With March comes a lull in the social world. Lent holds sway, whether one professes to observe it or not. Dinners, receptions, dances, are all postponed for a time, and quiet teas and luncheons are the accepted forms of entertaining. A Lenten luncheon gives opportunity for a meal without meat, one which may be a pleasant change from the usual menu, and still will not suggest a fast.
A LENTEN LUNCHEON
For this no colour is so appropriate as violet, and luckily this is the month when the flower itself appears most plentifully in market. In arranging the table it may be well to depart for once from the rule of having all the linen in white, and use any violet-embroidered pieces you happen to have. Such a centrepiece is especially pretty, under the real flowers, and violet and white china, if you have it, will make an attractive table. In the centre have a basket of rough green straw tied with ribbons of violet, and filled with a mass of the flowers arranged to look like one large, loose bunch, but really in a quantity of small bunches which are to be given to the guests as they leave the table at the close of the meal, unless you prefer to have a knot of the flowers at each place, tied with narrow ribbons. This giving of individual bunches of flowers at the beginning of the meal, although always a graceful and pretty custom, is not seen just now as much as formerly.
If you use candles, have them of violet, with plain violet shades edged with the flowers sewed to the paper or silk foundation; or else have plain shades of heavy paper painted with wreaths of the flowers. Your cards may match these, being squares of cardboard almost covered with a wreath of violets, with a bowknot painted on it, and the name of the guest written across the flowers. Your bonbon dishes may be filled with candied violets and other violet-tinted sweets.
MENU
Oysters on the Half-Shell.
Bouillon.
Halibut Timbales with Lobster Sauce.
Salmon Croquettes with Peas.
Shad with Roe. New Potatoes. Cucumbers.
Violet Cabbage Salad.
Brown Bread and Butter. Olives.
Violet Ice Cream. Cakes.
Coffee. Bonbons.
If shad is not in market as yet, though it should be in March, use any broiled fish; if white fish is obtainable, nothing is nicer, especially if it is planked. The salad is an odd one; a head of purple cabbage is taken, the leaves turned back and the centre cut out; a white cabbage is shredded and mixed with as much shredded celery and stiff mayonnaise, and this is put into the purple cabbage head, and it is passed on a round platter to the guests.
The ice cream is a plain one coloured violet with fruit colour; it is put in a circular border mould and turned when firm out on a bed of whipped cream; the centre of the mould is heaped with this same whipped cream, and over the whole a quantity of candied violets is sprinkled. On the edge of the platter a wreath of natural violets is arranged with their leaves, making a really beautiful dish. If this seems too elaborate, or if the flowers are not abundant, fill meringue shells with the violet cream and tie two together with narrow violet ribbon and lay on rounds of lace paper on each plate; the cream should rather more than fill the shells.
If you prefer a menu with less fish and some meat, this would do:—
MENU
Oranges.
Bisque of Oyster Soup.
Halibut Timbales with Shrimp Sauce.
Chicken and Pim-olas in Cases.
Sliced Breast of Duck. Currant Jelly.
Potato Roses.
Apricot Sherbet.
Sardine Salad. Mayonnaise.
Violet Ice Cream. Cakes.
Coffee. Bonbons.
The oranges are to be prepared as was the grape fruit; that is, the pulp is loosened from the sides after a thick slice has been cut from the top, the core is taken out, and powdered sugar and sherry, if you use it, put in. The creamed chicken has chopped pim-olas added to it to give a delicious flavour. The salad is an aspic with one sardine embedded in each small mould. The potato roses are made by pressing mashed potato through a tube in spirals, and browning in the oven.
Sometimes one is moved to give a luncheon "Just for fun," on some gala day which suggests that informality will be in keeping with its atmosphere. Of course one invites to such a meal only such of one's friends as will appreciate the spirit in which the luncheon is given; nothing is more discouraging than to have one's little jokes fall flat, as they are sure to, unless all are in sympathy.
A ST. PATRICK'S DAY LUNCHEON
requires kindred spirits to really enjoy it.
FOR A ST. PATRICK'S DAY LUNCHEON. FOR A ST. PATRICK'S DAY LUNCHEON.
POTATO BONBON. POTATO BONBON.
Of course the meal should be carried out in green, Ireland's colour, and potato salad should be one of the distinctive Irish dishes. Have a white and green centrepiece, and if you have any green and white china have it conspicuously used, and for decoration get from the florist a wire harp, typical of that which "Once thro' Tara's halls," and cover its frame and strings with delicate green vines, letting their ends trail on the table. Stand small green flags among your candies and olives, and have pistache nuts among the salted almonds. If you use candles, have them green with their shades decorated in shamrock, which is like a small clover. For cards use the same thing, painted in little bunches tied with ribbon, or have a sketch of a typical Irish peasant, or of a tiny white-washed cottage with vines as one sees so many in Ireland. Under the name of the guest put a quotation from Moore, the poet of the country, the more familiar the better. Have your bonbons in the form of small potatoes, or else give each person one of the bonbon boxes which look exactly like large Irish potatoes, and fill it with green candies.
