MISCELLANEOUS SUPPERS--CAMPING PARTIES AND CLAMBAKES--NUTTING
PARTY--HARVEST HOME SUPPER--AUTUMN SUPPERS--DICKENS SUPPER--BOSTON
SUPPER PARTY--YACHTING PARTY--A BUTTERFLY SUPPER--YOUNG MARRIED COUPLES
SUPPER--HEAD DRESS SUPPER PARTY--QUILTING SUPPER--WEDDING SUPPER--WAFFLE
SUPPER--THE BOHEMIAN PICNIC SUPPER--RAILROAD PARTY--LITERARY
SUPPER--PEANUT PARTY--FOLK LORE SUPPER--CAKE WALK SUPPER--BRIDGE WHIST
SUPPER--AFTER THEATRE MENUS--A COLD SUPPER MENU FOR HOT WEATHER.
Throughout this broad land of ours, thousands of campers will be folding
their white tents into compact rolls, tying gay blankets into portly
bundles, investing in mosquito netting and hammocks, packing into boxes
their cooking utensils and fishing tackle, and finally loading all into
boat or farmer's wagon, to gain health and happiness, and incidentally,
to have a royal good time.
Happy the camper who, taking hint from the big lumber camps, ties to his
wagon an iron bean pot, and has always on hand for hungry souls a mess
of delicious baked beans. Every well-regulated camp should have a
bean-hole dug close by the camp fire, and then when guests come out from
town, if the camp is near town, a bean bake enlivens things. The
bean-hole is dug three feet square and carefully lined with flat stones
or boulders, then it is filled with hard wood which makes fine coals.
The wood is fired and burned until there glows a bed of hot coals and
the stones are at white heat. A place is scooped out in the center for
the bean-pot, and it is placed in this little oven, the coals swept back
into place, the hot ashes added, and the hot earth around the fire put
over it all. Then, snugly tucked away in their bed so warm, the beans
are left alone for four and twenty hours. When taken out, steaming and
fragrant, they are perfect in form, brown and crisp, and of flavor so
delicious that the mouth waters at the mere recollection. This with
brown bread or cone pone, baked in the ashes, and good strong coffee,
makes a meal in itself, and if the beans are served hot, the hungry
campers feel they have had a feast fit for a king. Those who cling to
their bean-pots keep one mess of beans baking all the time and are never
without this dish. Even city folks have had royal good times at bean
bakes given at some home with large yard, and, with an addition to the
beans, salads, sandwiches, cakes, and other frills, generally scorned
and passed by for the delicious baked beans.
Naturally digging a hole in the ground and building a fire does not
constitute a dish of baked beans; among other things necessary might be
mentioned the beans themselves. These are soaked over night and then
placed in the iron pot; the best sort is the English kettle with three
iron legs and rounding bottom. Right in the center of the beans a place
should be made for the pork. The pork should be pickled pork of a
particular kind--fat on top, lean below and scored across the top. One
pound of pork to one pound of beans is the allowance. For flavoring use
one cookingspoonful of New Orleans molasses; one teaspoonful of mustard,
one teaspoonful of salt and one of pepper. Stir into the beans and fill
even to the top of the pork with water. Given twenty-four hours of slow
baking, with no chance for the moisture to escape, the result is an
ideal dish worth trying.
To the camper who comes in when the sun is tinging the western sky with
crimson, tired and hungry from carrying a gun or holding a fishing rod
all day, there is no dish so appreciated as chowder. This dish is easy
of preparation. Take peeled potatoes and parboil them, then add fresh
water, and put into the kettle the result of the day's chase. The little
birds found along the streams, like squabs and sandpipers, are fat and
give the chowder a fine flavor. In go the fish, squirrels and other
small game, the fish of course, being boned. Add green corn cut from the
cob, salt and pepper, and perhaps a little salt pork, though the little
birds furnish fat enough. Serve smoking hot and as you stretch your
tired limbs under the camp table, you will thank your stars that some
genius invented chowder.
The ideal way to cook fish in camp is to first clean the fish and then
stuff it, if one chooses (though he need not stuff the fish unless he
like) and then make a stiff mortar of clay and encase the fish. Lay it
on the coals and when the clay cracks and peels off the skin of the
fish comes off with it, leaving the pure sweet fresh meat, which retains
the juices and delicate aroma of the fish. This way of cooking fish
cannot be beaten. This is also a good way to cook corn. Just leave on
the husks and lay the ears on the coals and by the time the husks have
burned off the corn is cooked deliciously. In the regions where shad
abounds, there is nothing to be compared with planked shad, and this is
the most popular dish. The shad is fastened on an oak shingle and turned
before the fire until it is cooked, when it will be found that the fish
has absorbed the aroma of the wood and the result is a flavor that
delights epicures.
CLAM BAKE.
A clam-bake is a delight wherever and whenever partaken of, but when it
is prepared in the piney woods of Cape Cod by the inimitable skippers of
Buzzards Bay it is something that is not to be forgotten. It is a joy,
from the gathering of the first stone to the swallowing of the last
possible clam.
The skippers of Onset are particularly noted for their skill in making
clam-bakes.
First select the stones, (which must be about the size of large paving
blocks,) and arrange them in a circle. Then bring wood and chips and
brush and lay them in the center, and thoroughly pile on top other
blocks which have been collected.
The pile of stones and wood being completed, the next thing is to set
fire to it, and soon a merry blaze rises up, the flames licking around
the stones and forming a pretty picture.
The stones once hot enough the real work of the bake begins. The right
amount of heat has been obtained, a barrow load of rockweed is
brought--rockweed, not seaweed. As soon as the rockweed is thrown on the
red hot stones a salty, savory smelling steam begins to rise.
