timbales of sweetbreads; new carrots with fine herbs; crown of lamb with mint sauce; potato croquettes and salsify;peach ice; truffle-stuffed squab, cress; asparagus and lettuce salad; green cornucopiae of ice cream filled with lemon ice; white cake with green icing; coffee, nuts glace.
Have this sentiment painted on a white or dark gray background framed in cedar boughs and placed over your mantel:
The waning year grows brown and gray and dull,And poets sing November, bleak and sere;But from the bounteous garnered harvest store,With grateful hearts we draw Thanksgiving cheer.
Place a row of white candles in pewter candlesticks across the mantel and display all the old china, pewter, brass and copper about the dining-room. Use cedar boughs to decorate the chandelier and plate rail. In the center of the bare table have a miniature stack of wheat (the florist can furnish this). Peeping out of the wheat have toy turkey candy boxes filled with almonds or hickory nut meats and raisins. Have the candles on the table set in flat cedar wreaths and scatter pine needles over the surface of the table. At each plate have a little doll dressed in Puritan costume with the name card tied around her neck. If one wishes to add a bit of color to the table use old-fashioned blue and white or colored bowls, in one pile glossy red apples, in another purple and white grapes, in another oranges. Here are some suitable Colonial dishes: Brown bread, roasted fowl, oysters in every style, cakes of Indian meal called bannocks which are spread before the fire on large tins and baked before the fire, brown sugar andmolasses for sweetening; fruit cake, molasses cake, pumpkin, apple and mince pie; jellies, jams and conserves (a sweet mixture of fruits). Use all the old-fashioned china and silver possible.
First an old-fashioned oyster stew served in old white, gold-banded tureen.
Next fish-balls—not great, soggy old-fashioned fish cakes, but the daintiest little golden-brown balls, fried in a basket in hot fat, and not more than an inch in diameter, just a good mouthful. Have them served individually, smoking hot, heaped up in the daintiest little piles, with a few tiny sprigs of baby parsley for garnish.
Next will come the turkey, a monster bird, "with stuffing" made of Italian chestnuts.
It goes without saying that with this will be served the historic cranberry jelly, which may be moulded in a square tin and served in tiny cubical blocks. After the sweet potatoes are baked the contents will be removed, whipped light as a feather with two well-beaten eggs, a little milk, pepper, salt and butter, the skins refilled, stood on end in a pan and the tops browned in the oven.
Then Roman punch.
Then two good old-fashioned pies, one pumpkin, the other mince, each about two inches thick.
If one wishes to develop the idea of Santa and his sleigh, buy a doll and dress as Santa and fashion asleigh out of cardboard and color red. About Santa and his sleigh, which may be filled with bonbons or tiny gifts like animals from Noah's ark, etc., for the guests, have imitation snow of coarse salt or sugar, or cotton sprinkled with diamond dust. Have tiny sprigs of evergreen standing upright for trees. At each plate have a tiny sleigh filled with red and green candies and light the table with red candles and shades in shape of Christmas bells. Have the dinner cards ornamented with little water-color Santa Claus' heads or little trees. If one uses the Christmas bell idea have the bells covered with scarlet crape tissue and swung from the chandelier. One can have the letters on them spell "Merry Christmas." In the center of the table place a mound of holly with bright red berries; have red candles arranged in any design one chooses, and far enough away so their heat will not ignite the tissue paper bells. White paper shades with sprays of holly painted or tied on make pretty Christmas shades. Have the bonbons, nuts, salads and ice cream served in cases in shape of bells, or have the ice cream frozen in bell shape. If one wishes to decorate with the tiny trees, fasten them upright in flower pots and cover the pots with red paper. Hang bonbons or sparkling objects and tinsel or little favors of bells for the guests from the branches of the trees. The holly wreaths may be used in any way the fancy dictates—a large center wreath and if the table is round, a second larger one near the edge of the table, leaving room for the plates or single candlesticks set in tiny wreaths at intervals between thelarger wreaths. A wreath dinner is very pretty and easy to plan, for the different dishes may be garnished with wreaths of parsley, radishes, endive, cress, or the sweets with rings of kisses, macaroons, whipped cream roses, candies, etc.
