Gala-Day Luncheons: A Little Book of Suggestions

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.

MENUCream of Clam SoupCrabs Newburgh in CasesSweetbread Croquettes with Peas. RollsChicken SaladIce Cream in White Rose Forms. Angels' foodCafé Frappé

This is a suitable menu for a large and formal wedding; for a smaller and simpler one the crabs may be omitted, and the frappé 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.

MENUClams on the Half-ShellCream of Corn SoupHalibut Timbales. Lobster SauceBroiled Squabs on Toast. Currant JellyCreamed PotatoesStrawberry SherbetTomato and Nut SaladBrown Bread and ButterIce Cream in White Rose Forms. CakesCafé Frappé, 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 frappé 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.

MENUBouillonCreamed Fish in ShellsAsparagus with Cream DressingBroiled Spring Chicken. Peas. PotatoesCurrant JellyCherry IceLettuce and Tomato Salad with French Dressing. Cheese StrawsIndividual Strawberry ShortcakesChocolate. 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.

MENUPineapple filled with FruitsCream of Asparagus SoupSoft-Shell Crabs on ToastFried Sweetbreads. Peas. Potato CroquettesCurrant SherbetTomato Baskets with Cucumber JellyMayonnaiseFrozen Strawberries. CakesCoffee. 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.

MENUIced CurrantsIced Bouillon. Water-Cress SandwichesCold Salmon. Sauce TartareTongue in AspicTomatoes with French DressingRaspberry ShrubPineapple Salad. Cheese CrackersIce 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 paté 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.

Use a table-cloth for the time, and omit any central decoration whatever, even the customary piece of lace. Arrange a small fleet of sail-boats all over the table, fastening them to each other by a couple of strands of narrow ribbon, drawn loosely and tied to each central mast. Heap the decks with some small flower which will look well with the colour of the ribbon. If buttercups are to be had, they are pretty, with yellow ribbons; or small pansies are lovely, with purple and yellow; or the deck can be heaped with bonbons, and the ribbons used as with the flowers, if this is preferred. It is necessary to cut off the keels of the little boats in order to have them stand securely, and the small unpainted boats which children use will do, and they can easily be painted white if they are unfinished.

Your cards may be adorned with bits of pressed seaweed, if you are at the seashore, or with little sketches of sail-boats, row-boats, oars, or marine views. A meal of sea food might be fancied for variety.

MENUCream of Clam Soup with Whipped CreamScalloped LobsterBroiled Bluefish. Potato Balls. RollsShrimp Salad. SandwichesIces in Fish Forms. CakesCoffee. Bonbons

The boiled lobster is removed from the shell, seasoned, and mixed with bread crumbs, returned to the shell of the backs and tails, and browned in the oven. The shells may be saved when lobster is used for some time previous to the luncheon, if it is difficult to obtain a number at once.

The salad is made by cutting canned shrimps into halves, and after putting them into small individual moulds, pouring over them a lemon jelly made without sweetening, and well seasoned. These moulds are to be turned out on lettuce leaves, and one or two small shrimps placed by each, and stiff mayonnaise passed with them. The ices may be had from the caterer in the form of shells, or fishes, or boats. If these are not to be had, a home-made cream may be served in the large scallop shells which are to be purchased very cheaply. If you are too far inland to obtain sea food, or if you do not fancy it for a whole luncheon, your decoration will sufficiently suggest the idea of the meal, and another menu can be substituted.

MENURed RaspberriesCream of Green Pea SoupFish Cutlets. Sauce TartareFried Chicken. Potato Croquettes. PeasIced Tea (or Tea Sherbet)Whole Cucumber Salad. Almonds. Pim-olasCaramel Ice Cream. Bonbons

The cutlets, which are simply croquettes moulded into cutlet form, may be made either from any fresh fish, or from canned salmon, or from well-freshened salt codfish; and these last are really delicious. The tea is best made with boiling lemonade instead of boiling water; it is to be served in tall glasses, either as a separate course, or all through the meal as one prefers; in case a sherbet is wished, this iced tea may be frozen with a flavour of rum in addition to the lemon, if one uses it, and served in sherbet cups; and café frappé may be used as a final course if the day is warm, or the coffee may be simply hot and black as usual.

The whole cucumber salad is very pretty. Rather large and very smooth ones are chosen, a slice is cut from the side lengthwise, the pulp is scooped out, mixed with bits of tomato and French dressing, and the whole put back with the slice put on again so that the cut is concealed. These are served on lettuce leaves with two small cheese balls by the side of each, made by grating American cheese, mixing with a little chopped parsley, salt, red pepper, and enough melted butter to make it moist, and rolling between the hands until you have balls the size of marbles; they are to be dusted with chopped parsley before serving.

A TRAVELLER'S LUNCHEON

As so many go abroad as the hot weather begins, a luncheon may be arranged in honour of some friend who is about to sail. The centrepiece may be a large toy steamer with the decks filled with flowers, or a floral piece may be obtained from the florists, who now construct extremely realistic steamers with flowers, green, and moss; but flowers are never at their best under such circumstances, and the toy steamer is to be preferred. Very pretty and inexpensive bonbon boxes are to be had in the shapes of steamer trunks, dress-suit cases, travelling bags, trunks ready labelled with the names of foreign cities, and dainty little lunch baskets tied up with ribbon, as well as the more expensive but useful favours made to resemble rugs in shawl straps which are to be used as penwipers after the day is over. The cards may bear the picture of a steamer disappearing in the distance with its trail of smoke curving back to form the name of the guest, or the words "Bon Voyage."

