Gatherings, Bringing People Together With Food by Jan Scott and Julie Van Rosendaal, Whitecap Books, $34.95.
If ever there's a time to gather with family and friends, it's now during the holiday season. And while traditional Christmas and Hanukkah celebrations play an important role at this time of the year, this book has some suggestions of other ways to get together.
Along with plenty of full-colour photos, Gatherings offers how-to tips and recipes for a variety of common get-togethers, such as a holiday open house, weekend brunch, showers, pie parties, birthday parties and backyard barbecues, as well as less common affairs including cocktail parties, beer tastings, retro game nights, and sleepover parties.
Ever heard of a pantry party? Author Jan Scott explains in the book that she started thinking about a pantry party after participating in a holiday cookie exchange. She considered that there were more times of the year when a similar exchange would be welcome.
She decided to hold her pantry party in February since it tends to be a quiet month in terms of social engagements. During a pantry party, family and friends bring one food item to swap with others at the party. Recipes in this section include Boozy Apple Barbecue Sauce, Garlic and Herb Finishing Salt, and more.
This book has lots of recipe ideas set out in an easy-to-follow format.
Best of Bridge Holiday Classics Best of Bridge Publishing Ltd. and Robert Rose Publishing Ltd., $29.95.
"Latte" is Latin for "You paid too much for that coffee."
In this latest holiday version of the classic Bridge cookbooks, some of the jokes that are sprinkled throughout the recipe pages have been updated, such as the one above. Some are a little outdated: Marriage is a relationship where one person is always right and the other is the husband.
And some are pretty accurate: Having one child makes you a parent. Having two makes you a referee.
The bridge ladies, as they are called, are a group of eight friends from Calgary who went on an overnight trip together 30 years ago. They played bridge and did a lot of cooking.
One of the women is quoted as saying, "The best part of playing bridge is the eating."
The friends decided to put their favourite recipes together in a cookbook and the first Best of Bridge cookbook was born. Over the years they have sold more than three million copies of 12 cookbooks. This latest one collects their favourite 225 recipes for special occasions together in one book.
Sections include Holiday Brunches, Sit-Down Dinners, Buffets and Potlucks, Cookies and Squares, Leftovers and Food Gifts. The recipes are presented in an easy-to-read format with some colour photos. The book also lies flat making it easy to rest on a counter while cooking.