Here is a suitable menu. Oyster or clam cocktail, wafers, consomme, bouillon or cream of celery soup, celery, radishes, small square crackers. If one wishes a fish course, creamed lobster or salmon with potato balls. Roast Turkey or game of any sort, glazed sweet potatoes, corn fritters, creamed peas, peach, currant or grape jelly, hot rolls. Cranberry sherbet; nut salad with plain bread and butter sandwiches, individual plum puddings with burning brandy, ice cream in any desired shape, white cake or fruit cake if one does not have the plum pudding, cheese, crackers, coffee.
A quail dinner given recently will furnish ideas for others who wish to give a dinner out of the ordinary. Let the oblong table on which the dinner is served represent a field with miniature shocks of grain and stubble in which are quail, pheasants' and other birds' nests. A border of toy guns stacked mark the edge of the field. At each man's place have a toy figure of a hunter with some toy fastened to the back telling some joke on the diner. The women can have birds' nest candy boxes surmounted by birds. The name cards can be English hunting scene postals.
This is the menu:
Blue Points,Celery Hearts, Olives, Stuffed Olives,Cream of Asparagus with Asparagus Points, Crackers,Broiled Fresh Spanish Mackerel served on Lettuce Ribbons,Cucumbers, Cannon Ball Potatoes,Sherry, Champagne Punch,Quail on Toast, French Peas, Stewed Mushrooms onToast, Hot Rolls,Champagne,(Salad, Head Lettuce, French Beans, Ring of ChoppedWhites of Eggs, Ring of Powdered Yolksof Eggs, French Dressing,)Crackers and Melted Cheese,Chestnut Ice Cream molded in Form of Broiled Quail andAsparagus Tips, Eggnog Sauce,Coffee and Liqueurs in the Drawingroom.
To secure a pretty effect pull the extension table apart and fill in the center space with palms and ferns, keeping the foliage low enough not to interfere with the vision of the guests. Across each end of the table lay a pale green satin and lace cover on which place French baskets filled with yellow daffodils and pink tulips. Before each place set tall stem vases filled with yellow daffodils resting on wreaths of pink begonias. Have the pink and yellow candies in French baskets tied with the same colors. Use monograms of the guests on plain white cards with tiny silver boots tied to a corner for favors. Serve:
Green Grapes Dipped in Sugar,Cream Salsify Soup in Bouillon Cups,Bread Sticks,Deviled Lobster in Shell,Cucumber Mayonnaise,Squab on Toast, Creamed Potatoes,Ice Cream in Form of Fruits,White Cake, Coffee.
To those who may have the planning of college dinners, the description of this Harvard dinner may not come amiss.
In the center of the table have a large bowl of red tulips; red shades on the candles standing at either end of the table. The favors can be small boxes in the shape of foot-balls filled with red candies. The place-cards in the shape of foot-balls, cut out of red cardboard, and painted in black and white; by each plate a roll with a small Harvard flag, of silk. Place the olives, nuts and red candies in small paper cases covered with tissue paper, which match in shape as well as in color, the central bouquet of tulips.
Even in the menu the color scheme may be carried out as far as possible with tomato bisque, deviled crabs served in the shells, chicken croquettes, fillet of beef, garnished with cress and radishes, beet salad and ice cream baskets filled with strawberries. The croquettes can be made in the shape of foot-balls. The beets for the salad are boiled until tender, and when cold scooped out and filled with dressed celery.A few curved cuts made around the sides of the beets give the effect of flower petals. The little cakes, served with the ice-cream, are covered with red frosting.
If Princeton be the Alma Mater in whose honor the feast is spread, tiger-lilies should be the flowers used on the center of the table, and the menu would of course, differ much from the one already given. Instead might be substituted black bean soup with slices of hard boiled egg; fried scallops and Saratoga potatoes; sweet bread patés; chicken with sweet potatoes; and carrots cut with a vegetable cutter into what are called shoestrings; lobster salad served in paper boxes, having around the outside, ruffles of orange crépe paper; and orange ice served in the natural oranges. If one prefers a change from the wishbone creation, Noah's Ark tigers may stand guard over the patés.
A Yale dinner would be the most difficult to arrange as there are no fruits or vegetables that could rightly be called blue, unless some varieties of grapes and plums might be considered as coming under that head. But with a large central bouquet of cornflowers, with blue ribbons extending from this to each cover, where under the bow or rosette will be laid the corn-cob pipe or other souvenir, and with blue crépe paper used to decorate some of the dishes, the table will present quite as attractive an appearance as either of the other dinners; while the genial guests will probably enjoy the feast fully as well, and be quite as loyal, even if the roast and salad do not show the college colors.
