For the salpicon of fruit, make a foundation of three-quarter orange juice, one-quarter lemon juice, and powdered sugar to sweeten. Add sliced bananas and other fruit in season. Serve very cold in punch glasses. Serve the cream of celery in bouillon cups with whipped cream on top. The puff paste points and patty shells may be made of the same paste. Serve the fried chicken, vermicelli toast and potatoes on one plate. If very young spring chickens are used, cut in halves or quarters; larger chickens may be cut in smaller pieces. It is nice, only rather expensive, to use the breasts only, cut in two or three pieces. To make the vermicelli toast, cut the bread in rounds and toast it, cover with a rich, thick cream sauce, to which add the chopped whites of several eggs, and sprinkle thickly over all the yolks rubbed through a ricer. A pretty way of serving the Waldorf salad is in apple cups. Cut off the tops and hollow out some large red apples, fill with a mixture of the scraped apple, celery, nuts and mayonnaise, replace the top and insert a celery plume for the stem. Serve surrounded with hot buttered popcorn. A plain, but very elegant frozen pudding is easily made of whipped cream, sweetened and flavored. Pack in a mold in layers, dot each layer liberally with candied fruit, nuts and grated chocolate. Pack in ice and salt for at least four hours.
Of course these dishes can be varied to suit the season and the occasion. The main thing is to be prepared for your company by being at home yourself, and in this way you will make everybody else at home.
A Berry Luncheon.
For table decorations, ribbons and candle shades use crushed strawberry tints; flowers to correspond. Primroses in a pinky purple are good. Blossoms tied with white satin ribbon make pretty decorations.
Instead of an oyster course, have strawberries served European fashion, with their hulls on, sprinkled with powdered sugar. At the end of the meal serve strawberry shortcake, the real Southern article.
Fill the rolled French omlette with strawberry jam.
The bonbons are strawberries dipped in white fondant.
Midsummer Luncheon.
For a small luncheon have on the table four cut glass bowls filled with waterlilies, resting on the lily pads set on chop plates filled with water. In the center of the table three tall cathedral candles rising from a mass of asparagus fern. Have the bonbons in green and white and the pistachio nuts in bohemian glass bowls of pink, gold, violet and green. Make the place cards of waterlilies cut out of water-color paper and painted. The menu is red and white raspberries, iced clam bouillon, lamb chops, peas, potato roses, cucumber and nut salad served in green peppers cut to imitate lily buds, ice cream of pistachio and lemon ice molded in pond lily forms, cakes iced in green and white and coffee.