First and foremost come two great barrow loads of clams which are spread
on the steaming rockweed, then follow great piles of blue fish, each
fish being stuffed and wrapped in a piece of cheesecloth to prevent
coming into contact with the weed.
The blue fish is carefully placed on top of the clams and following that
is a heaping load of corn, with a few leaves left on each ear to protect
it from the weed. When the corn is piled high a barrow weighed down with
live lobsters is brought.
Be particular over the disposition of the lobsters. Each one is placed
with care and precision into the precise spot where it will do most
good.
A milk pail full of fresh eggs follows the lobsters and the whole mass
of food is buried in a stack of rockweed, and to complete the process a
sail and a tarpaulin are drawn over the top and battened all down so
that not a speck of steam can escape.
While the guests play games or stroll along the shore, the men heat big,
round stones in the oven. This is a deep hole lined with stones, and the
fire is built in the hole. When the fire dies down the stones are left
red hot. Then the chef places dozens of clams in their shells on the
hot rocks. Then a blue fish wrapped in cheesecloth and then half a dozen
chickens prepared for broiling and wrapped in a similar way are placed
in the hole. Next comes a peck of Irish potatoes with their jackets on,
and three dozen ears of sweet corn. Over it all is packed seaweed and
then heavy canvas, and then the guests sit patiently for three-quarters
of an hour until the steam has thoroughly cooked the supper. When it is
done it is fit for a king, and is served on a long table of boards, on
wooden platters, with big watermelons for dessert.
NUTTING PARTY.
A nutting party is particularly appropriate to be given during the fall
season.
The invitation may be written on paper, folded neatly and slipped inside
an English walnut shell--which is then glued together and sent in a
small box, labeled "A Nut to Crack."
Decorations should carry out, as far as possible, the effect of a
woodland scene. The walls may be entirely covered with branches of
autumn leaves, and mantels and over doorways banked with pine boughs and
greenery of all sorts. Rustic tables and chairs, if available, are most
appropriate, and lights shaded with red or yellow shades. As the guests
arrive, each should be given a peanut shell, glued together or tied with
ribbons. On a slip of paper inside is written the number of table and
partner. To indicate progressions, ribbons may be glued to nuts of
different kinds and one given for each game won. Or little baskets may
be given into which a nut is dropped for each game won. Or if tally
cards for finding partners are preferred, they may be painted to
represent nuts of different kinds, not more than two being alike.
The nutting game itself is played similarly to that well known
children's game, "jackstraws." On each table is placed a pair of bonbon
tongs--the kind that come in candy boxes are best--and a tall tumbler
heaped full of nuts--peanuts are best for the purpose--with one gilded
nut. For the first game, lady No. 1 at all the tables begins play and
after the first game the lady begins who lost in the game preceding. The
gentleman opposing the lady who begins play, carefully turns out on the
table the peanuts and the players proceed as in jackstraws, getting with
the tongs as many peanuts as possible, one at a time, without shaking
the others. The winners progress and change partners, after the bell
rings at the head table. At the head table, as at the other tables, the
winners progress and the losing lady remaining begins play for the next
game. At the head table each player has two chances at the peanuts and
then the bell is rung. The natural-color peanuts count one each and the
gilded one ten.
Suitable prizes are: For the ladies, a silver English walnut thimble
case; a linen centerpiece in chestnut design; a silver almond charm,
"Philopena," which opens with kernel inside; a silver English walnut,
exact size, which opens, containing powder puff, mirror, place for
miniature, small scent bottle and pin-cushion, "All in a Nut Shell"; a
real English walnut shell containing a fine lace-betrimmed
handkerchief, enclosed in a series of boxes, one fitting within the
other; a sterling silver almond set or almond scoop; a silver
vinaigrette in exact reproduction of a peanut. For the gentlemen, a
burnt wood nut bowl, with nut cracker and set of nut picks; a handsome
edition of E. P. Roe's "Opening of a Chestnut Burr;" a silver peanut
magic pencil, etc. The shops show big paper mache English walnuts,
peanuts and almonds, full of sweetmeats in imitation of the real nuts,
which make appropriate consolation prizes. French "surprise mottoes" in
the shape of walnuts, each containing a hat, make very amusing favors.
The refreshments may perfectly carry out the nutting idea:
_Peanut Sandwiches, Walnut Sandwiches,_
_Chicken and Nut Salad,_
_Salted Nuts,_
_Bisque of Almonds or Burnt Almond Ice Cream,_
_Cocoanut, Hickory Nut, or Pecan Cake,_
_Nut Bonbons, Festinos,_
_Cheese Balls with English Walnuts,_
_Coffee._
For the peanut sandwiches, use the ready-made peanut butter. For walnut
sandwiches, chop meats very fine, mix with mayonnaise and spread on
buttered bread. Serve salad on lettuce leaf, garnished with a few whole
nut meats. In salting mixed nuts, it is not considered necessary to
blanch any except almonds and peanuts. The bisque of almonds requires
one pound blanched almonds, one heaping cup of sugar and two pints of
cream. Pound almonds a few at a time, together with a little sugar and
rosewater, mix with cream and freeze. For burnt almond ice cream use one
quart of cream, one-half pound of sugar, four ounces of shelled almonds,
one teaspoon of caramel, one tablespoon of vanilla, 4 tablespoons of
sherry. Blanch and roast almonds, then pound in a mortar to a smooth
paste. Put one-half the cream and the sugar on to boil, stir until the
sugar is dissolved, then add the remaining pint of cream and the
almonds; stand away to cool; when cold, add the caramel, vanilla and
sherry. Freeze and pack. For the nut cake, use two pounds nuts cut fine,
eight eggs, one pound sugar, one pound flour, one teacup butter, two
heaping teaspoons baking powder, one cup milk, and juice of one lemon.
