This easy to produce, wildly funny comedy is about three generations of a Jewish family. All the fast paced action takes place around an all purpose dining table, sometimes a restaurant table and other times the dining table of a Jewish mother to end all Jewish mothers. Other characters include an exceedingly irreverent younger son, his martini swilling older brother who is married to a shiksa, and the older brother's two kids. Table Settings, a highly acclaimed and long running Off Broadway success is an hysterical look at an American family.
"Home Comforts" meets Miss Manners in this elegant, comprehensive guide to the table -- an invaluable resource for every aspect of formal and informal dining and entertainment. 130 line drawings throughout. 16 pages of color photos.
Before Julia Child’s warbling voice and towering figure burst into America’s homes, a gourmet food movement was already sweeping the nation. Setting the Table for Julia Child considers how the tastes and techniques cultivated at dining clubs and in the pages of Gourmet magazine helped prepare many affluent Americans for Child’s lessons in French cooking. David Strauss argues that Americans’ appetite for haute cuisine had been growing ever since the repeal of Prohibition. Dazzled by visions of the good life presented in luxury lifestyle magazines and by the practices of the upper class, who adopted European taste and fashion, upper-middle-class Americans increasingly populated the gourmet movement. In the process, they came to appreciate the cuisine created by France's greatest chef, Auguste Escoffier. Strauss’s impressive archival research illuminates themes—gender, class, consumerism, and national identity—that influenced the course of gourmet dining in America. He also points out how the work of painters and fine printers—reproduced here—called attention to the aesthetic of dining, a vision that heightened one’s anticipation of a gratifying experience. In the midst of this burgeoning gourmet food movement Child found her niche. The movement may have introduced affluent Americans to the pleasure of French cuisine years before Julia Child, but it was Julia’s lessons that expanded the audience for gourmet dining and turned lovers of French cuisine into cooks.
This hip, fabric-covered guide includes creative ways to style a table--whether for a sit-down dinner, cocktail party, brunch buffet, picnic in the park, and other fun get-togethers Whether you live in a small apartment or sprawling suburban kitchen, How to Set a Table features stylish, modern ideas for welcoming family and friends in your home. This gift book, wrapped in a pretty, printed fabric, serves as a practical step-by-step guide to entertaining--with extra information on etiquette, place setting basics, centerpieces, mixing and matching, essential glassware, and napkin folds. With unexpected ideas for using all the great tableware you can find at flea markets, chain stores, or around the house, How to Set a Table updates a classic topic for a new generation of hosts.
Provides menus, recipes, table settings, and serving ideas for tea time, with information on the history of tea and tea services, shops, and traditions.
Fernand Braudel famously observed that the 'mere smell of cooking can evoke a whole civilization'. The way that food is prepared, served, and eaten reveals a great deal about the structure and workings of any society. It is therefore not surprising that food, and the culturally specific etiquettes and equipment that surround the act of eating have been studied by scholars from a wide range of disciplines. The papers in this volume consider the changes that occurred in Old and New World dining and related culinary activities between the 17th century and the early 20th century. This period saw the widespread acceptance of the fork in dining and the adoption of routinized etiquettes to govern eating. In the 18th century the rise of individualism ushered in new forms of segmented dining based upon symmetrically arranged tables and individual place settings. Against this backdrop of manufactured uniformity, made possible by advances in industrial production, highly stylized dining rituals and haute cuisine, which had previously been the exclusive domain of European courtly elites, entered the homes and routines of the 'middling sort'. Henceforth, material expressions of status and social identity became commonplace at the table, and an integral part of dining in all but the humblest homes. The unique contribution of this volume lies in the way in which a distinguished group of international historical archaeologists have combined the richness of primary archaeological evidence with a wealth of documentary evidence to create insightful new material histories of dining. The new light which this throws upon manufacturing processes, feasting rituals, the rise of respectability, the inter-continental spread of the Victorian cult of domesticity, and foodways among peripheral agricultural communities will be of interest to scholars beyond archaeology, in the cognate fields of anthropology, social and economic history, cultural geography, and material culture studies.
Claudia Taittinger, of the famed Taittinger Champagne family, shares her secrets for hosting successful dinner parties with sophistication and style, including tried-and-true recipes sure to delight even the most discerning guest. Having played host to high society from Paris to New York and learned the art of cooking and presentation from some of France's most celebrated chefs at the Hôtel de Crillon in Paris, Claudia Taittinger is a consummate entertainer and bon vivant--who can really cook. Elegance, refinement, and graciousness color every detail of every delightful and delicious occasion. Drawing on traditional rules of French savoir faire, Taittinger guides readers to hosting unforgettable events. Starting with the type of occasion--from sophisticated formal parties to holiday gatherings and intimate dinners--and using exquisite photography, she illustrates how to tailor the table and create the appropriate mood and ambience. Each event is paired with mouthwatering recipes, from a classic Eggplant Terrine and always comforting Salmon Coulibiac to a delicious Duck Breast with Roasted Figs and Wild Mushrooms. Taittinger deftly combines colors, finishes, textures, and floral arrangements to set the stage for the perfect occasion while sharing time-honored principles of social etiquette, making the grandeur of the Parisian lifestyle accessible for everyone and inspiring the reader to host dinner parties with incomparable French flair.
Many of the most important events of our lives are made even more memorable when we gather with those we love to share a meal, conversation and laughter. Whether the occasion is a special celebration or a simple family meal, a stylish table complements both the food and the company. If you love to entertain, Easy Table Settings for Every Occasion is filled with ideas that will inspire you to create special moments around your dining table. The text includes hints on how to make various décor items, and tips on entertaining with flair.
Discover classic and contemporary Scandinavian style with specially commissioned photography of homes in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland. Discover classic and contemporary Scandinavian style with specially commissioned photography of homes in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland. Scandinavia is famous for its distinctive style: homes are pared-back and simple, and form and function are combined to create aesthetically pleasing and practical interiors. Scandinavians are inspired by light, having an abundance of it in summer but so little of it in winter, and house designs tend to maximize the amount of natural light that enters the home, and allow the inhabitants to make the most of outdoor life during the summer. Similarly, nature and the weather are major influences: homes are made warm and cozy for the freezing winter months—not just literally with log burners, but also through incorporating wood and natural materials. Here Niki Brantmark, owner of the interior design blog My Scandinavian Home, presents a wide-ranging collection of these beautiful homes and explores how the Scandinavian lifestyle is reflected in them all. The first chapter, Urban Living, features styles ranging from minimalist to bohemian, and pale palettes to dramatic dark colors. By contrast, the Country Homes tend to have a softer, calmer feel, through color and textiles, in line with a slower pace of life. Finally, the spectacular Rural Retreats include a mountain cabin, beach house, and rustic summer cottage, and demonstrate how having somewhere to escape to is so important to many Scandinavians. This collection of stunning interiors will put Scandi style within every reader’s reach.