A dinner always stands a better chance of being a success if there is some little thing to break the ice at the start. A little verse might be placed on the card bearing the name of each guest. A particularly lively and cheerful young woman might have a verse something like this:—
"Fevers are contagious,But they're not by halfAs quickly, surely catchingAs Mrs. Thompson's laugh."
A lady who gives much thought and attention to political reforms might have the following:—
"Dogs have their days, so political partiesPass through their seasons of sunshine and storm,While longing eyes see the time that is coming,When women shall work a more lasting reform."
An attractive young married woman might find this parody at her place:—
"How doth the dainty matron fairImprove each shining hour,And work on men both old and young,Her fascinating power."
The wife of a distinguished landscape painter could get these lines:—
"Why should one desire to travel,And in distant climes to roam,When she has the fairest landscapesAlways hanging in her home."
When the oyster plates are removed, a letter might be found under each one, addressed to the person sitting at the place.
A man who is a well known promoter might receive this:—
"Dear Mr. J.—"Is it true that you are interested in a project for connecting New York with the infernal regions by telephone? If so, as soon as the wires are in operation, I should like to call up Henry the Eighth, and find out what excuse he really made for getting rid of his wives. The demands upon me have been so great during this past year, that my stock of defenses has given out.
"Dear Mr. J.—
"Is it true that you are interested in a project for connecting New York with the infernal regions by telephone? If so, as soon as the wires are in operation, I should like to call up Henry the Eighth, and find out what excuse he really made for getting rid of his wives. The demands upon me have been so great during this past year, that my stock of defenses has given out.
"Yours truly,"
Here place the name of some prominent criminal lawyer.
A lady whose first baby is only a few months old, might have the following in the envelope bearing her name:—
"Dear Madame:—"Stick to the old reliable. There is only one perfectly pure and harmless soothing syrup, and that is made by yours,
"Dear Madame:—
"Stick to the old reliable. There is only one perfectly pure and harmless soothing syrup, and that is made by yours,
"Respectfully,"Mrs. Winslow."
An artist with a considerable reputation for painting sheep, might enjoy the following:—
"Dear Sir,"Do you care to buy the small, stuffed lamb that has been in our window for several years past? It looks very natural, and would be much more quiet for a model than a live one.
"Dear Sir,
"Do you care to buy the small, stuffed lamb that has been in our window for several years past? It looks very natural, and would be much more quiet for a model than a live one.
"Respectfully,"Beck, Butcher."Washington Market.
The place card may be plain white edged with gold, and the monogram or crest in gold with the guest's name written plainly across it. However, handsome cards as souvenirs of a dinner are much prized by travelers and the younger set and are especially in favor for breakfasts, luncheons, bridal affairs and college dinners and spreads.
At the present moment there is the greatest diversity in guest cards. You may use a plain heavy visiting card with flowers stuck through the upper left corner, or decorated cards of every style, pen and ink, water-colors, etc. Cards for stag affairs have Old English pictures on a soft gray background; souvenir postals make interesting guest cards; tiny fans, playing cards, ribbons, cards cut out of water-color paper imitating flower pots with flowers in bloom, cards decorated with sketches of brides and bridegrooms, kodak pictures of familiar scenes, boats, different sports—you can scarcely go amiss on your cards—the more original they are the better. The card is laid on the napkin at dinner or luncheon, or if it has an easel-like back is fastened to the wineglass.
Graphology cards are an idea of the moment, andseem likely to prove more than a passing fad. Before ordering a set of these, the hostess obtains from each guest a line in his or her own handwriting; the note of acceptance received can be used, if one is sure that a secretary has not been employed. These specimens are turned over to the stationer, who, in turn, places them in the hands of an expert graphologist. When the occasion arrives for which the writing was obtained, each guest finds at his cover a card bearing his name and a printed delineation of his character formed from the chirography.
For guest cards at a large dinner have in the center of the table a gridiron of flowers and from it run orange and black ribbons to each plate. Have the guests' names in gilt letters on these ribbons, and each ribbon ends in a favor, which indicates the special fad of the guest. The oarsman finds a scull, the yachtsman a tiny yacht, the football captain a football, the hunter a tiny bear, the bowler ten pins, the poker player a miniature poker table, the glee club leader a tiny mandolin, and the man who wins hearts, a heart-shaped box with the miniature of a Gibson girl on its surface.
