Gala-Day Luncheons: A Little Book of Suggestions

October

One of the oddest of luncheons may be given in October on the tin-wedding anniversary, for as this is a favourite month for weddings, anniversaries are sure to be frequent among one's friends; the bride of a decade ago may gather her former bridesmaids for a luncheon served with reminiscences, or a bridesmaid may entertain the group, or possibly a number of October brides of ten years' standing may gather to celebrate on one day the anniversaries scattered through the month.

A TIN-WEDDING LUNCHEON

FOR A TIN-WEDDING LUNCHEON. FOR A TIN-WEDDING LUNCHEON.

Lay the table in pink; have a lace centrepiece over silk, a tin quart measure in the middle filled with pink bridesmaid's roses, and pink candles with pink rose shades, if the day is dark. Use small tin plates for the bread and butter, and put the bonbons, almonds, radishes, and candied ginger in little scalloped tins. A souvenir spoon may be given each guest,—of tin, of course,—tied with a white ribbon, with the name of some city the bride did not visit on her wedding trip painted in white letters in the bowl; one is supposed to believe that these spoons were purchased at Copenhagen, Constantinople, and Moscow with a view to this occasion. Or, if souvenir spoons seem altogether out of date, though really they would have been quite the thing ten years ago, and are therefore no anachronism, give the guests some small tin utensil such as an apple-corer, or a nutmeg-grater. Serve everything in tin; the bouillon in small cups with handles, the sherbet in scalloped tins, the fish, salad, and ice cream on tin plates of medium size, and the chicken on larger ones. The coffee may be in tin timbale moulds. If you use candles, put them in ordinary tin candlesticks.

To prepare curried eggs, boil as many as are needed until hard, peel, and put them in a ring of boiled rice which has been turned out of a border mould; this rice should be well seasoned with a little chopped parsley mixed with it. Over all should be poured a white sauce flavoured with curry powder, and on the top should be sprinkled grated Parmesan cheese, and the whole lightly browned in the oven.

The Italian chestnuts served with the chicken are to be boiled until the shells can be removed, and then stewed gently in cream until they are tender; the inner skin is not to be removed, as this gives the chestnuts a purple colour and serves to keep them in shape.

The salad is made of the largest plums to be found; they are to be peeled, halved, and laid on lettuce with either French dressing or mayonnaise.

The ice cream is a rich vanilla cream made with the yolks of the eggs; it is served in a very large sunshine cake,—that is, an angels' food with the yolks of the eggs added,—which has been turned upside down and had the entire centre cut out, leaving only a ring of the cake. The cream is put in this in large rounded spoonfuls, and a slice of the cake is cut and served with each. If any of the wedding cake has been kept, some other cream may be used for the luncheon, and the cake, cut in small pieces, passed with it.

HALLOWE'EN LUNCHEON

This luncheon should be carried out in yellow and brown, and if one can have autumn leaves for decoration she will feel that she has the really appropriate thing; still, if these are not to be had, or if the colours have vanished from them, there are other things which will do almost as well. A pumpkin might serve as a centrepiece, with the top off and the centre cut out, filled either with fruit or chestnuts or chrysanthemums, or the latter may be used alone in a tall vase. The little dishes on the table should hold chocolates and plenty of marrons, or candied chestnuts. Few persons know, until they have tried the experiment, how easily these latter dainties are prepared at home; after boiling, peeling, and simmering them in a thick syrup, they are rolled in sugar and laid on oiled paper; a simple way of making what is usually considered an expensive luxury.

Your guest cards should be decorated with sketches of witches or brownies, or lighted candles; or you may purchase some small souvenirs, such as stick-pins with witches, or silver crescents with figures with brooms seated at one end. Cards of burnt leather are also in keeping with the colours of the table and with the idea of the day.

Darken the room and light the gas, but turn it low; get some of the little bonbon boxes in the shape of oranges, or empty orange skins; through an opening at one end, cut eyes, nose, and mouth, as is done in making Jack o' lanterns, drop a little hot wax in the bottom of each, and put in a small lighted candle; the effect is decidedly quaint and pretty when the table is all lighted. If a supper is desired rather than a luncheon, these same suggestions will do for that, and if the menu is too long, the croquettes and sherbet may be omitted.

