If you’d love to host more dinner parties, but are intimidated by cooking for a crowd, Cook the Part is for you. Written by Karin Eastham, a former bio-tech CFO who loves to entertain with husband Gary, the book shows you how to team up your guests to prepare fabulous four-course meals. “The secret ingredient to your success,” writes Eastham, “is the perfect plan.”
Eastham takes eight themed menus (with most recipes created by her husband) that include a “Tuscan Farmhouse Dinner,” “Comfort Food,” and a “Taste of Baja,” dividing them into tasks for four teams. “Everybody owns the result,’’ she says, because guests work on more than one dish. “It’s not competitive, but rather a re-creation of what happens in the workplace. I call team cooking a metaphor for corporate life.” In fact, business colleagues from the bio-tech community helped her test the recipes — their photos are sprinkled throughout the book. At a recent book signing, Lisa Stennes-Laikind praised Eastham for her “ingenuity and creativity, and bringing friends together for food. She takes intimidation out of the process.”
Cook the Part also offers step-by-step instructions on party planning, advance preparations, what to do when guests arrive, and guidelines for both host and guests. “I’m not passing this off as a no-work-for-the-hostess kind of concept. There are things the hostess has to do in advance to make sure the event flows smoothly. But in the end, everybody is really having a good time. I’ve had so many people leaving my home after these parties say, ‘This is the best dinner party I’ve ever attended.’ And yet, in reality, they’ve been working all night.” (www.cookthepart.com) ANDREA NAVERSEN