Mould the cheese balls round with the hands, and stick an English walnut
meat on either side.
HARVEST HOME SUPPER.
The rooms can be trimmed beautifully with corn, asparagus, hops,
Jack-o'lanterns, and so on. State in the invitations, which are to be
tied in corn husks with grass, that a hay-rack will call for the guests.
On each of the gate posts place huge Jack-o'lanterns. In fact, have
these for illumination wherever one can find places to put them. For
decoration use autumnal grasses, wheat, oats and corn, and festoon
strings of them wherever possible. Make a frieze around the room of ears
of corn from which the husks are pulled apart. This will form a festoon
from which will hang down like tassels, the ears of white and yellow
corn, and if one can find a few red ears so much the better.
Bank the fire-place and corners with boughs of autumn leaves, and
festoon them in garlands wherever there is a vacant place. Scrub the
bare floors well, put a little wax on them, and engage one or two
musicians to dispense old time melodies.
Carry out the Harvest Home idea in the dining-room. Have most of the
decorations, fruits and garlands with graceful sprays of the Virginia
creeper in the glory of its autumnal colors, festooned from doors to
windows and back again, and have the table decorations the same. Serve
the guests sitting around the room, with delicious turkey, ham, bread,
sweet and sour pickles, doughnuts, cider, etc. By all means have pumpkin
pie, which would be so much in keeping with the occasion.
AN AUTUMN SUPPER.
Just before closing your cottage for the season, send out invitations to
friends, asking them to spend an evening with you at your home. The
invitations may be written upon scarlet maple leaves. When the evening
for entertaining arrives the cottage should reflect the glory of the
woods. Boughs and branches of silver and sugar maples decorate the hall,
"den," dining room and kitchen, and berries, vines and burrs fill jars,
vases and cornucopias of birch bark. In the rough stone fire-places, log
fires burn. The guests go to the kitchen to make maple sugar creams, and
while the candy is hardening, games are played and stories told. Each
guest, blindfolded, must draw the outline of a maple leaf. Next, leaf
shaped cards are distributed with the names of different trees written
upon them, acrostically arranged. A nut race closes the games, and the
prizes are then awarded. Then the company may gather around the fire.
Bundles of lichen covered twigs, of pine cones and of twisted tree roots
are selected according to individual fancy and put on the fire, each
person telling a story, original or otherwise, until his bundle is
burned away; the changing shapes in the fire suggesting many quaint
fancies.
For table decorations have a garland of leaves encircle the polished top
just outside the plates. A large wreath and a low bowl of nut burrs and
sprays of bright leaves and berries make a gorgeous centerpiece. Have
smaller wreaths around the bonbon and nut dishes, and mats of leaves
laid under the plates and dishes and used for doilies under the finger
bowls. A birch bark cornucopia of maple sugar candy and a droll little
nut Indian clad in a scarlet blanket by each plate make pretty souvenirs
of the feast. Leaves can be pasted on the candle shades which are made
of stiff-buff paper:
_Roasted Quail on Toast,_
_Strawed Potatoes,_
_Salad Sandwiches, Maple Layer Cake,_
_Waffles,_
_Nuts, Coffee._
WHEN THE FROST IS ON THE PUMPKIN.
The hostess who wants to provide a simple, and at the same time a novel
entertainment for her friends should call to her aid the glossy, orange
coated pumpkins. With pumpkins for the motif, so to speak, an evening
full of fun may be enjoyed. Decorate square white cards with a huge
pumpkin; one who cannot draw can cut a very presentable looking pumpkin
from orange paper and paste it on the cards. Then write on each: The
Mighty Mammoth Pumpkin will be on exhibition at Mrs. Blanks, from 7 to
11 p. m., next Thursday night. You are cordially invited to come and
guess its weight. Get the largest pumpkin you can find and a goodly
collection of shapely, medium-sized ones. Make a record of the weight,
the length, and the girth of the big pumpkin, then carefully cut open
lengthwise and scoop out, and if trouble is no object count the seeds.
Fill the pumpkin with sawdust and bury in it the souvenirs, simple
little trifles, orange hued penwipers, needlebooks, pincushions, etc.
Wrap them up in paper and bury them deep. Set the pumpkin on a mat of
leaves on a small table and label "Hands Off." Each guest is given a
card with a pencil attached to record his guesses. Little leather
covered inkstands, the exact counterpart of tiny pumpkins, and pumpkin
paper weights equally as natural in appearance are appropriate for the
head prizes, while pumpkin emery bags and pumpkin-shaped blotters will
please the winners of the boobies. The rest of the evening may be spent
in carving Jack o' Lanterns from, small pumpkins. The guests may be
required to write a recipe for pumpkin pie which will bring forth some
wonderful flights of fancy. Decorate the rooms with pumpkin vases filled
with chrysanthemums and have a bowl of orange fruit cup set inside of a
large pumpkin for the guests' refreshment during the evening. In
setting the table have a pumpkin vase of ferns and yellow and white
chrysanthemums for the centerpiece. The supper is served from pumpkin
dishes. Select round, deep pumpkins with a stem, choosing those of a
pretty color and shape. Saw off the tops even, so they may be put back
on the pumpkins as lids, scoop out and line with parchment paper. As
this supper is very informal, sandwiches with various fillings, a rich
chicken salad made with walnut meats and chopped celery, cheese and
bread sticks and coffee may form the substantial part. Stuffed figs and
dates, bonbons and macaroons are served for the sweet course and an
orange ice or snow pudding in little pumpkin paper cases.
A DICKENS' SUPPER.
