Tablesetting Books - Page 16

The Perfect Setting

Peri Wolfman, Charles Gold

List Price: $26.95 By: Harry N. Abrams Amazon Marketplace: 35 new & used starting at $2.55

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

"Table settings for all occasions from breakfast to elegant candlelit dinners."

-USA Today "A guide to creating the most stylish table settings imaginable."

-House Beautiful "The Perfect Setting is something of a confection, a delight to be gobbled up and enjoyed. The 168 color photographs are stunning."

-Houston Chronicle Since it was first published in 1985, The Perfect Setting has redefined the ease, beauty, and pleasures of table settings, for any time and for all occasions. Peri Wolfman and Charles Gold's advice on how to combine simplicity with elegance, creating inviting table settings without great expense or enormous effort, remains timely, stylish, and invaluable for all hosts and hostesses. Now in paperback, with more than 160 color photographs and 50 of the authors' favorite recipes-for fresh corn salad, Seckel pears almondine, marinated vegetables, and much more-the book is a wonderful resource and a great gift for anyone who wants to create a perfect setting at home, at a business breakfast, on a picnic, or anywhere at all. 168 photographs in full color, 9 1/2 x 10" PERI WOLFMAN and CHARLES GOLD were the owners of Wolfman, Gold & Good Company, a New York City tableware store, for nearly 20 years. Wolfman is now in-house director of product development for Williams-Sonoma. Gold is a recognized food and still-life photographer; his work has appeared in House & Garden, Vogue, Gourmet, and other national magazines. Peri Wolfman and Charles Gold live in New York City.

James Beard's Menus for Entertaining

James Beard

List Price: $14.95 By: Marlowe & Company Amazon Marketplace: 12 new & used starting at $2.00

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

So Very, Very Helpful 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

What can you say? The man knew food, and this book has the typical Beardian rightness that we have always come to expect. Clever and tremendously helpful for any type of party concievable. I can only wonder what James would have done in the healthier 1990's with his wonderful ideas; perhaps the only drawback are the meat-oriented menues. But any clever cook will know how to adapt. The floorplan is completely layed out for you -- a boon to any serious entertainer.

A Golden Oldie. Rich material for experienced entertainers. 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

'Menus for Entertaining' by premier American cuisine writer, James Beard is a rich source of something rare in culinary books today, the no nonsense reference for people who already know how to cook, but need a wide variety of options for putting together interesting menus for entertaining. This may be the very best possible companion to Martha Stewart's classic 'Entertaining' book, which deals with just about everything else.

I say this book is for people who already know how to cook in that virtually all the recipes give the essentials, with none of the copious sidebars or headnotes so familiar in books today. This is the Joe Friday of cookbooks. We want 'just the facts, Mame'. While Beard avoids no subject, from classic French sauces to Pennsylvania Dutch specialities such as Shoo fly pie and pickled eggs, he gives everything straight up, with few frills. That is not to say he takes shortcuts. The brioche recipe is shorter than most, but it does not abbreviate the need to let brioche dough raise overnight. On the other hand, the recipe for 'beurre blanc' is much shorter than the recipe in James Patterson's classic 'Sauces', leaving out several of the niceities, such as straining the shallots out of the sauce to give us a velvety smooth result.

The very best thing about Beard's work is that it covers so many different practical situations, including over a dozen different kinds of breakfasts and 'mid-day' meals (he distains the term 'brunch'). There is also rich information on both wines and cordials.

One nice thing about the book is that it almost seems to be an MS from a bygone day, where people commonly entertained with breakfast, lunch, and dinner parties, at least in the fantasy world of Noel Coward plays.

Beard's advice on general planning is excellent. Like Stewart, Beard also started out as a caterer, although he moved on to writing after only a year or so, but he was also an inveterate entertainer himself, and he did it with practically no help in the kitchen.

This book may be worth any three 'Gourmet' annual 'Best of' books, at a sixth of the price.

Editorial Review:

Containing more than one hundred menus and six hundred individual recipes, an updated cookbook offers delectable ideas for all kinds of entertaining situations, with simple shopping lists and preparation tips to assist beginning cooks, as well as culinary complements for culinary experts. Original. IP.

El Manual de Entrenamiento para el Mesero, Mesera y Personal

Lora Arduser, Douglas R. Brown

Amazon Price: $29.35 List Price: $29.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Atlantic Publishing Company Amazon Marketplace: 7 new & used starting at $14.97

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Editorial Review:

NOW TRANSLATED IN SPANISH This training handbook was designed for use by all food service serving staff members. The guide covers every aspect of restaurant customer service for the positions of host, waiter or waitress, head waiter, captain, and bus person. The detailed performance of each position is described for different types of establishments, and all types of service including French, American, English, Russian, Family-Style and Banquet. It provides step-by-step instructions on: • hosting
• seating guests
• taking/filling orders
• loading/unloading trays
• table side service
• setting an elegant table
• folding napkins
• centerpieces
• promoting specials
• promoting side orders
• handling problems
• difficult customers
• managing tips and taxes
• getting customers to order quickly
• handling questions
• handling the check and money Plus, learn advanced serving techniques such as flambé and carving meats, fish, and fruits. It also features a chapter devoted exclusively to food safety and sanitation. Whether it's your first day on the job or you are a twenty year veteran you are bound to learn a lot. Food service managers will find this book to be an excellent foundation for your organizations training program.

