Salt Lake Telegram | 1937-09-28 | Page 11 | Formal Dinner Will Test Hostess' Ability and Taste

-e Formal Dinner Will Test Hostess' Ability and Taste It's a pause that entices that quiet moment after the announcement, announce-ment, "Dinner is served." For the formal dinner is the most decorous of social functions. It signifies table appointments as smart or elegant as, the hostess can provide. And it is at this event, which climaxes the hostess' en- tertainment calendar, that aha rules like a queen In her home. Because the formal dinner la auch a precise affair, let's go over aome of the fine points of the preparations. prepara-tions. Tha table cloth should be placed so that tha center crease runa exactly ex-actly down the middle of the table. To be etiquatte-sjsrfect. it ahould extend at least 12 inchea over the edges of the table. Dinner-size napkins, nap-kins, approximately 27 inches square, ahould match It Tha centerpiece ahould be designed de-signed to fit the sixa and ahapa ef tha table. If It la too high, guests will be forced to peer over and around It to converae with others opposite them. If candlea are used they ahould be tall enough so tha glare doesn't fall In anybody'a ayea. The well-set table never looks cluttered. All the appointments are nlareri evenly and symmetrically. All the silver on the table ahould be In a straight line and set In one and a half Inches from tha edge. Napkins are folded with tha selvage selv-age edge next to the edge of the table. They may be placed either on tha service plate or at tha left ef the forks. Since butter la not served With the formal meal, aa a general thing, bread and butter plates are not Included In the service. Ash trays may be put directly above each plate or above and between two covers. (The aame holda for aalt and pepper containers.) Stemmed glassware Is beat for formal for-mal occasions. Goblets ahould .be placed an inch beyond the tips of the silver st tha right of tha cover. The water glass which ahould be filled just before tha guests are seated goes directly above the knife. (You can determine this by standing stand-ing away and viewing tha table from all angles.) Space for Covera Each "cover" space allotted to tha Individual guest should be at least 30 inches wide to give plenty ef elbow room. Set the service plate in tha center of the cover. On Its right plaoe the dinner knife, with the sharp edge toward tha canter of the plate. Put tha soup apoon next. (If bouillon or cream soup spoons are to be uaed for soups aerved In bouillon cups, substitute a bouillon spoon.) The cocktail fork goes on the outside. It's the only fork, by the way, that ever goes to the right of the plate when a full dinner aervice la used. Working outside in for the forks at the left of the cover are the fish fork, the large fork for tha main course and the aalad fork (next to the plate). Dessert forks or spoons are not put on the table, but are passed when that course is served. Demi-tasse Demi-tasse spoons do not appear, either, until later on the aaucera of small cups of coffee. (Often tha demi-tasse demi-tasse is not aerved until guests have left the table and reassembled in the living room.)