Rating: 
Summary: Excellent choice for those who love to entertain!
Review: I am passionate about food and cooking and appreciate a good recommendation on cook books. This book came highly recommended by an associate at the bookstore so I thought I would give it a try. The stories are wonderful and the recipes extremely easy to follow and create(especially with a color photo to compare to).I've made 3 recipes so far, ceasar salad, chicken chili, and chocolate chunk cookies - all to rave reviews! I decided to try the salad for a family gathering - a family of fine cooks - so I was a bit nervous trying something new. I soon realized there was no need to be nervous when the complements started and noticed some dipping their bread in the salad bowl. I knew this book was a great treasure when I received so many complements on the cookies - which I've been trying to master for years (Toll-House doesn't compare to these). I can't wait to creat more of these wonderful recipes! I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves to entertain and equally loves food!
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Summary: CHARLES DICKENS AND JANE AUSTEN WOULD HAVE LOVED YOU!
Review: Sometimes it's hard to plan a get-together where people enter a room and enjoy themselves with good food and drink and fine conversation. Authors such as Charles Dickens and Jane Austen wrote extensively about people who got together at parties where foods and drinks were served, and wonderful conversation ensued; perhaps that's what every host and hostess would love to hear at their parties. Reading books such as Barefoot Contessa Parties! and The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook make me grateful that someone like Ina Garten took the time to figure out how an average homemaker can create nice parties where the food is not only delicious but comfortable to assemble and enjoy with friends. Before I read the book, it wasn't easy even to prepare a brunch for eight, but with sensible ideas, I can offer guests something different without trying the "omelettes for individuals", as Ina once did. Ina's Chinese Chicken Salad with the delicious peanut sauce is already in my refrigerator, as is the noodle pudding (rich and delicious). I loved the idea of pre-oiling and pre-heating the pan before creating homemade potato chips, and the Asian Grilled Salmon was a winner. Just think what 19th century authors would have accomplished if they were privy to your parties... Thanks to you and your terrific staff! What would I do without you? Sincerely, Robin
Rating: 
Summary: Gives you what you expect. Nothing More. Others are Better
Review: This is Ina Garten's second of three cookbooks and the one most closely patterned after the flagship work of her mentor, Martha Stewart. It presents ideas and recipes organized for small scale entertaining at home. As such it is no match for Stewart's 'Entertaining' volume, to which I would direct you if you need to plan any serious parties with more than eight guests. Garten's first book was simply recipes from her catering business. They were probably the best she had. This book adds value to a simple collection of recipes by organizing courses into party menus designed for sixteen different family and close friend occasions. The third book seems to be composed of leftovers. The choice of events to celebrate is a bit quirky in that traditional occasions such as Christmas, Graduation, Thanksgiving, Fourth of July, Mardi Gras / Carnavale, and St. Patrick's Day are not included. Rather, ten out of the sixteen are 'moveable feasts' in that the menu is appropriate to just about any occasion. Some are limited by season such as 'Outdoor Grill' and 'Canoe Trip', but many are generic indoor excuses to have a good time, such as 'Sunday Breakfast', 'Pizza Party', and 'Fireside Dinner'. Unlike Stewart's book, there is really not much serious advice on how to organize for parties. Much of it is common sense plus clever ideas for special events, such as the idea to pack picnic portions in Chinese takeout cartons. Garten has the advantage of claiming with full justification that her recipes are all specifically developed and test to work in a small party environment, as she has been in the catering business doing just this thing for many years. On reading her recipes and seeing many of them done on her Food Network TV show, I believe almost all of these recipes are simple and short in prep time, if not very cheap. The few recipes which take more than a page of large type are the baked goods. As Garten says herself, many are more a matter of 'assembling' than they are of cooking. Next to books from publishing house Alfred A. Knopf, cookbooks from Clarkson N. Potter have the most distinctive style. Where Knopf's books tend to follow the sedate style of Julia Child's classics, Potter's books for Stewart and Garten go for lots of large, glossy, very good photographs. Following the maxim that one eats with their eyes before their mouth, this may even help sell cookbooks with it's appeal to the visceral. Unfortunately, a rational look at the content versus the price suggests this book is a bit short on value. I will give Garten credit for referring to recipes in her earlier book rather than filling pages in this book with repeated recipes. I may be visually challenged, but photographs in cookbooks rarely create a positive impression and often create a negative impression if they are poorly done. In this book, I think they are a wash. They are too caught up in being artistic to give great value to the culinary, but they are not bad photos, so, they do nothing for my appreciation of the recipes. At $35 list price for sixteen menus and about eighty new recipes, I say this is only a modest value for the cost. The tie-in to the TV show adds some value, but not much. I would recommend Sheila Lukins' book 'Celebrate' as a serious resource for family gatherings. I already suggested Martha Stewart's book as a better source for larger events. I recommend this book to any Ina Garten fans plus anyone who already has the other volumes recommended in this review, and simply needs more ideas. Professional caterers are an obvious choice. The book delivers the expected content in an attractive package. Nothing more.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Outstanding!!!!
