Martha Stewart's Menus for Entertaining

Martha Stewart offers 20 complete menus for gatherings both large and small, casual and sophisticated--all reflecting an elegantly relaxed approach to entertaining in the '90s. With its delicious recipes, inspired styling, useful information, and exquisite photographs, this is the indispensable guide to hospitality. Full-color photographs. From Publishers Weekly. Just when you thought the lavish style of '80s-era entertaining was gone forever, Stewart (Martha Stewart's New Old House) releases another book destined to make party-givers want to blow up balloons and repolish their candelabras. Though she claims in her introduction that she now prefers simpler foods and fixings, Stewart's mashed potatoes still call for a stick of butter, a quarter cup of heavy cream and a cup of softened cream cheese. "Light" this isn't, but preparation and menus are indeed more spare than in the author's earlier efforts. In 20 chapters, she gives step-by-step instructions for assembling a theme party-whether a spicy Thai lunch or a fried green tomatoes brunch. Gone are the gilded pumpkins of yore; instead, Stewart's Halloween party calls for pumpkins stuffed with a savory mix of vegetables and chicken, topped with puff pastry and served with a cognac cream sauce on the side. Yet some of the rusticity espoused in the recipes verges on artificial: a country ham is to be baked atop a bed of grass. For the millions of urbanites who love her style, but cannot find an organic tussock, Stewart fails to suggest a substitute-say, a couple of bunches of parsley. But most of her fans will find this book inspiring and unintimidating. Author tour. Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library Journal. Since the magazine Martha Stewart Living has a circulation of 750,000 and her weekly television show is carried in 132 markets, you can expect a huge audience for this new work. Stewart offers 22 complete menus for every occasion. Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.