A happy selection of time for a Dickens party is the Christmas season,
which is so peculiarly connected with so many of Dickens' writings.
Have the rooms brilliantly lighted, and the bright berries of the
Christmas holly against a background of the "ivy green" which Dickens
loved. The hostess might dress in a handsome costume of the time of
Edith Dombey.
The guests can each represent some character of Dickens.
Betsy Trotwood, tall and rigid in stiff gown and tight cap.
Dora, young and blonde, with infantile manner.
Peggotty, buxom and tightly compressed into her gown.
Dick Swiveller and the marchioness.
Mrs. Tizziwig, "one vast substantial smile."
Madame Defarge, stolid and plying her ceaseless knitting.
Joey B., with his swagger, "Sly sir; devilish sly."
Mr. Micawber, bland and portly.
Little Nell and her grandfather, and so on with the characters which
Dickens has made living creatures indeed. Gathered in the reception
rooms the group will make a quaint, lovely picture to the entering
guest. When all the guests have arrived cards are distributed, on each
of which is a water colored sketch of some of Dickens' characters. An
English walnut shell tied with pink ribbon and attached to the corner of
the card holds a quotation from Dickens, and beneath this nut is the
pertinent quotation, "The Dickens to crack." A prize can be awarded to
the one answering most correctly from which books the different
quotations were taken.
Some of the pathetic scenes from Dombey and Son can be read by some one
whose musical voice and gentle face, as well as intelligent reading,
make this part especially effective. The hostess can read an extract
from verses headed "The Christmas Carol" in Pickwick Papers.
"My song I troll out, for Xmas stout
The hearty, the true and the bold;
A bumper I drain and with might and main
Give three cheers for this Christmas old!
We'll usher him in with a merry din,
That shall gladden his joyous heart,
And we'll keep him up while there's bite or sup,
And in fellowship good we'll part."
Pass around small glasses of egg-nog and have toasts of Christmas cheer.
For refreshments have delicious oyster and mushroom cream soup, cold
wild duck, jelly and celery. A frozen salad after this; it is made of
tomatoes (canned) cooked a little, strained, and when cold mixed with a
thin mayonnaise, then frozen, making a delight for the palate. The ice
is a lemon ice frozen in individual molds very hard and covered with a
hot chocolate sauce, making a most delicious blending of hot and cold,
sweet and sour. A tiny glass of cordial completes the repast.
For the prize for the quotations have a handsome copy of Christmas
Stories tied with red ribbons and ornamented with a bunch of holly. For
the booby prize have a bag of the buttons Peggotty burst from her gown
when an exuberance of emotion filled her breast.
A BOSTON SUPPER PARTY.
When the guests assemble put them in charge of a man with a megaphone
and start them through the rooms on a "Seeing Boston" tour. Have fake
tablets and different objects to represent the places of interest. These
objects could be numbered and turn the "Seeing Boston" into a guessing
contest. Give each guest a note book and pencil to enter the correct
name opposite the correct number. This can include side trips to
Lexington, Concord, Bedford, etc.
Take the folders and circulars of a trip through Boston, cut out the
tiny pictures, mount on grey paper, letter with white ink and give them
as souvenirs. Or remove all lettering and use these pictures as a
contest, asking the guests to name the pictures correctly. For amusement
have "Paul Revere's Ride" acted in pantomine, or charades on the
different names. For supper serve pork and baked beans, Boston brown
bread, pie, tea, etc. Tiny earthen bean-pots, spectacles, handbags,
imitation folders--any of these things would do for souvenirs.
A YACHTING PARTY.
Have a large room fitted up as the deck and after deck of a steam yacht.
To reach the room have the guests climb through a hatchway. Steamer
chairs and nautical paraphernalia fill the deck and a dozen life
preservers hang conveniently near. Have all the necessary rigging and a
flag pole floating the yacht flag. The host and his guests should wear
yachting costumes and the souvenirs be tiny red and green lanterns for
the men and yacht stickpins for the girls. The menu cards are decorated
with the insignia of the yacht and couched in nautical terms. Serve the
following menu:
_Oysters in Block of Ice_
_Celery, Stuffed Olives, Salted Wafers_
_Rum Omelet_
_Cold Ham, Cold Tongue, Olives_
_Pate de fois gras Sandwiches, Rare Beef Sandwiches_
_Roquefort Cheese, Hard Crackers_
_Grape Fruit Salad_
_Coffee_
A BUTTERFLY SUPPER.
Under the chandeliers, in corners and doorways, have butterflies
fluttering from invisible silver wires. These butterflies are made from
delicate hued crepe paper, their wings marked with rings of ruby, green,
blue, gold and silver. Each guest is offered a butterfly on entering the
drawing room; the men wearing them as boutonniers, the women putting
them in their hair.
The host fastens a large paper butterfly, minus one wing and the
antennae, to a curtain hung across a window. Each guest, in turn,
blindfolded, tests his idea of distance in trying to pin the wing and
antennae on the butterfly. A set of six paper butterfly princess lamp
shades is the woman's head prize. A butterfly whisk holder, containing a
silver handled brush, is given the equally lucky man. The "boobies" are
a miniature lantern and a toy spy-glass.
In the dining room this supper is served. First a fruit drink, lemonade
or grape juice. On the plate on which the glass cup rests have a small
bunch of purple grapes. Decorate fish plates with lemon baskets holding
the sauce tartare. With broiled chops serve stuffed tomatoes and corn
pudding moulded in cups with white sauce flavored with onion. Serve
raspberry ice. For salad serve pears and German cherries sweetened. For
dessert serve the nutmeg muskmelons filled with ice cream or ice.
Have a tin-smith make a butterfly shaped cake cutter, four inches across
the wings. Bake these cakes in a quick oven, ice them white, pink and
green and then mark with rings of a contrasting color of icing.