The girl who cuts paper dolls may make quaint and unique menu cards by cutting out little pickaninnies from shiny black kindergarten paper, then, little dresses, say of red, since this is the most striking combination, and pasting them on the plain cards.
The way to make them is to place a bit of black and a bit of red paper together, fold them shiny side out, and the red outside the black, cut out the dolls,one black, one red, then snip off heads, hands and legs of the red. This leaves the little dresses all ready to go on.
Before pasting on the dress make eyes and mouth in the little black head, by folding it perpendicularly and cutting out the mouth, then horizontally for the eyes. When the figure is once nicely pasted on the card, it is perfectly smooth, no sign of the various foldings appearing.
A dinner for a mixed company of talented men and women is made attractive by clever little quotations on the place cards. A general quotation in quaint lettering at the top of the card may apply to the feast; one following the name of the guest whose place it marks, may apply to the profession or personality of the guest.
"Who can display such varied art,To suit the taste of saint and sinner,Who go so near to touch their heart,As you, my darling dainty dinner?"
"Who would not give all else for two pennyworth only of beautiful soup?"
"Your dressing, dancing, gadding, where's the good in?Tell me, sweet lady, can you make a pudding?"
"Smoking and tender and juicy,And what better meat can there be?"
"The true essentials of a feast are only fun and feed."—O. W. Holmes.
"May your appetite keep on good terms with your digestion.""A good dinner is better than a fine coat."—Proverb.
"Sit down to that nourishment which is called supper."—Shakespeare.
"To thee and thy company I bid a hearty welcome."—Shakespeare.
"No man can be wise on an empty stomach."—Geo. Elliot.
For the Artist:
"Industry can do anything which genius can do, and very many things which it cannot."—Henry Ward Beecher.
"He is the greatest artist then,Whether of pencil or of pen,Who follows Nature."—Longfellow.
For a Writer:
"Wise poets that wrap truth in tales."—Carew.
For the Architect:
"He builded better than he knew."—Emerson.
For the Actor:
"We'll hold, as 'twere, the mirror up to Nature."—Shakespeare.
"With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come."—Shakespeare.
For the Young Bachelor:
"A weather-beaten lover but once known,Is sport for every girl to practice on."—Anon.
"He had then the grace too rare in every climeOf being, without alloy of fop or beau,A finished gentleman from top to toe."—Byron.
"That man that hath a tongue I say is no manIf with his tongue he cannot win a woman."—Shakespeare.
"A sweeter and a lovelier gentlemanFram'd in the prodigality of Nature,Young, valiant, wise and no doubt right royal;The spacious world cannot again afford."—Shakespeare.
"Oh, he was all made up of love and charms,Whatever maid could wish or man admire."—Addison.
For the Soldier:
"They never fail who die in a great cause."—Byron.
"The rascal hath good mettle in him."—Shakespeare.
For the Young Girl:
"Blessings be about you dear, wherever you may go."—Allingham.
"The mildest manners and the gentlest heart."—Shakespeare.
"A Book of Verses underneath the Bough,A jug of Wine, a loaf of bread—and ThouBeside me singing in the Wilderness.O, Wilderness were Paradise enow."—Omar Khayyam.
"Grace was in her steps, heaven in her eyes;In every gesture dignity and love."—Milton.
"Bright as the sun her eyes the gazers strike,And like the sun they shine on all alike."—Pope.
"The clear blue eyes, the tender smile,The sovereign sweetness, the gentle grace,The woman's soul and the angel's face."—Anon.
Apt sentiments in connection with each course add much to the interest or amusement of guests, but they must be chosen intelligently.
If the dinner be to a guest of honor, have something like this at the head of the menu:
"I beseech you all be better known to this gentleman."—Shakespeare.
"Come, gentlemen!! Here's sauce for the gods.""Let hunger move thy appetite, not savory sauce."—Babee's Book.
"A man can die but once."—Henry IV.
"Cowards die many times—the truly valiant never taste death but once."—Shakespeare.
"England's darling."—Alfred Austin.
"Cut and come again."—Crabbe.
"Our old and faithful friend, we're glad to see you."—Shakespeare.
"All the world is my oyster."—Anon.
"Fruit of the wave, all dainty and delicious."—Croffut.
"If you can't speak, sing; if you can't sing, imitate the clam."—Six Dinners.
"Of two evils, choose the least."—Thomas A. Kempis.