MENU
Grape Fruit.
Cream of Green Pea Soup.
Shad Roe with Sauce Tartare.
Chops, with Peas and Bermuda Potatoes.
Lemon Sherbet in Lemon Baskets.
Potato Salad. Lettuce Sandwiches.
Pistache Ice Cream. Cakes.
Coffee.
There is just enough green about this meal to suggest the day, without trying to have the whole in the colour, a thing seldom seen now, though not long ago it was thought a very pretty fancy.
This potato salad is a very delicious one, not to be despised because of its plebeian name. It is made by mixing equal parts of cold boiled potatoes cut into cubes with olives in rather large bits and blanched English walnuts, the whole covered with a stiff mayonnaise. The sandwiches passed with this are made by spreading thin slices of bread and butter with leaves of lettuce and mayonnaise, rolling them and tying with a narrow green ribbon.
The ice cream may be either a melon mould of French cream covered with a thick layer of pistache, or else a brick of the pistache with a centre of lemon ice. The little cakes should be iced with green.
QUOTATIONS FROM MOORE
"When friends are nearest, when joys are dearest, oh, then remember me."
"Here still is the smile that no cloud can o'ercast,
And a heart and a hand all thine own to the last."
"You may break, you may shatter the vase if you will,
But the scent of the roses will hang round it still."
"Oh, there are looks and tones that dart
An instant sunshine through the heart."
"There's nothing half so sweet in life as love's young dream."
A CHRISTENING LUNCHEON
The day that the baby is christened is surely a gala day, and one that admits a very dainty and beautiful luncheon after the service. Of course the colour of the decorations, whether in the parlours or the dining-room, should be white, and the flowers should be the delicate ones suggestive of childhood, such as white violets, Roman hyacinths, lilies of the valley, and daisies; these should be mingled with asparagus fern and other airy green, and used as lavishly as one's purse will permit. On the table spread for the luncheon there should be only white decorations. For this occasion it is more appropriate to use a cloth of plain damask or heavy linen and lace rather than the usual doilies, the centrepiece being of lace. If candles are used, they should be white with shades of silver; the appointments of the table should be, as far as possible, of glass, and all the bonbons and other decoration of white, such as candy baskets filled with crystallised fruits.
The centrepiece may be a wicker cradle painted white and tied with white ribbons, filled with delicate flowers and asparagus ferns, and the ices may be in cradle shape also.
MENU
Cream of Corn Soup.
Timbale of Halibut in Melon Shape.
Lobster Sauce.
Chicken Breasts with Celery Sauce.
Potato Balls.
Orange Sherbet.
Sweetbreads in Aspic with White Mayonnaise.
Ices in Forms. Angels' Food.
Coffee with Whipped Cream.
The fish is prepared by putting a pound and a half of boiled halibut through a sieve, adding a teacup of whipped cream, seasoning, and the whites of five eggs well beaten; the whole is put in a buttered mould and steamed for half an hour, turned out on a round platter with the lobster sauce around it, and passed. The sauce for the chicken is made by pressing stewed celery through a sieve, adding seasoning and thickening. Stewed celery may be served with the chicken in place of this sauce.
The sweetbreads are cleaned, blanched by throwing in cold water when taken from that in which they have been boiled, and cut in bits; they are then seasoned and put in small moulds and aspic, or melted beef extract, and dissolved gelatine is poured over them. When they are served they are put on lettuce leaves and a white mayonnaise is put by the side of each.
The cream may be in the form of cradles, as has been suggested, or a white cream may be served in spun sugar cases, or, if neither of these is to be had, a plain cream may be served in slices with whipped cream around each. The cake should be passed in a large iced loaf, and the coffee should have a spoonful of whipped cream on top.
With the last course a large silver tray may be carried around the table with a mass of white roses and asparagus fern on it, which proves to separate readily into individual roses, each one holding a tiny card bearing the name of the newly named baby, which the guests will doubtless like to preserve as souvenirs of the day.
To alter this menu a trifle for those who do not fancy a sherbet and a cream in the same luncheon, have for dessert small moulds of whipped cream set with gelatine, filled with chopped almonds and flavoured with sherry; serve a spoonful of whipped cream with each. This is a good dish and one that is easily prepared, and may be substituted in any luncheon for the suggested cream when that is not just what is wanted.
