A DOMINO PARTY.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume VIII, Issue 35, 29 August 1891, Page 326

A DOMINO PARTY.

WAS making out my list, bill of fare, etc., for another luncheon when my husband made the remark, ‘ Better have us this time, Nell, it’s unkind not asking us to any of them, and «e have to foot the bills too.’ * All right. What shall it be ? It can’t be a progressive euchre or card party, for I’ve got the Congregational and the Episcopal ministers’

wives down on the list. What do you say to a Domino Party?’ So it was decided. I invited eight couples including my husband and myself. When I invited the ladies, I told them to come and spend an afternoon with me a day or two before the party, and we planned to each one of us wear a long black robe (of black calico) over our evening dresses, black caps, gloves and masks. We put those on just before we left the dressing room to go down into the drawing room. Each gentleman was to pick out his own wife or pay a forfeit. The forfeit to be something his wife wanted very much. Oh ! the rash promises those poor men made ! The only man who knew his wife was the Episcopal minister, and he said the only reason he knew his wife was because she bad a new pair of light grey,’patent-leather tipped shoes on ; she had shown them to him just as they were leaving home. The ladies then threw off robes, caps, etc., and we sat down to little tables to play progressive dominoes. We played from seven and a halt till nine o’clock. Ivorine souvenirs, in the shape of dominoes, three and a half inches wide by five inches long, with a domino etched on them, a ribbon of a pretty light shade tied through a perforation in one end, weie given to each guest. Supper was then served. The table looked very pretty’. In the centre of the table was a centrepiece of hemstitched linen with a border of carnation pinks outlined in bright wash silks, and a large rose bowl filled with carnation pinks and similax leaves. A boutonniere of a single carnation pink was pinned to each napkin. All the pretty dishes and dainty glassware I possessed was on the table. In place of lamps, I had wax candles. I had four antique silver candlesticks I wished to show off, and sister Em had the same amount; so I borrowed hers. They cast a pretty, mellow light over the table and room. Two young ladies and their best beloved young men waited on the table for me. The first course was escalloped oysters, pressed chicken, potato salad, olives, pickles, jelly, cocoa, and little threecornered slices of bread and butter. Second course : Chocolate ice cream, domino cake, chocolate macaroons and ice water. Third course : Black and white grapes, chocolate creams, iced tea. Escalloped Oysters.—Two quarts of oysters, a lot of crushed crackers ; place alternately in a deep earthenware dish a layer of cracker crumbs, then oysters, seasoning each layer with salt, pepper, and small pieces of butter. When the dish is full, pour over all the oyster juice and enough milk to cover it all. Set away an hour and bake in a moderate oven fifty minutes. Pressed Chicken. — Two chickens. Boil and then separate the white meat from the dark, boil again till ready to fall off the bones, season with pepper and salt; take the bones and boil half-an-hour, take the liquor and pour over the chicken, heat through and put in crocks a layer of light meat and then one of dark. Put a plate on top and set a flat iron on it to press the chicken ; garnish with celery leaves. Potato Salad. —Slice a dozen large, boiled potatoes, put into a dish and pour over them the following mixture. Boil three eggs hard, rub to a smooth paste the yolks, a teaspoonful of mustard, butter, salt, and one-half teaspoonful of celery, salt and pepper. Half a cupful of vinegar should be next whipped into it, a tablespoonful at a time. Chop up the whites of the eggs, and add. Domino Cake. —Half a cupful of butter, one cupful of sugar, one and one-half cupfuls of flour, one cupful sweet

milk, whites of four eggs, one and one half teaspoonfuls of baking powder, flavour with vanilla. Bake in long tin, about one and one-fourth inches in thickness when baked. Then make a boiled white frosting and cover the cakes. When cold, cut pieces the size you want the dominoes to be. Then make a horn of stiff white paper about five inches long and one and one-half inches across the top. Put in a spoonful of dark chocolate icing ; close the horn at the top, pressing the icing from the small opening ; draw a line across the centre of each little cake with the chocolate icing, and make spots like those on ivory dominoes. Keep the horn supplied with icing. Salted Almonds.—Blanch the almonds, and put m the pan with the almonds some butter and salt and place it in the oven, stirring to prevent burning, but let it brown, and serve when cold in fancy little plates. Chocolate Macaroons.—Make frosting as tor a cake, stir in two ounces of grated chocolate, drop on buttered paper, bake in a quick oven. Chocolate Creams.—Two and a half teacupfuls of granulated sugar, one-half cupful of sweet milk, boil five minutes, place the pan in cold water till cold enough to roll into little balls. Grate the chocolate, melt and roll the creams in it, set away to cool, season to suit the taste. Cocoa. —Place half a teaspoonful of Van Houten’s cocoa in each teacup and pour over it boiling water enough to fill the cup ; stir until all is dissolved, and let each one su"ar and cream to suit themselves. The cups are to be filled with the cocoa and hot water and brought to the table.

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