Results for book recommendation Tag

Entertainer Cover

Read It: The Reluctant Entertainer

Sandy Coughlin’s new book, The Reluctant Entertainer: Every Woman’s Guide to Simple and Gracious Hospitality, has some fantastic advice on taking back the joy of hosting while making your next event fabulous. Focusing on the fundamental reasons for entertaining, Coughlin provides a refreshing perspective on the act of hosting in general. The delight of spending [...]

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Pastry Queen Christmas

Read It: The Pastry Queen Christmas

I wonder what the crown of Rebecca Rather, the infamous Pastry Queen, would be made out of and if she would let me take a bite. Finally Christmas cheer and the Queen’s belt loosening recipes exist in a new cook book called The Pastry Queen’s Christmas with the tagline: “Big-Hearted Holiday Entertaining Texas Style.” The best [...]

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Plenty--Vegetarian Cookbook

Read It: Plenty

Finding new and appealing vegetarian dishes can be a daunting task. My father is a vegetarian so I have spent my entire life watching him try to spice up his limited menu with little success. That is why I was especially struck by Yotam Ottolenghi’s Plenty, which brings vegetarians dishes with excitement and flavor. What’s [...]

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Wine Bags

Product Picks: Host Holiday Gift Guide

Last week, it was all about the ladies in your life. This week, we’ve picked out gift suggestions for all the men who host a mean party. Once again, we broke up these gifts based on interests. So, click each category to jump down below. Is your host interested in Rustic Charm, Food, Animals or [...]

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The Taste of the Season

Read It: The Taste of the Season

Like it or not, winter is here. For those of you who dislike the frost, let me remind you of three great things about the colder months: boots, beanie hats with pom-poms, and most importantly comfort food. The winter months have a way of infusing bountiful flavors into each meal that are absent when cooking [...]

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Hostess Holiday Gift Guide, Cupcake Maker

Product Picks: Hostess Holiday Gift Guide

In this season of multiple holiday parties, you may get tired of bringing your hostess yet another bottle of wine. Well, don’t fret dear ones. Here’s our lovely gift guide for your next hostess treat. We broke up these gifts based on interests. So, click each category to jump down below. Is your hostess friend [...]

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HowNotToCook

Read It: The How Not to Cookbook

Being someone who has managed to mess up instant pudding three times in a row (don’t even ask), I would not consider myself the best cook. I have stumbled through the kitchen my entire life and up until recently thought that each of my faux-pas were the result of my personal inabilities alone. That is, [...]

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art of simple living

Read It: The Art of Simple Food

Simplicity. Isn’t that what we all want in our lives? Isn’t that what we all need? Alice Waters seems to think so. The famous founder of restaurant Chez Panisse and devout “food activist” has been an advocate for simple living for years. Her newest book The Art of Simple Food is far from a recipe [...]

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A Gracious Welcome

Read It: A Gracious Welcome

So you threw an amazing party. Congratulations, your work is done! Oh wait, who’s that still sitting in your living room? Whether for an hour or a weekend, entertaining guests can be a daunting task. I, for one, have experienced both ends of the spectrum: the stress of accommodating others and the horror of sleeping [...]

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Art of the Table

Read It: The Art of the Table

At one point in time, we have all undoubtedly been stumped by a tricky table setting. What to do with that extra fork or pesky bread dish? Well, The Art of the Table by Suzanne Von Drachenfels is here to help. I have to admit I could not have been more thrilled when I found this [...]

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From Seed to Skillet

Read It: From Seed to Skillet

Organic gardening is something I’ve always wanted to do, but never seemed to have the time or the space if we are getting technical. Living in New York, one is simply limited to a fire escape, or if you’re lucky, roof access. But something that does remind me of home, especially during the holidays, is [...]

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Adult Halloween Parties

Read It: Adult Halloween Parties

Who says kids get to have all the fun on Halloween? I spotted Mary T. McCarthy’s Adult Halloween Parties at my local bookstore. The self-published book weighs in at just under sixty pages and is jam-packed with party ideas, creative decorations, and over 100 costume ideas. Written in an informal, conversational way, I knew I had [...]

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Cake Pops

Read It: Cake Pops

Cake on a stick might be one of the best inventions in the history of the culinary world. And, if you have read our other book reviews, you might know that we are not the savviest connoisseurs of the kitchen. So what better way to morph our love for simple do-it-yourself recipes and food on [...]

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Elegant Napkin Folding

Read It: Elegant Napkin Folding

Growing up, every holiday dinner I was given the job of putting out the napkins. This may seem like a lame task for many but for me I adored folding the colorful cloth in different ways to accent the table. Now, years later, I have finally found people who understand my young fascination. Their names [...]

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All Cakes Considered

Read It: All Cakes Considered

One of my favorite things to do is attempt to tackle a new recipe that is clearly out of my scope as a chef. Such attempts always result in a thick sheet of flour covering the counters of my hole-in-the-wall kitchen. My grandma even stopped taking my phone calls on Sundays, as she has learned [...]

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Read It: The Meaning of Flowers

Read It: The Meaning of Flowers

Working here, I’ve realized the versatility and impact flowers can have on an event, but have I ever stopped to consider the flower’s deeper significance? Not until now. If you had asked me about the meaning of flowers before I discovered Gretchen Scoble and Ann Field’s new book I would have probably recalled some time from [...]

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Read It: Fresh

Read It: Fresh

Preston loves his raw food diet so I thought, why not feature a raw food cookbook? The first thing I used to think about when I heard the words “raw food lifestyle” was feeding my rabbit lettuce, spinach and carrots. Doesn’t really sound fulfilling, especially for someone who might indulge in the sweeter side of [...]

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Read It: An Apple Harvest

Read It: An Apple Harvest

Now that summer is gently roaring away, it’s time to concentrate our entertaining efforts on all the bounties of the next season: fall. And what food signifies fall better than apples? (Okay, maybe pumpkins, but that’s a different post.) An Apple Harvest: Recipes and Orchard Lore by Frank Browning and Sharon Silva is a wonderful book [...]

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Read It: Petite Sweets

Read It: Petite Sweets

Depending on how strong your sweet tooth is, every party usually needs one thing: Dessert. Banish the guilt by creating bite sized treats for all your guests. In Petite Sweets: Bite-Size Desserts to Satisfy Every Sweet Tooth Beatrice Ojakangas gives you recipes for all types of mini desserts from pies to ice cream. Some of [...]

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Read It: The Joy of Mixology

Read It: The Joy of Mixology

The Joy of Mixology by Gary Regan isn’t your average cocktails book. One big standout? It doesn’t give you any cocktail recipes until almost the very end! What he does give you is a lot of important and interesting information about the history of cocktails, bartender’s etiquette, a breakdown of the proper tools you need, [...]

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