By a happy omen our year begins with a gala day; time was when the very mention of New Year's Day brought to our minds the thought of confusion and fatigue, but all that is past; nowadays we observe the incoming of the year with quiet entertaining of our friends with small receptions, family dinner-parties, and luncheons, more or less elaborate. It is not necessary, however, that all New Year luncheons should come on the very day itself, for one can have all the essential features at a meal given during the first half of the month. But whenever it comes, it should be a scarlet luncheon as far as the decorations are concerned, for January days are sure to be gloomy. For a large company a beautiful table can be arranged with a central mass of poinsettias in a gilded basket, scarlet candles, and something scarlet in the menu, just enough to emphasize the idea of the luncheon. If the table is a small one and the poinsettias are too large to be effective, have a bowl of scarlet carnations with asparagus ferns, or put the flowers in a mound of moss. If you have silver candlesticks,—and they are the prettiest of all,—you can group them in twos, provided they are not too large, putting them at either end of an oblong table, or having three pairs if the table is round. It is always in keeping on a dark day to have the candles unshaded, the glow reflected on the polished surfaces giving a peculiarly brilliant and cosy effect; if shades are preferred, of course they should be scarlet, like the candles. Put a quantity of small dishes about, containing olives, salted almonds, candied ginger or fruits, and bonbons; they are not only useful, but help to decorate the table. Use doilies in preference to a cloth, and a centrepiece of lace, or embroidered linen and lace.
TABLE SET FOR A JANUARY LUNCHEON. TABLE SET FOR A JANUARY LUNCHEON.
The obvious thing in the way of a guest card is a calendar, in some form; if you sketch you can make one that is prettier and more characteristic than one that is purchased. A tiny calendar may be mounted on a square of cardboard with a small snow scene in the background, or a picture of Father Time may be placed above a quotation; or there may be an outline of an hour-glass above the calendar and the guest's name and the date of the luncheon below.
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Oyster Cocktail.
Green Pea Bisque. Croutons.
Creamed Fish in Cucumbers.
Quail on Fried Mush. Currant Jelly.
Potato Puff. French Peas. Hot Rolls.
Tomato Jelly in Forms. Mayonnaise.
Pim-olas. Cheese Straws.
Snowball Ices. Snowball Cakes.
Coffee. Bonbons.
For the cocktail, select small oysters and pour over them a dressing made by mixing two teaspoonfuls of horse-radish with the juice of two lemons, two teaspoonfuls of tomato catsup and one of Tabasco sauce. This rule makes enough for five persons. Put eight oysters in a tall, shallow glass and cover with this dressing and put on the ice long enough to thoroughly chill them. The cocktail is also prettily served in ice-shells which are to be had of the caterer, or one can make them at home by piling up small, scalloped tins half filled with water and freezing; the tins will separate readily when they are slightly warmed.
If one lives where cucumbers are procurable in January, a delicious dish is made by cutting off a slice from each cucumber, scooping out the inside, heating them, filling with a thick creamed fish, replacing the slice and serving hot. The combination of the fish and cucumber flavours is delightful. If one is away from the city markets, however, have a course of lobster cutlets with sauce tartare in the place of this. The salad is one of the best and most attractive for a winter's day. It is made by heating, seasoning, and straining the thick part of canned tomatoes and setting them with gelatine in small individual moulds,—little rings are pretty,—and when they are firm turning them out on the inner leaves of lettuce; the inside of such a circle is to be filled with mayonnaise, or, if the jelly is in mounds, the mayonnaise is to be heaped around each and the whole sprinkled with chopped parsley.
The ice cream can be furnished by the caterer in the form of perfect snowballs, which are attractive on a winter's day, especially with the cakes, but if they are not to be had a white cream served with maraschino cherries is delicious. The cakes are made by scooping out rounded spoonfuls from a large angels' food and dipping them first in warm, boiled frosting and then rolling them in grated cocoanut. No sherbet is suggested for this luncheon, as one cold dish is enough for a January meal; still, if you wish to make it rather more elaborate you can introduce a course of orange ice or Roman punch after the quail; or you may make a formal luncheon of it by changing it in several ways.
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Oysters on the Half-Shell.
Green Pea Bisque. Croutons.
Lobster Cutlets. Sauce Tartare.
Slices of Turkey-Breast. Currant Jelly.
French Peas.
Pineapple Sherbet.
Quail on Toast. French Dressed Lettuce.
Snowball Ices. Snowball Cakes.
Coffee. Bonbons.
A MUSICAL LUNCHEON
The twenty-seventh of January is Mozart's birthday, and this anniversary gives opportunity for entertaining a group of friends who have musical tastes, or possibly a musical club. The guests might be asked to come at eleven o'clock, and a musicale might precede the luncheon.
Lay the table very much as for the New Year's day luncheon, with red flowers, candles, and other decoration, and if you wish to emphasise the national colours of Germany, Mozart's home, have red and chocolate bonbons on the table and give each guest a little knot of red and white carnations tied with black ribbons. For cards, go to the printer and have him strike off small cuts of Mozart's head on squares of cardboard; all printers have cuts of distinguished people, and they can be reproduced for about a dollar a dozen. Just under the cut draw in pen and ink a bar of music from one of the composer's works with his name attached in tiny letters.