The centre scarf and doilies, of fine white linen, for the dining table,
have a cut-out butterfly border worked with white silk and gold thread.
A fairy rose-tree, trained on a bamboo trellis, the pot dressed in
skirts of white and green paper and sash of satin ribbon, makes a most
effective centre piece. Paper butterflies shade the candles, and a crepe
paper covered box of bonbons, with a butterfly hovering over the top,
stands beside each plate. Decorate the name cards with sketches of
butterflies.
YOUNG MARRIED COUPLES' SUPPER.
For the young married couples' supper carry out the heart-shape idea.
Outline large heart in smilax on the table. Have the smilax at least
three inches wide. Dot it with clusters of roses, lilies of the valley
or any preferred flower. In the center have a mound of the same flowers
and between the center and the smilax place individual candlesticks with
white candles and shades to match the flowers. A few single flowers may
be scattered over the cloth. For a menu serve a fruit cup in the parlor
before asking the guests to the dining room. At the table have first hot
bouillon with a bit of lemon in it. Have the main course fried chicken
and rice with shoestring potatoes, tiny red radishes, creamed
cauliflower, pickles and hot rolls. Creamed sweetbreads on toast may be
used for a course if wished. Serve salmon salad on a lettuce leaf and
with it reception flakes on which grated cheese has been sprinkled and
the wafers put in the oven just long enough to melt the cheese. To serve
the chicken take a large chop plate, pile the rice in a snowy mound in
the center and place the pieces of chicken around it, serving a spoonful
of rice with each piece of chicken.
A HEAD-DRESS SUPPER PARTY.
For a head-dress party ask each guest to dress the hair in some fancy
way. The men dressing in Washington, Jefferson and other wigs noted in
history, while the ladies fix their locks according to noted beauties,
queens, and others. Strings of pearls, tiaras, and jewels make a
beautiful display. Conventional evening dress is worn in most instances,
save where a ruff or frill is added to heighten the effect of the
headgear. A prize is offered for the best head-dress. The minuet makes a
pretty dance to finish the evening.
For refreshments serve chicken salad in tomatoes hollowed out or
cucumber boats, cheese wafers, stuffed olives, tiny pickles and squares
of jelly, strawberries and plain vanilla ice cream, chocolate cake,
coffee or chocolate. Serve fruit punch during the evening.
A QUILTING SUPPER.
Build a little log cabin of twigs for the center of the supper table and
arrange stick candy, bread sticks, celery, cheesesticks and other
viands, log-cabin style, on pretty plates. Light the table by candles in
old-fashioned candlesticks. Serve a hot course, oyster patties,
sandwiches, potato salad, hot gingerbread, apple sauce, tea and coffee.
WEDDING SUPPER.
First serve an orange or lemon ice. Serve this in tall glasses and
decorate the top of the glass with a sprig of mint. Have the ice served
from a tray decorated with a wreath of green or green and white. For the
green have mint leaves, lemon verbena or geranium leaves or ferns. Then
serve chicken salad made of the breast of chicken cut in dice, celery
cut coarse, and large nut meats. Add sweetbreads and cucumbers to the
salad if desired. Mix with a white mayonnaise and serve in white head
lettuce, using the cup-like outside leaves. Use the tiny lettuce heart
for a crown, and garnish with white radishes cut into roses, and olives
cut in fancy shapes. Serve plain white bread and butter sandwiches cut
in hearts and rings or salted wafers. Have the salad on white plates and
passed from a tray trimmed in ferns or white sweet peas. Have the ice
cream in any fancy shape. Pink hearts dotted with pink candied
roseleaves makes a very pretty course. Lay a pink rose on each plate. If
one cannot get fancy shapes from their caterer, use the cone shaped
spoon and dish the cream in shape of cones. Then surmount each cone with
a pink candy heart. For cakes, serve cocoanut balls or squares of white
cake covered with pink or green icing. Serve these from a tray or
platter covered with pink and white sweet peas, putting the cakes in
among the flowers. Have the wedding cake on a flower trimmed table under
a gay little canopy and have the bride cut it the last thing, after
coffee is passed.
A WAFFLE SUPPER.
Let us have a waffle party and introduce some of the men to more
intimate acquaintance with the mysteries of the cuisine.
Flat dwellers (the word always reminds me of "Cliff dwellers") seem to
consider that the propinquity of the kitchen makes entertaining a
difficult matter, but if the truth were known, it makes possible many a
winter evening's jollity.
The invitations are made of cream white satin, fashioned in the exact
shape and size of a waffle section, padded with white cotton wadding and
tacked to simulate the meeting place of the irons. They are then
scorched to the right color with a hot iron and on them is printed in
sepia tints
"Come and eat me;"
on the reverse side is printed
Date "----, at 8 P. M. ---- Ave."
Use the abbreviated forms for this lettering on account of the
difficulty encountered from limited space and the writing on satin.
Before the evening arrives prepare cards about four by six inches, in
the center of which print a much praised recipe for waffles, reading as
follows: Six cups flour; three teaspoonfuls baking powder; four cups
milk; three tablespoonfuls butter; one and one-half teaspoonfuls salt;
nine eggs beaten separately. Mix flour, baking powder and salt, yolks
with milk, then melted butter, flour and last the beaten whites.
In the upper left hand corner of the card have a small pen and ink
sketch of some cooking utensil and in the right hand corner a number. In
the center a ribbon for fastening. The utensils are as follows: 1.
Waffle irons. 2. Mixing bowl. 3. Milk bottle. 4. Salt box. 5. Eggs. 6.
Egg beater. 7. Butter. 8. Flour sieve.