Simple Menus for the Bento Box

Ellen Greaves, Wayne Nish

List Price: $25.00 By: William Morrow & Company Amazon Marketplace: 10 new & used starting at $12.94

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Not a Japanese cookbook 4 out of 5 stars.
34 of 34 people found this review helpful.

Although I agree with the other reviewers in that this is indeed a beautifully photographed and organized book, (for which I give it the four stars), I wasn't aware until I purchased it that this is not a Japanese recipe book-its Western cuisine presented in an aesthetically Asian manner. However, it does give a good history of bento boxes and the recipes are simple and delicious. If you are looking for authentic Japanese bento recipes, I recommend _Japanese Meals on the Go: Bento Boxes_ by Naomi Kijima.

Editorial Review:

Japanese food is traditionally served in a simple, sleek, and dramatic style unmatched by any other cuisine. How can you re-create the visual drama of the Japanese presentation? Simple Menus for the Bento Box has the answers with recipes and designs for meals served in a shokado bento box.

The black lacquered shokado bento box, covered with a lid and separated into four square compartments, a common sight in Japan, is appearing with increasing frequency in America as an artful way to present food. Acclaimed New York City chefs Ellen Greaves and Wayne Nish have created twelve seasonal menus especially for the shokado bento box. Each menu has four contrasting but harmonious recipes, one for each of the four shokado compartments.

Table Settings: 100 Inspirational Stylings, Themes and Layouts with Over 60 Sensational Step-by-Step Projects

Tessa Evelegh

List Price: $30.00 By: Lorenz Books Amazon Marketplace: 20 new & used starting at $8.99

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Editorial Review:

Sharing food is a universal expression of friendship and hospitality, and much of the enjoyment of inviting friends and family to join in a meal lies in the pleasure of preparing it as well as making the table look beautiful. Basic elements of linen, china, glass, and silverware can always be used, but each piece can be set off, complemented, or enhanced in a number of different ways. This gorgeous book is brimming with original ideas and beautiful inspirations that readers can use to create stunning individual table settings. Table Settings explores the history of eating and table settings in various cultures, and then proceeds to analyze different elemental components of a well-set table: china, glass, silverware, linen, decorations, candles, and furniture. This section is followed by a design directory that offers ideas for different theme tables, such as a traditional white-and-glass table, an African table, Citrus Shades, China Blues, Gilded Table, Jewel Brights, Beach Style, Sun-Filled Style, and much more. Each segment covers absolutely everything needed to create a complete, fabulous-looking table. The great thing about this book is that readers don't need to own tons of fine china and linen to make their table look gorgeous. Furthermore, they have the option of closely following one of the theme patterned table designs, or simply using parts of these to create their own individual designs. The book is also chock-full of color photos, making it accessible to interior designers of all levels of experience.

Mom's Best Crowd-Pleasers: 101 No-fuss Recipes for Family Gatherings, Casual Get-togethers & Surprise Company

Andrea Chesman

Amazon Price: $9.31 List Price: $10.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Storey Publishing, LLC Amazon Marketplace: 39 new & used starting at $2.69

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Forget the stressful dinner party for twelve. How many home cooks really drag out the china, silver, and linen more than a few times a year these days? Mom’s very best crowd-cuisine is fun, relaxed, and informal. From a hungry group of the kids’ friends looking for afternoon munchies to a potluck office farewell party to a 4th of July barbecue for the neighborhood, today’s typical gatherings are casual occasions to share hearty, homemade food.

Mom’s Best Crowd-Pleasers is full of recipes that reflect the way Mom really cooks today, simply tailored to feed eight or more people. Cucumber Sandwiches, Quesadillas, and Sweet and Sour Meatballs are all simple finger foods perfect for after-work get-togethers, book club meetings, and informal baby showers. Muffalettas, All-American Hamburgers, and deep bowls of Summer Fruit Salad and Broccoli-Rice Salad are delicious at backyard cookouts, tailgate parties, and summer pool parties. And Three-Cheese Noodle Bake, Cuban Black Beans, and Baked Barbecued Chicken will attract happy fans whenever the potluck gathering calls for a hearty hot dish.

Most recipes are designed to feed eight hungry people, but author (and home cook) Andrea Chesman provides advice throughout on expanding recipes, stretching dishes when the dinner seating unexpectedly grows from eight to eleven people, using clever shortcuts that make cooking for a crowd no more difficult than cooking for four, and generally maintaining a degree of sanity as more people come flooding through the front door.