MUSICAL LUNCHEON FAVOURS. MUSICAL LUNCHEON FAVOURS.
At each plate may be one of the ingenious favours to be had at the confectioner's in the shape of a violin, a small piano, a banjo, a harp, or a mandolin. The ices may also be in these same shapes.
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Grape Fruit.
Clam Broth with Strips of Toast.
Pigs in Blankets.
Veal Cutlets, Breaded.
Sweet Potato Croquettes. Asparagus Tips.
Hot Rolls.
Cream Cheese Salad. Nut Sandwiches.
Ice Cream in Forms. Cakes.
Coffee. Bonbons.
The pigs in blankets are made by seasoning large oysters and folding each one in a very thin strip of bacon, pinning it with a small toothpick and browning in the frying-pan. The cutlets are to be cut in strips the size and shape of croquettes, breaded and fried. The asparagus served with this is, of course, canned. The salad is made by adding a little olive oil or cream to cream cheese, colouring it green with fruit colouring and moulding into balls the size of a hickory nut. These are to be laid on lettuce and a spoonful of mayonnaise added. A pretty change from the ordinary mayonnaise may be used with these green balls: a tablespoonful of unsweetened, condensed milk is used in place of the yolk of an egg; it is beaten, the oil and vinegar or lemon juice and seasoning added exactly in the same order and proportion as is usual; the result will be a stiff, foamy white mayonnaise. The sandwiches to serve with this salad are made of chopped English walnuts spread on bread and butter with just enough mayonnaise to moisten them.
A JAPANESE LUNCHEON FOR CHILDREN
Nothing could give children greater pleasure than a luncheon given for them, especially a Japanese luncheon, which affords opportunity for odd and pretty decorations. The dining-room should be darkened and wires drawn across from side to side, fastened to the picture moulding; from these may be hung a dozen or more very small paper lanterns, some over the table and others about the room. In the centre of the table may stand two good-sized Japanese dolls, back to back, with a Japanese umbrella over them. Instead of the usual doilies or table-cloth, the table may be spread with delicate white Japanese paper napkins with lace borders, and about it may be scattered small metal trays, purchased at a curio shop, filled with candied ginger, candied orange peel, Japanese nuts, and various oriental sweets. At each plate may be a little lacquer box filled with candy, and the ice cream may be either in the forms of Japanese children or else a plain cream served in small scarlet tea boxes to be had also at the Japanese stores. The china used for this luncheon might be Japanese, to keep everything in harmony.
The menu for a children's luncheon should be a very simple one if the children are young; in this one the salad may be omitted if it is thought best.
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Cream of Celery Soup.
Scalloped Fish in Shells.
Stewed Chicken. Potatoes. Peas.
Bread and Butter Sandwiches.
Celery Salad. Crackers.
Ice Cream. Cakes. Cocoa.
Japanese Nuts.
This Japanese luncheon is quite pretty enough for children of a larger growth. With a more elaborate menu, decorations of artificial camellias or peach blossoms, and if it is desired to have it really oriental, Japanese costumes for both hostess and guests, it might be easily carried out very attractively. A menu which would suggest Japanese cooking without actually following it might be something like this:—
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Brown Soup with Forcemeat Balls.
Fish, Baked in Shells with Chopped Pickle over it.
Chicken and Rice Stewed with Curry.
Devilled Eggs on Lettuce. Mayonnaise.
Ice Cream in Japanese Boxes.
Tea. Candied Ginger. Japanese Nuts.
Another luncheon which small children would enjoy hugely would be one in which everything suggested their friend Alice of Wonderland. The table should be laid as for an ordinary luncheon, and in the centre should be a mass of green with the hero of the book, the White Rabbit himself, standing erect in the middle, dressed as in the familiar frontispiece, in a plaid coat and waistcoat, holding a watch. Each child should have a card with its name and a sketch of one of the familiar characters in the story, such as the Mock Turtle, the Dormouse, the March Hare, the White Queen or Humpty Dumpty, with one of their famous sayings written beneath. All the candies on the table should be in the shapes of animals; animal crackers should be served with the cocoa, and if possible the ice cream should be in the shape of white rabbits.
Children's luncheons depend for their success, not so much on an elaborate menu or handsome decoration of flowers, as on small, ingenious devices which appeal to them. Anything which seems to their unsophisticated souls novel or beautiful will give infinite pleasure and will never be forgotten. Such a decoration as was used for a dinner-party at the White House not many years ago might well be reproduced for a child's luncheon with the assurance that it would be a great success.
A long, narrow pan of water stood on an oblong table, the outside completely hidden by small, growing ferns, planted in moss. In the centre of the pan was a miniature rockery, a pile of stones the size of one's fist, with these same ferns planted in all the crevices. But the charming thing was a little flock of china ducks, geese, swans, and tiny yellow goslings which floated on the surface of this small lake, moving somewhat as the table was stirred more or less by the restless guests. This arrangement for a children's party would be irresistible.