It is possible to introduce as many different cooking utensils as there
are guests.
After half an hour's visit let the guests all repair to the kitchen
where the numbered articles are to be found. No. 1, to whom is
apportioned the two waffle irons, lights the gas under them, greases the
irons when hot with a square of salt pork on the end of a fork
and--later--cooks the first waffle, but that comes later on. Each
secures his special utensil.
The Master of Ceremonies takes charge and calls off the various
ingredients in proper order. Number 2 warms the mixing bowl slightly,
Number 3 unstoppers the milk and measures it, Number 4 measures the
salt, Number 5 breaks the eggs and beats the yolks, Number 6 beats the
whites, Number 7 melts the butter, Number 8 measures the flour, Number 9
produces and measures the baking powder, etc.
Finally, when all is ready and the Master of Ceremonies has
superintended the proper mixing, the rest adjourn to the dining room,
leaving numbers one and two to bake the first waffles.
The Master of Ceremonies sits at the head and the numbers run
consecutively from his right. The swinging doors through the butler's
pantry are propped open so as not to isolate the cooks and the supper
begins.
At one end of the table have a medium sized veal loaf, at the other a
mould of tongue jellied with hard boiled eggs. Chocolate is poured at
one side of the table, coffee at the other. Marmalade, pickles and
graham bread cut thin and made into sandwiches are placed in small
dishes. Two large bowls of whipped cream with small bowls of powdered
sugar, two pitchers of maple syrup boiled down and beaten until thick as
batter, are for service with the waffles.
By the time the meats are served, the first sets of waffles are ready
and the cooks pass them around. The next couple then pass to the kitchen
to bake the next sets and so on until all are served.
THE BOHEMIAN PICNIC SUPPER.
An indoor moonlight picnic is a new diversion. The lights should be
hidden by soft white silk shades, giving a moonlight effect, and the
rooms decorated with foliage plants. A fishpond with grotesque objects,
including a live mermaid, (a man in startling costume), is one feature.
In one room is a "merry-go-round." The chairs are placed in a circle and
a graphaphone in the center plays popular tunes. At 10 o'clock the doors
to the dining room are opened. The table cloth is spread on the floor,
surrounded by cushions. In one corner of the room are the baskets
containing the supper of sandwiches, olives, pickles, baked beans, cake,
pie and other picnic favorites. The girls take the viands from the
baskets and arrange them on the floor, while the men serve coffee from a
coffee boiler on a small table. During the meal each guest is obliged
to describe some picnic he has attended or pay a forfeit.
A RAILROAD PARTY.
Have a "railroad party" if you like the refreshing flavor of informality
at your social functions.
Have the invitations read, "an excursion on the Funville, Frolictown &
Featherbrain Railway."
To begin with, the rapidly gathering guests "getting aboard" are greeted
by the hostess and her receiving party, who cover their evening attire
with spic-and-span linen dusters and caps. Down the line are distributed
a miscellaneous collection of peregrinating paraphernalia from the red
and white cotton umbrella, which the hostess resolutely grasps in the
middle, to the omnipresent hand-box and the traditional bird cage.
With a final "all aboard" from a bustling man in regulation railway
uniform, accompanied by the clanging of a bell, the trip to interesting
cities begins. The conductor, in blue coat and brass buttons, promptly
appears, to distribute tickets to the animated tourists. These tickets
are in booklet form, inside the covers being an eighteen-inch pink paper
ticket. At the top is a space for the excursionist's name, and further
down a series of spaces where the excursionist is to write the names of
the various stations at which the train is to stop. The name of the
station is suggested by a preceding statement. This ticket, including
"rules and regulations," as well as correct insertions for the
stations, reads as follows:
THE FUNVILLE, FROLICTOWN & FEATHERBRAIN RAILWAY.
_Excursion Ticket_
_Issued to_ ...............................................
_Tuesday_, ---- ----
_Good for One Trip Only._
Rules and Regulations.
This Ticket is not transferable, reversible, or salable. It must be
signed by the person to whom it is assigned.
The conductor will not punch this ticket. Punch is prohibited on this
railroad.
If you cannot crack these nuts call on the brakeman.
Do not pull the bell rope; this is not a Pullman car.
The Company will not be responsible for cattle killed by the
carelessness of the passengers who throw crackers out of the window.
Doctors are not provided on this train, but if you have the grip it can
be checked by the baggage master.
The porter is the car-pet and he has to have his tax.
_The First Station at Which this Train Stops is:_
That for which our forefathers fought.
INDEPENDENCE.
_The Second is:_
A female habiliment.
GALVESTON.
_The Third is:_
A military defense and a Paris dressmaker.
FORT WORTH.
_The Fourth is:_
An ancient city whose downfall, after a long siege, avenged the
abduction of a woman.
TROY.
_The Fifth is:_
An accident which generally gives one a ducking.
BATH.
_The Sixth is:_
An opera encore.
SING SING.
_The Seventh is:_
A city whose end and aim is "go."
CHICAGO.
_The Eighth is:_
Begins with an exclamation, appeals to maternity, ends with a laugh.
OMAHA.
_The Ninth is:_
A board of city fathers, in connection with a precipice.
COUNCIL BLUFFS.
_The Tenth is:_
Where the seat of affection is easily waded.
HARTFORD.
_The Eleventh is:_
One of the Apostles.
ST. PAUL.
_The Twelfth is:_
A woman's Monday occupation and two thousand pounds.
WASHINGTON.
_The Thirteenth is:_
An infernal region, a girl's name.
HELENA.
_The Fourteenth is:_
What a young man called when his sweetheart Anna was drowning.
SAVANNAH.
_The Fifteenth is:_
An afflicted stream.
