Giving Up the Goods: The Entertaining Encylopedia

Posted by The Editorial Desk / Friday, November 6th, 2009

With the latest 50 Best Restaurants roundup finally behind me (have no illusions; these awards issues will be the death of me), I’ve finally had a chance to sort through the mushrooming stack of culinary tomes that were threatening to overtake my office.

Turns out, I’ve neglected some real page-turners.

But no more.

For the next few weeks we’ll be spreading the literary wealth by offering up free copies of various food titles, beginning with Denise Vivaldo’s party planning primer, The Entertaining Encyclopedia:

(Image: Robert Rose)

This indispensable hospitality guide aims to assuage any event planning jitters by serving up a buffet of comprehensive theme menus–25 in all, ranging from casual gatherings like “garden brunch” and “girls night in” to stun-the-neighbor soirees like “Turkish twilight” or “African Ivory Coast”–classic cocktail recipes and even a cheat sheet for on-the-fly coffee service (easy-to-read chart plots everything you’ll need to produce piping-hot java for from six to 75 guests).

Vivaldo also tackles the ins and outs of pantry stocking (a cooking equivalency grid projects the final yield for all your fresh produce), proper place setting procedures and savvy clean-up tips.

Oh yeah, and she weaves in around 200 recipes ready for deployment at just about any hour of the day.

A must-have for budding hostesses, we’re fairly certain even veteran socialites will find a few new tricks worth swiping from Vivaldo’s 400+ page manifesto on merrymaking.

All you have to do to get your hands on it is leave a comment below sharing where you go to keep your kitchen in optimum working order (i.e., where you do shop for kitchenware, glassware, barware, cutlery, appliances, specialty cooking tools, etc.).

We’ll select one winner at random from all the comments submitted before 5 p.m. on Thursday, Nov 12.

And please don’t get discouraged if this cooking resource happens to slip through your fingers. Because we’ll be rolling out another giveaway next Friday.

–Warren

Tags: celebrations, contest, cookbook, Denise Vivaldo, Entertaining Encylopedia, giveaway, Gut Check, hospitality guide, Northern Virginia Magazine, recipes, Warren Rojas