As always, Chesman’s primary accomplishment is to provide homey, hearty tastes that satisfy modern palates, yet still bear the unmistakable stamp of Mom’s Best.

The Organized Cook: How to Get it All Together

Judy Busch

List Price: $19.95 By: Bright Sky Press Amazon Marketplace: 16 new & used starting at $0.19

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 1.0 of 5

Blank book 1 out of 5 stars.
42 of 43 people found this review helpful.

This book is not filled with ideas, it is filled with space. It's basically a blank book of lists for you to enter names of party guests and food served, flowers present, even a space to list food in your freezer. How helpful is it to enter a permanent list of the food in your freezer into a book? If such a list is useful to you, write it up in Word and tack a list on the freezer so you can redo it should the contents of your freezer ever change. I was expecting tips and ideas for organizing, this is not that book. This was a waste of money for me.

Make an excel spreadsheet instead 1 out of 5 stars.
39 of 40 people found this review helpful.

The book is nothing but blank spaces for you to write in what's in your freezer, what you're having for a dinner party, or who you're inviting. What??? I can write that on a blank piece of paper and save myself $16 bucks.
Even better you can make an excel spreadsheet and actually have it mean something. I can't believe a publisher wasted paper on this book, trees were killed for nothing. This is truly a book of blank pages. There are no organizational tips, no party invitation ideas, there is nothing here that would actually help organize a cook.

Editorial Review:

This beautifully illustrated book is filled with tips on how to sail through preparing meals for guests with ease and grace.

Elegant Eating: Four Hundred Years of Dining in Style

Philippa Glanville, Hilary Young

Amazon Price: $26.37 List Price: $39.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Victoria & Albert Museum Amazon Marketplace: 20 new & used starting at $12.21

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Editorial Review:

Deftly blending the decorative arts and social history, this lavishly illustrated volume is the only book to survey the changing styles of fine dining and tableware from the 16th century to today. Introductory sections on dining ceremony and furnishings set the scene, after which the book follows the structure of a grand dinner, progressing from cocktails to dessert.

Focusing on the many decorative objects that stylish eating and drinking have inspired through the ages, the book is an important visual resource of luxurious period table settings, accurately re-created down to the last detail in the specially taken photographs. Fine individual pieces of glass, silver, and porcelain from the V&A's unparalleled collections offer a look at every manner of fine dining, from medieval banquets to fashionable 21st-century restaurants.

Teapots: Makers & Collectors

Dona Z. Meilach

Amazon Price: $39.46 List Price: $49.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Schiffer Publishing Amazon Marketplace: 14 new & used starting at $39.07

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Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Dive into tantalizing, eye-catching objects dubbed teapots, but be warned, serving tea is not necessarily their purpose. Though many artists are making functional, traditional teapots; other artistic adventurers are brewing up whimsical sculpture. Explore unique designs and materials. With the usual image of a ceramic or silver teapot in ones minds eye, how do you confront a teapot made with holes around the body? Or one made of woven fabrics, of silk with lace and buttons, wood, and coins? You do so with tongue in cheek and an intellectual, fine art sensibility. Dona Z. Meilach tackles the burgeoning activity of teapot making and collecting with over 450 dazzling color images of teapots from 227 artists in fourteen countries. She begins with a short history of why teapots evolved as late as the 1500s, when tea had already been consumed for generations. She introduces artists and talks about collectors, what they buy, where to buy, and ideas for displaying collections. And she plumbs her vast knowledge of artists techniques and materials and produces an electrifying compilation that will keep you turning pages and coming back again and again. With teapot collecting escalating so rapidly, this book is a must for private and corporate collectors, decorators, and museum curators to learn who is doing what, where, how, and why.

Secrets of Entertaining, 3rd: Pamper Your Guests, Your Home, and Yourself

Gail Greco

Amazon Price: $14.95 List Price: $14.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Globe Pequot Amazon Marketplace: 33 new & used starting at $0.01

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Good ideas for entertaining 4 out of 5 stars.
7 of 7 people found this review helpful.

This is a nice book with many lovely ideas for entertaining houseguests. Although many of the ideas submitted apply primarily to owners of bed & breakfast inns, they can easily be used by ordinary hosts and hostesses who wish to demonstrate graciousness and hospitality to their guests.

Editorial Review:

Gail Greco, executive producer and host of the national PBS-TV series Country Inn Cooking with Gail Greco, has traveled to America's country inns and B&Bs in search of unique entertaining ideas. This book features hundreds of innovative tips for cooking, decorating, and gardening and explains how to turn a home into a sanctuary for both you and your guests.

Whether you're entertaining for one or a hundred or trying to create romance for that special someone, you'll find this book essential to creating the perfect settings.

Discover tips for: personalizing your home; planning for adventuresome days and enchanted evenings; indulging in afternoon tea with friends; enjoying the rewards of a garden; pampering friends and family.