CRIPPLE CREEK.
_The Sixteenth is:_
A small geological formation.
ROCK ISLAND.
_The Seventeenth is:_
What most old maids desire to find.
MANITOU.
_The Eighteenth is:_
A pleasing beverage and a period.
WYANDOTTE.
_The Nineteenth is:_
Outward sign of spiritual grace and exclamation.
SACRAMENTO.
_The Twentieth is:_
A young miss and a slang term of coin.
GALLATIN.
_The Twenty-First is:_
The father of Democracy and a large town.
JEFFERSON CITY.
_The Twenty-Second is:_
An extinct King of the Prairies.
BUFFALO.
_The Twenty-Third is:_
A girl's name, a laugh and a tumble.
MINNEHAHA FALLS.
_The Twenty-Fourth is:_
That upon which we rely.
PROVIDENCE.
_The Twenty-Fifth is:_
A bandmaster's staff and a society girl's cheeks.
BATON ROUGE.
Appropriate prizes--leather traveling bags--are awarded to excursionists
who have done the most sight seeing--that is, who have guessed the names
of most of the stations. In the mean time small boys in uniform pass
through the "parlor cars" dispensing to the passengers such train
delectables as popcorn and peanuts, while other uniformed youths pass
lemonade in the time-honored tin receptacle with glasses in openings at
the side.
Suddenly the station supper gong is sounded and the brisk announcement
made, "Twenty minutes for refreshments." Thereupon the lively
excursionists proceed in sections to the dining room where the novel
feature of the railroad party is cleverly carried out. Along one end of
the room is constructed a high lunch counter with every equipment of the
metropolitan station. There is the steaming coffee urn, the familiar
glass covers under which repose pumpkin pie and doughnuts, old-fashioned
cake-stands with fruit, and so on. Bright colored placards on the wall
announce the eatables, including chicken and ham sandwiches, stuffed
eggs, hokey-pokey ice cream, assorted cakes, coffee, chocolate and milk.
The floral decorations in this "buffet car" are effective. The white
cloth that covers the counter and extends to the floor is festooned with
strings of smilax and spotted with sprays of fern. On top of the counter
is a huge bowl of scarlet roses, and two immense palms behind the lunch
counter make a pleasing background. In all the coaches, in fact, flowers
and foliage are used in profusion.
LITERARY SUPPER.
Give each guest a card numbered, and ask him to draw thereon a picture
which shall illustrate some well-known novel. When all have finished
have them pass the cards and on a second numbered list write the titles
of the books illustrated. Give a prize for the most perfect list and the
best illustration. Let the guests vote on the best illustration.
Or, pin on the back of a guest the name of a character in a book, or the
name of an author, and let him by questions discover his own identity.
If he fails to guess and has to be told, he sits down. If he guesses
correctly, another name is pinned on his back, and another, and so on.
The one guessing the greatest number of names receives the prize, which
may be simply a bunch of flowers.
Ask each guest to wear something representing the title of a book. Give
each a number as he enters and a list of numbers and let all place
correct names opposite the numbers on their lists. Write a simple love
story, leaving blanks to be filled with names of books. This may be
written on a large sheet of paper or on a blackboard, the blanks
numbered and each guest given a numbered list to place words intended to
fill blanks, or enough copies may be made for each guest to have a copy.
Partners for supper may be found by cutting quotations in half and
matching them again. Or one guest may be given the name of a book to
find his partner in the author; or he may receive a slip containing the
name of some man character in fiction, to find his partner in the
corresponding woman character, as "David Copperfield" would seek "Dora,"
"Mr. Micawber" would seek "Mrs. Micawber," etc.
Serve pressed chicken or veal cut in squares resting on cress;
sandwiches of white grapes and nuts, chopped pickle; fruit salad served
in white lettuce leaves, cheese crackers, ice cream or ices, cake,
coffee or chocolate. Make the cheese crackers by spreading a thin layer
of cheese on the crackers and toasting them in the oven.
A PEANUT PARTY.
Write invitations on cards cut out and painted to represent peanuts.
Have them read, "Won't you come next Tuesday night at 7 o'clock and help
me gather my peanut crop? Cordially yours,"
When the guests assemble the night of the party, give each one a gay
calico bag and a large wooden spoon. Then explain that they are to hunt
for the peanuts on the lower floor of the house, and that the peanuts
can only be taken up with the aid of the spoons. Half an hour is allowed
to gather the peanut crop, and then the bags are marked with the
gatherer's name and dropped into a large straw basket--the bag
containing the largest number of peanuts receives a prize. This hunt
causes much merriment.
When the time has expired and the bags are all in the basket, a large
bowl of peanuts is put on a table and each guest given a needle and
thread and told to make a necklace and pair of bracelets,--the best made
set of peanut jewelry to be awarded a prize. The next feature of the
evening's fun is making and dressing quaint little Chinese figures of
peanuts. Crepe paper of various hues is provided for the costumes, and
black thread for the queues. First the peanuts are strung to form the
little manikins, then eyes, nose and mouth are marked on with ink.
Jackets and trousers are next cut and made, and the little Ching-Changs
are dressed. Pigtails are plaited and sewed on to the tops of the heads,
then the hats go on and the little celestials are ready to be inspected
by the judges. These dolls the guests keep as souvenirs of their skill.
In the dining room have a small evergreen tree planted in a china
jardiniere in the center of the supper table with little peanut owls
perched on the branches of the tree. These owls have wings of light
manila paper and are marked with ink to represent feathers. Big, staring
eyes add a touch of realism. The owls are attached to the branches,
singly and in groups, with glue.