"It's the rules of the house, sir; you must take soup."—Mark L. Demotte.
"'Tis sweet and fresh—'twas caught this night."—Beaumont & Fletcher.
"Now bring along your liars, and let the biggest one take the cake."—Six Dinners.
"A dish that I do love to feed upon."—Shakespeare.
"On eight long feet these wondrous warriors treadAnd either end alike supplies the head."—Homer.
"Old Ocean, envious of my ladies crimps,Tried hard to copy them, and—presto! Shrimps!"—Six Dinners.
"Take every creature in of every kind."—Pope.
"When I have tasted of this sacred dish, then shall my bones rest in my father's tomb in peace."—Beaumont & Fletcher.
"Not to know me argues yourselves unknown."—Milton.
"It's better to be out of the world than out of the fashion."—Swift.
"We sport in water or we dance on land."—Homer.
"Though this be fun for you,'Tis death to us."—Fables.
"Pray you, who does the wolf love?"—Shakespeare.
"Ah, gentle lamb! 'Tis better that you be roasted and served to sympathizing human folk than be devoured ungracefully by ravenous beasts."—Six Dinners.
"See him in the dish, his second cradle!"—Charles Lamb.
"He hath a fair sepulchre in the grateful stomach of the judicious epicure, and for such a tomb might be content to die."—Charles Lamb.
"We'll not eat crow, but him that crow'd."—Anon.
"Nothing in his lifeBecame him like the leaving of it."—Macbeth.
"What's sauce for the gooseIs sauce for the gander."—Old Rhymes.
"These be the great twin brethren."—Macauley.
"Some Jay of Italy."—Cymbeline.
"So near will I be that your best friends shall wish I had been further."—Julius Caesar.
"How green you are and fresh."—King John.
"Here's a pigeon so finely roasted it cries, 'Come eat me.'"—Swift.
"I warrant there is vinegar and pepper in't."—Twelfth Night.
"'Tis the dessert that graces all the feast, for an ill end disparages the rest."—Art of Cookery.
"I can teach sugar to slip down your throat a million of ways."—Dekker.
"Feel, masters, how I shake."—2nd Henry IV.
"My morning incense and my evening meal the sweets of hasty pudding."—Barlow.
"I always thought cold victuals nice;My choice would be vanilla ice."—Holmes.
"How gladly then he plucks the grafted pear,Or grape that dims the purple tyrants wear."—Horace.
"In the name of the prophet, figs!"—Horace Smith.
"Pray, does anybody here hate cheese? I would be glad of a bit."—Swift.
"At which my nose is in great indignation."—Tempest.
"A last course at dinner without cheese," says Savarin, "is like a pretty woman with only one eye."
"One sip of thisWill bathe the drooping spirits in delight."—Milton.
"By Hercules! I do hold it and will affirm it to be the most sovereign and precious herb that ever the earth tendered to the use of man.—B. Jonson.
"The man who smokes thinks like a sage and acts like a Samaritan."—Bulwer Lytton.
"I never knew tobacco taken as a parenthesis before."—B. Jonson.
"Good, my Lord, you are full of heavenly stuff."—Henry VIII.
"I feel the old convivial glow (unaided) o'er me stealing,The warm champagny, old particular, brandy, punchy feeling."—Holmes.
"Come, come, good wine is a good familiar creature if it be well used; exclaim no more against it."—Othello.
"I pray thee, take the cork out of thy mouth that I may drink."—As You Like It.
"This wine should be eaten, it's too good to be drunk.—Swift.
"Fill the goblets again, Cnacias. Let us drink the last cup to the manes of famous Lysander, and then, though unwillingly, I must warn you of the approach of day. The host who loves his guests rises from the table when the joy reaches its climax. The pleasant memory of this untroubled evening will soon bring you back to this house, whereas you would be less willing to return if you were forced to think of the hours of depression which followed your enjoyment."—From "An Egyptian Princess."
"If you would know the flavor of a pie,The juicy sweet, the spice and tart, you mustBe patient till the fiery core is cool,And bite a little deeper than the crust.If you would know the flavor of a man,—God's mud pie, made of Eden's dew and dust,—Be patient till love's fire has warmed him through,And look a little deeper than the crust."—Aloysius Coll.