The sherbet is delicious, but rather troublesome to prepare. Small fruit is selected, the pulp removed in spoonfuls without the breaking the sections, and after sweetening well, it is packed in the freezer to stand four hours; meanwhile the skins of the fruit are cut in basket shapes, and when the luncheon is ready, the frozen fruit is heaped in these.

The salad is made by putting cooked sweetbreads in melted beef extract which has been seasoned and had sufficient gelatine added to set it; it is to be put in small moulds and turned out on lettuce with a spoonful of mayonnaise by each. If a simpler salad is wished, one that is surprisingly good is made by putting cold cooked string beans on lettuce, sprinkling with French dressing and serving with mayonnaise.

The wine jelly, while still warm, is to be poured over bits of candied fruit laid in a ring mould. When served, the centre is filled with whipped cream and candied fruit scattered over all.

AN AUTHORS' LUNCHEON

This luncheon is not intended to be eaten by authors, though they are not necessarily barred from participating in it, but it is arranged for some group of clever women who are sufficiently well read to enter into a guessing contest with interest in the books and authors named; or a girls' club may enjoy a trial of their literary knowledge. The luncheon is capable of infinite variation, and any one with a catalogue of books can alter it to suit the requirements of any especial occasion.

Cards should lie at each place with the menu written out as in the first one printed below, with the names of the authors omitted, and before each course, or while one is eaten the next dish is to be guessed, and the author named. A prize might be offered for the most numerous guesses which are correct. The hostess would do well to have the key to the menu by her plate.

The table decorations may be of an ordinary character, such as a bunch of roses in the middle, or a vase of asters or chrysanthemums, and the usual pretty doilies and odd dishes about, or, if laurel is to be had, either the flowers or the leaves may be used to suggest the crowning of genius.

1.	Toilers of the Sea. (Victor Hugo.)
2.	A Study in Scarlet. (Doyle.)
3.	The Water Babies. (Kingsley.)
4.	Between Whiles. (Helen Hunt Jackson.)
5.	The Lay of the Last Minstrel. (Scott.)
6.	A Dead Secret (Wilkie Collins); and Plain Tales from the Hills. (Kipling.)
7.	The Desert of Ice. (Jules Verne.)
8.	Leaves of Grass (Walt Whitman); and Unleavened Bread. (Grant.)
9.	The Snow Image. (Hawthorne.)
10.	Over the Teacups. (Holmes.)
11.	Opening of a Chestnut Burr. (Roe.)
12.	All's Well that Ends Well. (Shakespeare.)

The culinary key to the luncheon is this:—

1.	Oysters.
2.	Tomato Soup.
3.	Smelts with Sauce Tartare.
4.	Almonds. Radishes. Celery.
5.	Eggs in Ramekins.
6.	Chicken Chartreuse and Potatoes.
7.	Peach Sherbet.
8.	Shredded Lettuce and Crackers.
9.	Ice Cream in Forms.
10.	Tea.
11. and 12.	Marrons and Bonbons.

The eggs are prepared by cutting up those that have been hard boiled, seasoning them well, covering with white sauce, putting in individual baking dishes, covering with grated cheese, and browning. The chicken is minced, seasoned with salt, pepper, and a little sherry or stewed tomato, and put in a melon mould which has been buttered and lined with an inch thickness of boiled rice; then the mould is steamed for three quarters of an hour, and when done the whole is turned out on a round platter, and a tomato sauce is poured around it.

The salad is made by cutting a head of lettuce across with the scissors until leaves of grass result; mayonnaise is to be passed with this.

The ice cream is to be in forms of any sort, but the figure of a man is the most appropriate.

This luncheon may be changed from a gastronomic to a literary guessing game, either by furnishing the guests with a copy of the titles of the books without the authors, making them guess both the writer and the dish which is represented, or by furnishing the actual menu and asking the guests to give a title of a book which will suitably represent the course. In order to give opportunity for some choice in this luncheon, a slightly altered menu is also given:—

A TIN-WEDDING LUNCHEON

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HALLOWE'EN LUNCHEON

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AN AUTHORS' LUNCHEON

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