Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1902-05-01

ton is paid to details and too much to
the style of the menu. Better dainti-
ly set table and good service than
pretentious menu i'll carried out. Let
the dinner consist of a soup, fish, roast,
salad, dessert and coffee. Let each dish
be one in which the cook is well skilled
through long practice; also let the
menu be timely. At this season of the
year co not serve thick soups and
meat with heavy sauces. Have sim
pie dessert composed OF ain ice or ber-
ries, il they are ripe and nice. They
can either be served hulled with whip
ped cream or daintily arranged with
their stems and leaves on, so that they
can be eaten dipped in powdered sugar.
''The table linen may not be of the
finest, but it must be absolutely fresh
from the laundry. The napkins should
not be creased in grotesque fashion,
but evenly folded and placed as simply
as possible to the right of the plate.
The center of the table can be made
pretty with a high fancy lamp or, bet
ter still, a bunch of flowers or a few
ferns in a tall glass vase. If the hostess
is so fortunate as to possess Candida
bra, these may be placed one on each
side of the ferns. With their dainty
colored shades, they give fairylike
effect
''There are two ways of serving the
little dinner. The host or hostess may
carve and the maid pass around the
plates or the carving may be done in
the kitchen and the filed plates may
be simply passed around to each guest.
When the latter method is observed,
the soup plates should be already filled
when the guests take their places at
the table. The fish and subsequently
the meat are also placed before the
guests, but the maid passes the vegeta-
BILE dishes to the left of each guest, and
the guest helps himself with large
silver spoon provided for the purpose.
Little side dishes for the vegetables
should if possible be avoided. One veg
etable besides the potatoes is quite
enough, but it should be a good vegeta-
BILE deliciously cooked. The salad
should be crisp and cold and should be
served on iced plates. After the dessert
Camembert, Brie or Roquefort cheese
should be served with both hard and
soft toasted crackers and tiny cups of
black coffee.
''The waitress should move noiseless-.
ly and anticipate the wants of the
guests as much as possible. The plates
for the soup, fish and roast ought to be
hot. Under the hot soup plate, however,
there is placed a cold dinner plate The
ice water should be free from those
jangling bits of ice which make drink
ting so difficult. The bowls of the spoons
are correct when placed upward, the
tines of the forks up and the sharp
edges of the knives toward the plates.
"Radishes daintily peeled into the
semblance of water lilies may occupy
a small glass dish, while stuffed olives
may fill another.
''When dinner is ready, the fact
should not be heralded by bell or any
such device. The servant should ap-
pear and simply announce, Dinner is
served And, speaking of the maid,
her appearance more than anything
else will add to or detract from the
success of the dinner. She should be
specklessly attired in a plain black
gown, with white collar, cuffs and
apron. 1t is this attention to details
which makes a dinner a success, no
matter how small its cost"
MAUD ROBINSON.