Review: When I first heard that Ina Garten had a new cookbook coming out I was as excited as I'd ever been as a young child waiting for Santa on Christmas Eve!! I thought to myself that if her new cookbook would be anything like her first book, "The Barefoot Contessa" then this was something I simply had to have. Well, I managed to get a copy of this new cookbook a day before it was actually released and I have to say that I am not disappointed. Once again, Ina has amazed me with mouthwatering receipes that I simply cannot wait to try. This is a beautiful cookbook that is definitely deserving of a 5-Star rating!!
Rating:
Summary: Just as wonderful as the first book
Review: I couldn't wait to purchase this book. I wasn't disappointed either. The recipes are clear and straight forward. Ina Garten gives wonderful ideas for all sorts of different get togethers. This is one that anyone who enjoys cooking, baking and just reading cookbooks should get.
Rating:
Summary: wonderful!
Review: All of Ina Garten's books are great. Recipes are easy to follow, ingredients readily available, and dishes always get rave reviews. I use her recipes on an almost daily basis. Many great ideas for enteretaining also. All 3 books are must haves.
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Summary: "Soooo Good!!!"
Review: I love cookbooks especially "entertainment/party planning" cookbooks and I feel in love with this book from day one. Every recipe I have tried has been soooo good! I had to write this because I tried the Chicken Chili yesterday and it was excellent and it made me realize that Ina hadn't gone wrong by me yet. The Roasted Asparagus and scrambled eggs (two things I would have never put together) were superb not to mention her shrimp salad that keeps me craving it every week, the Spinach Gratin and Smashed Sweet Potatoes that made me want to have Thanksgiving Dinner at my house this year (that's a first!) and her roasted cherry tomatoes were all wonderful! If you are like me and love easy cooking/entertaining that your guests and family would rave about please get this book! I'm definitely a Barefoot Contessa fan!
Rating:
Summary: For the woman who wants to entertain without the fuss
Review: I class myself as a good cook when I follow a recipe and it turns out well. I love to entertain but have generally ended up in a sweat and not really enjoying the event itself. Then I discovered Nigella Lawson and Ina Garten. Barefoot Contessa Parties is for the woman who wants to relax and enjoy the party when cooking for other people. She has a busy life and cooking is somewhat of a hobby. Barefoot Contessa Parties and Nigella Lawson's How To Eat (plus a double oven) gave me more confidence to cook for others and experiment with my own ingredients to adapt recipes than any of your Joy of Cooking or famous chef books. My kitchen is clean and tidy when guests arrive (a big plus for me being a messy cook) and the food is great. I also had dinner at a friend's house some months ago when the most delicious lamb was served. I've long envied the way it was cooked to discover the recipe in Barefoot Contessa Parties! On another note - there have been mixed reports about the beef tenderloin recipe. It worked for me. Perfectly. Yes, the oven smoked but the meat was superb and my guests were very complimentary. This will now be one of my staple dishes when entertaining. Please try Nigella Lawson's How to Eat or any book by Nigella. She too is an advocate for keeping it simple and being with your guests. She's also famous for the quote "after all, it's only dinner"
Rating: 
Summary: More of a lifestyle than a cookbook, but fun to look through
Review: This book has gorgeous photos and is fun, but it's not really designed for a regular person's life. Garten's idea of parties, which she writes in the introduction, are mostly small gatherings. This means that the book isn't very helpful for larger groups.
There are some tips on organizing the party, but not as much I would have liked, such as a timeline of how when to prepare things. Of course, when you are only doing a small party this isn't as important, but even for the tea for 25 she doesn't tell you how you should store things or what you should make first and last. My major complaint would probably be the cost of the recipes. Wow. This book is about how we might like to entertain our closest and dearest friends if we had a vacation house in the Hamptons and a BMW (oh wait...). So, really the book is about an ideal lifestyle most of us just wish we had. It's a fun read and has some interesting recipe ideas, but is not all that practical.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful
Review: I love Ina's shows and books and have found that the recipes always turn out just as they should. This is the second Barefoot Contessa book I have bought and although I haven't made quite as many recipes from this one as I have from Family Style (I just got Parties!), I can tell already that this one is a winner.
So far I've made the Spinach Gratin & Apple Crostata, both to rave reviews. ANyone who tells you that her books are not value for money is totally nuts. All of her recipes are totally dependable and keep me coming back again and again.
Please try he Family Style. It's magnificent!
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