The menu could, of course, consist of foreign dishes such as the traveller is presumably to eat during her absence; but as few of them are as good as our own luncheon dishes this is not altogether to be commended. An attractive menu would be: —

MENUClams Cocktail in Tomato BasketsConsommé with Hot CrackersDevilled CrabsChicken Livers on SkewersRoast Ducklings. Jelly. Mashed PotatoCauliflower SaladNesselrode Pudding. CakesCoffee. Bonbons

The tomatoes are to be cut into baskets with handles and filled with the clam cocktail just before serving. The crabs are to be boiled, removed from their shells, well seasoned, and wet with a little cream, put back into the shells with bread crumbs and bits of butter over them and browned in the oven. The chicken livers are to be stewed, cut in halves, and put on the small skewers with bits of bacon between the pieces and turned in the frying-pan until they brown in the bacon fat; they are to be sent to the table on strips of toast. The ducklings should be young, and a thick slice of breast or the second joint served to each person before the plates are sent to the table; the potato should be browned in the oven and passed.

The salad is made by cooking cauliflower, breaking it into bits, and serving on lettuce with mayonnaise. The Nesselrode pudding is made in various ways, most of them very elaborate; probably the simplest is a caramel cream with preserved figs and marrons cut up fine in it, with a flavouring of wine. It is also made by putting marrons into a plain rich white cream, flavouring it with the wine and serving it on whipped cream; in any form it is always a delicious dessert.

This menu omits the sherbet and gives a rather solid meat course; it may be varied by substituting chops for the duckling and adding a course of frozen oranges and bananas in lemon ice.

August

Luncheons in this hot month should be served as in July, on the porch or out of doors if possible; if that is out of the question, at least the dining-room should be rather dark, and there should be some suggestion of coolness in the luncheon, either in the decoration or in the menu. During this month, when students are at home for their vacations, one may wish to give a college luncheon. Of course, if the guests are all of one mind and can unite in lauding the same Alma Mater, it is an easy thing to so decorate the table as to give unalloyed pleasure, but where two or more colleges are represented it is not so simple. To take some of the most prominent ones, let us have first

A YALE LUNCHEON

Have a large bowl of cornflowers in the centre of the table, and smaller bowls at either end, if the table is oblong; if round or square, have four of the smaller bowls around the central one. If the college men who are present are especially interested in athletics, or if there has been any important victory over some rival, it will be a delicate attention which will be appreciated by the guests if such a fact is remembered. If, for instance, Yale has just been victorious in baseball, decorate with bats, stacking them at intervals on the table; they may be purchased at toy shops in any desired size; those about four or five inches high are most easily grouped. The sandwiches may be tied with blue ribbons and the cards can have sketches of caps and gowns, or pipes, or trophies of some sort. The ices may be served in round boxes with covers on which is the college seal, and the outside may be covered with wide blue satin ribbon which will completely hide the cardboard. These can be either purchased or made at home, and they will serve as souvenirs. As the appetites of college men are proverbially vigorous, it will be wise to provide a substantial meal.

MENUIced MuskmelonCream of Carrot Soup. Whipped CreamCold Lobster Halved. MayonnaiseSpanish OmeletteFried Chicken. Cauliflower au Gratin. Potato CroquettesGrape SherbetBanana Salad. Nasturtium SandwichesMousse. CakesCoffee

The Spanish omelette is made by stewing tomatoes, green peppers, and onion, all cut in bits, until they are quite thick; then an omelette is made and this mixture is folded in; it is very appetising, and men are sure to like it. The cauliflower is cooked, broken into small pieces, put in paper cases or in one large dish, seasoned well, and grated cheese and cream sauce are put in layers through it, the cheese on top, and the whole is browned in the oven. The sherbet may be made of the juice of any grape that is obtainable, but it is very pretty to use Catawbas, and colour the ice slightly green; if it is desired that the sherbet should be darker, use bottled grape juice, adding a little lemon to bring out the flavour. It should be served in sherbet cups with a spray of grape leaves under each on the plate.

The salad is made by removing a strip of skin from each banana, scooping out the fruit, cutting it in pieces, adding as much celery or apple and half as much of cut up English walnut meats which have been blanched, and covering the whole with French dressing, and returning to the skins, heaping it a little in them. Put one of these on a leaf of lettuce for each person; nasturtium sandwiches are pretty on a plate decorated with their own blossoms.

If the boxes are used for the cream it must not be coloured, and a plain mousse may be better than anything else; if the boxes are not used, the mousse may be flavoured with pistache, coloured green and served on a bed of whipped cream, with chopped angelia or pistache nuts scattered over it. For a

HARVARD LUNCHEON

lay broad crimson satin ribbons across the table at right angles, and then lay the table with doilies over the ribbon as if there were none there. Have a bowl of American Beauty roses in the centre, or put the flowers in a fancy basket. Or, if it should happen that the men present are especially happy over some rowing victory, put the roses in a long narrow boat in the centre, and have oars stacked at intervals on the table. Use the same menu as for the Yale luncheon. For a

PRINCETON LUNCHEON

use quantities of the yellow, black-eyed daisies which are common in our fields. A large football might stand in the centre of the table, open at the top, with the daisies filling it, and shallow bowls of them may stand on the table. The bonbon dishes may be filled with yellow and chocolate bonbons, and the same sort of cards used as were suggested for the Yale luncheon, unless sketches of Princeton buildings are preferred.

If the guests are from several colleges, the best plan is to have no distinctively college colours on the table, but to confine one's self to the use of athletic symbols for decoration which are common to all. Golden-rod might be in a row-boat, for instance, and oars, base balls, bats, and footballs used as favours. For a hot-weather luncheon, nothing makes a prettier table than a quantity of pond lilies, used in some simple way. As they are common in August, you might give