MENU - Gala-Day Luncheons: A Little Book of Suggestions - 34

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.

ICES SERVED IN DRUMS.

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.