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There once was a time when I entertained a lot. Of course, those were the days when “entertaining” meant picking up chips and beer on the way home from work on Friday night—and maybe, if I was feeling ambitious, baking some cookies. Since then, I’ve grown to accept the fact that I’m not really the hostess type. It’s not that I don’t want to be one of those women who can whip up a perfect party for 20; it’s just not in my genes. But when I saw DeeDee Stovel and Pam Wakefield’s book, Let’s Get Together: Simple Recipes for Gatherings with Friends, I hoped that Stovel and Wakefield could help me out.
Let’s Get Together is a collection of recipes meant for all kinds of occasions—whether you’re hosting a dinner party, a shower, or just a couple of houseguests. There are breakfasts, soups, salads, entrees, sides, drinks, desserts, and more, meant to serve anywhere from four guests to 20—or sometimes even more. The whole thing is nicely organized—broken up into sections, with prep time and number of servings prominently displayed, as well as plenty of suggestions for combining dishes to create a full meal.
But while I went into Let’s Get Together hopefully—and with the best of intentions—it didn’t take me long to become completely overwhelmed. The book’s subtitle says “simple,” but that’s a bit misleading. I expected a bunch of delicious recipes that are simple to prepare. Instead, I got a collection of recipes for people whose palates are much more sophisticated than mine—and who don’t mind working to satisfy their discriminating tastes.
Now, don’t get me wrong; some of the recipes in this book do sound delicious (especially the desserts—yum!). I might even try a couple of them. But, on the other hand, I don’t intend to put endive and radish salad on the menu for my next dinner party. And I’ll admit that some recipes in the book require ingredients that I’ve never actually heard of. On top of that, many of the recipes are pretty labor-intensive, requiring all sorts of grating and chopping and sifting and julienne-ing and dredging and trussing. They call for various kinds of flours and greens and other things that most people probably don’t pick up on their weekly trip to the grocery store. And while many of the recipes seem to have short preparation times (often an hour or so, not including marinating or chilling or things like that), I have a feeling that those times apply to those who actually know what they’re doing—not to people like me.
If you’re the anchovies-and-arugula kind of host or hostess, I’m sure you’ll find plenty of new ideas for entertaining in Let’s Get Together. But, for now, it looks like I’ll continue to be the beer-burgers-and-chips kind of hostess—because while some of the recipes in the book sound delicious, they’re a bit too gourmet for my tastes, and they’re a bit too labor-intensive for my level of culinary [in]ability.
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