For supper serve creamed chicken patties, tiny hot rolls, brandied
peaches or sweet watermelon pickle; salad of cucumbers and mayonnaise
served on lettuce leaves or cress, peanut butter, and chopped smoked
tongue sandwiches, ice cream served in sherbet glasses, assorted cakes,
coffee or chocolate.
FOLK LORE SUPPER.
Engage real colored singers to give a program of songs of the Southland,
the old-time plantation melodies. Arrange the stage with a log cabin
surrounded by sunflowers in the background and a cotton field in
foreground, and have the singers costumed as field hands. Some of the
best known and best liked songs include "Old Black Joe," "Swing Low,
Sweet Chariot," "Nobody Knows the Trouble I Am Seeing," "Nellie Gray,"
"Suawanee River," "Way Over Jordan," "Ride up in the Chariot," "Massa's
in the Cold, Cold Ground," "Dixie." Serve a fried chicken supper with
rice, hot biscuits, syrup, cornpone, ice cream and cake and coffee. The
program can end with buck and wing dancing, jigs and cakewalks.
CAKE WALK SUPPER.
At this cake walk there is no walking for the cake. The cakes themselves
walk for prizes.
Ask each guest to dress representing a certain variety of cake, but
concealing the name of the particular cake represented.
Give a prize to the person who discovers the largest number of names.
One girl representing Wedding Cake can come with bridal veil, orange
blossom wreath and shower bouquet.
Fruit Cake may be suggested by a girl carrying a graceful basket of
fruit which she distributes to the company. In her hair she may wear a
crown of artificial grapes and grape leaves.
A woman of very diminutive size who might be thought to be almost
ineligible for the gathering because she came without insignia of any
kind might represent short cake.
And these are but a few of the ingenuities. The entire list is too long
to give here, but each repetition is sure to call forth new ideas.
The winner of the first prize receives a pretty china cake dish, while
the second prize is a dainty cake knife in silver. There is a booby,
too--a small cook book giving twenty-five choice recipes for cakes.
The guessing of the cakes is followed by an informal supper. Serve
_Chicken Mousse with Lettuce and Nut Salad_
_Brown Bread and Butter Sandwiches_
_Olives, Salted Almonds_
_Peach Bavarian Cream, Fancy Cakes_
_Coffee_
MENU AND SERVICE FOR BRIDGE SUPPER PARTY.
If one wishes a dainty and appetizing menu for a card supper serve
sweetbread and celery salad, stuffed olives and tiny pickles, assorted
sandwiches and plain vanilla ice cream with hot chocolate sauce, fruit
cake, white cake and coffee.
While the judges are counting the points for game, have the maid lay a
lunch cloth on each table. Serve the sweetbread salad either in
cucumbers hollowed out or in red or green pepper shells, resting on a
wreath of watercress. A pretty effect is secured by using alternate
green and red peppers and leaving the tops with the stem for covers. Tie
the tiniest of red peppers to the stems with narrow green ribbon for
decoration. The sweetbread salad is made of cold cooked sweetbreads and
celery cut into dice and covered with mayonnaise. If one adds a few
sliced almond meats and mushrooms the flavor is improved. Serve ham
sandwiches cut in shape of playing cards and decorated with bits of
pickled beets to simulate card spots, heart shaped sandwiches of
chopped green peppers and mayonnaise, cucumbers and watercress mixed
with mayonnaise, plain bread and butter sandwiches, using brown and
white bread. If one wishes a hot course, serve oyster or cream chicken
patties and tiny hot rolls. The fork is brought on the plate with the
salad or hot course.
Serve ice cream in the sherbet glasses with stems. Place a lace paper
doily on the plate, stand the glass on this and lay a pink rose on the
plate. Pass the hot chocolate sauce in a silver or pretty china pitcher,
or have it poured over the ice cream before it is brought in. Pass the
coffee in after dinner coffee cups, the maid bringing in a tray full of
the cups followed by an assistant with sugar, cream and after dinner
coffee spoons.
Cut the cake into squares and pass in silver basket or handsome plate
with doily.
"AFTER THE THEATRE" MENUS.
_Cold Chicken in Cranberry Jelly Cups_
_Celery and Oyster Patties_
_Bread and Butter Sandwiches_
_Lemon Jelly with Whipped Cream_
_Ice Cream, Lady Fingers, Cocoanut_
_Macaroons_
_Bonbons, Coffee_
_Mushroom Patties_
_Turkey and Celery Salad in Lettuce Cups_
_Cheese and Nut Sandwiches_
_Pineapple Jelly with Whipped Cream_
_Vanilla Ice Cream_
_Small Sponge Cakes_
_Coffee with Whipped Cream_
OYSTER CRABS ON STEAK.
Since dealers do not sell oyster crabs at reasonable rates where they
know their value or have a fashionable trade, if economical, one has to
find a modest oyster house where they do not bring a cent and more
apiece, but are for sale in bulk. A few dozen at least are needed for
the steak. Oyster crabs are tiny things and they shrink in cooking.
The pan must be hot with plenty of butter in it Throw in the crabs whole
of course, for they are wee things, clean as an oyster, and let them
cook to a turn. Salt and pepper them and turn them over the steak which
has been broiled exactly right. The oyster crabs must be cooked so as to
be ready when the steak is done.
A COLD SUPPER MENU FOR HOT WEATHER.
_Iced Consomme_
_Celery, Salted Wafers_
_Lobster en Mayonnaise, Brown Bread Sandwiches_
_Cold Filet of Beef_
_Saratoga Potatoes, Jelly, Brandied Cherries_
_Tomatoes Stuffed with Celery, Green Peppers and Cucumbers_
_Chicken Salad_
_Roquefort Cheese, Toasted Crackers_
_Ice Cream in Canteloupes_
_Fruits, Crystallized Candies_