Upon one occasion when six fair women and half a dozen brave men, gathered round a hospitable board, had fallen into that state of "innocuous desuetude" from which nothing but heroic measures would relieve them, a still small voice was heard asking if any one present could tell why the "Athenasian creed is like a tiger?" It chanced that no one present could guess, and when the propounder, a delicate, spirituelle looking woman declared that it was "because of its damnation clause," there was a roar of laughter that successfully put to flight all stiffness and formality.
A well-known gentleman gained quite a reputation among his set by propounding a French riddle, which is sometimes called Voltaire's riddle, because no one ever answered it. He wrote on the back of a card the following: "Ga" and asked if anyone could make it out, saying the answer was what every one had or should have had when he sat down to dinner. The card went round the table and made conversation for some time. After fruitless efforts, all gave it up, and he wrote underneath the "Ga" as follows:
Capital G. Small a.G. grande. a petite.J'ai grande apetite.I have a good appetite. See?
There is only one thing which is said to be worse than being called upon unexpectedly to make an after dinner speech—that is to prepare an after dinner speech and not be asked to deliver it.
Over the teacups: "Do you believe that awful story they are telling about Miss Prim?"
Ladies in Chorus—"Yes. What is it?"
"Say, mister," said the little fresh air child as she watched the cattle enjoying their cud, "do you have to buy gum for all of them cows to chew?"
I remember the Colonel from Missouri who forgot the name of the suburb he wanted to go to near Boston. "It runs in my head," said he to the hotel clerk, "its name is something like whisky straight, though that is not it exactly." "Oh," said the clerk, "I know; you mean Jamaica Plain." "Yes, yes, that's it," said the Colonel, and he immediately ordered two whisky straights.—Henry C. Caldwell.
"These Americanos," cries the affrighted Tagal, "are cannibals."
"What ever gave you such an idea?" asks the Moro.
"I just heard one of those soldiers ask that pretty school teacher to come and eat a Filipino with him!"
Lady—"Little boy, are you sure this butter is clean?"
Boy from the Country—"I low as how it ought to be. Ma and Sis set up half the night picking the specks out of it."
Squire's daughter—"Do you think it is quite healthy to keep your pigs so close to the cottage?"
Hodge—"I dunno, Miss. Noan of ther pigs ain't ever been ill."
Emaciated Invalid (just arrived at the springs)—"Is it true that drinking these waters produces fat?"
Native (weight 250)—"Produces fat? Why, stranger, when I came here I only weighed eight pounds, and look at me now!"
At a "literary dinner" in London, Mr. Zangwell told a story of a fat lady of his acquaintance. Her corpulence had so grown upon her that she resolved to consult a physician about it. She had had no previous experience with "banting" of any sort.
The doctor drew up a careful dietary for her. She must eat dry toast, plain boiled beef, and a few other things of the same lean sort, and in a month return and report the result to the doctor.
At the end of the time the lady came, and was so stout that she could hardly get through the door. The doctor was aghast.
"Did you eat what I told you?" he asked.
"Religiously," she answered.
His brow wrinkled in perplexity. Suddenly he had a flash of inspiration.
"Did you eat anything else?" he asked.
"Why, I ate my ordinary meals," said the lady.
Considerate Little Girl—"Please, Mr. Keeper, will it hurt the elephant if I give him a currant out of my bun?"—Leisure Hours.
Howard Paul is responsible for this anecdote of Lillian Russell. The fair vocalist was lunching at a restaurant and ordered "floating island"—a popularentremet. In due course it arrived, and on its snowy surface three little red ants were having a cheap picnic and wriggling about in ecstatic contortions on the banquet they were enjoying. "Waiter," said Miss Russell, "I asked you for an island, but I expressed no desire to have it inhabited—take it away and bring me adessertisland."
A lank, awkward countryman presented himself at the clerk's desk in an American hotel, and, after having a room assigned to him, inquired at what hours meals were served.
"Breakfast from seven to eleven, luncheon from eleven to three, dinner from three to eight, supper from eight to twelve," recited the hotel clerk glibly.
"Jerushy!" ejaculated the country man, with bulging eyes, "When am I going to get time to see the town?"
A waiter in a restaurant once entered the room where a lady and gentleman were dining—they were just finishing their soup—without any preliminary knock. What he saw led him to stammer: "A thousand pardons, Monsieur; I was too precipitate." "Why, you idiot," said the gentleman, "what are you standing there for, with your head under the tray? Did you never see a gentleman kiss a lady before in this restaurant?" "Oui, Monsieur, but nevaire before ze feesh—nevaire!"