Product Description

Entertaining really can be easy. Whether you are hosting a dinner for a few friends or a cocktail party for a crowd, all you need is a good guide that gives you stylish, reliable recipes that don't require hours in the kitchen and simple hosting secrets that save time and eliminate last-minute stress. You'll find all that and more in Williams-Sonoma Easy Entertaining.

Ten lavishly illustrated chapters offer complete menus for the most popular kinds of entertaining occasions, from a Casual Breakfast and a Backyard Barbecue to a cozy Midweek Dinner, a Wine & Cheese Party, and a Celebratory Buffet. Each chapter includes recipes, tips, shopping notes, step-by-step style ideas, and a detailed work plan, as well as beautiful photographs illustrating inspired serving presentations. Simply put, you'll find everything you need to know to entertain with confidence and style, and it's all stunningly easy.

The more than 45 recipes offer fresh, flavorful dishes and drinks reinvented for the way real people cook today. You'll discover such appealing ideas as Creamed Broccoli Leek Soup, Roasted Halibut with Chive Butter and Caviar, and luscious Chocolate Espresso Crèmes made with just four ingredients. The menus offer tips on shortcuts and take full advantage of today's popular prepared foods, showing you how to add easy touches to make them your own. There are also reference sections packed with helpful guidelines for party planning, shopping, decorating, and organizing your time and home.

Williams-Sonoma Easy Entertaining is all about achieving one simple, irresistible goal: take the stress -- and much of the work -- out of entertaining so that you can relax and enjoy the company of your friends and family.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #534142 in Books
• Published on: 2006-05-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 144 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780743278522
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Customer Reviews

Great for New Hostess
I LOVE this book!! I got this book for Christmas and I can't wait to begin using it. I am a newlywed and just begining to entertain in our home and this book is wonderful. Literally every single thing in it was something that my husband I would love to eat or drink and we would be proud to serve to our guests. I love that it gives a full menu for each theme down to the drink or cocktail. For us, alcohol is where the budget really starts to get excessive for us when we have people over. I love the idea of just making one of the signature cocktails and offering that for the evening and maybe beer or wine. It would definitely take our bar tab down!! There was also a large assortment of non-alcoholic beverage options that went past the typical cheezy punches made with 7-Up and are overly sweet. These were cool non-alcoholic cocktails that my guests that don't drink or have to drive that day or evening would love to have as an option. I loved that the food was all geared to be made ahead of time and required little or no attention while my guests were there. All of the recipes (except the dinner party main course section) would be fine to sit out and have people munch as they wanted to. This will definitly simplify my entertaining and I'm sure my friends and family will love it too!!

One of Williams-Sonoma's Entertaining cookbooks...
I own many of Williams-Sonoma cookbooks and normally I just love the recipes and ideas that Chuck Williams presents! However, (and unfortunately) I was simply not too inspired by this latest (2006) Chuck Williams book on entertaining.

In my opinion, Williams Sonoma's cookbook called "THE COMPLETE ENTERTAINING COOKBOOK" (copyright 2003) was a much better entertaining book (and as is the other Williams-Sonoma cookbook called 'Classic Entertaining'). The reason that I say this is because the recipes,plus the photos and the ideas in the Williams Sonoma 2003 book (ie: "The Complete Entertaining Cookbook") were so much more inspiring than those in this 2006 "EASY ENTERTAINING" cookbook. Maybe if a reader does not own any of the other Williams-Sonoma cookbooks, they might find that this EASY ENTERTAINING Cookbook is somewhat valuable. However, for those of us that own other WILLIAMS-SONOMA books, they might find that this 'Easy Entertaining' book is just not that informative.

Yes, the photos in this latest book are nice and large, but the recipes are just so easy and so basic, that a person with even the most limited amount of cooking creativity could probably come-up with better ideas. I'm very sorry to say this because, as I said before, I am normally very pleased with all the Williams-Sonoma cookbooks!

My suggestion for a person looking for entertaining ideas (a`la Williams Sonoma style) would be to choose a few of their "theme"cookbooks and then incorporate those ideas into a variety of entertaining situations. This way a reader, could get a lot more for their money (even if they have to buy four seasonal William-Sonoma cookbooks).

P.S.: Another Williams-Sonoma cookbook about entertaining that a reader may want to look into, is called this: "Entertaining: Inspired Menus For Cooking with Family and Friends" [copyright 2004].

Nice gift
I bought this as a gift, for freinds who love it entertain, and it was really well-received.