Gala-Day Luncheons: A Little Book of Suggestions - Caroline French Benton

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.

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