16) More on Books Featured AARP Member Benefits See more Entertainment. But most of her fans will find this book inspiring and unintimidating. 5 Simon & Schuster Martha Stewart s Very Good Things Clever Tips & Genius Ideas. For the millions of urbanites who love her style, but cannot find an organic tussock, Stewart fails to suggest a substitute-say, a couple of bunches of parsley.

Yet some of the rusticity espoused in the recipes verges on artificial: a country ham is to be baked atop a bed of grass. Gone are the gilded pumpkins of yore instead, Stewart's Halloween party calls for pumpkins stuffed with a savory mix of vegetables and chicken, topped with puff pastry and served with a cognac cream sauce on the side. In 20 chapters, she gives step-by-step instructions for assembling a theme party-whether a spicy Thai lunch or a fried green tomatoes brunch. With 500 glorious full-color photographs, 300 original recipes, and hundreds of innovative ideas,Entertainingis the book that revolutionized the way people.

``Light'' this isn't, but preparation and menus are indeed more spare than in the author's earlier efforts. Though she claims in her introduction that she now prefers simpler foods and fixings, Stewart's mashed potatoes still call for a stick of butter, a quarter cup of heavy cream and a cup of softened cream cheese. Just when you thought the lavish style of '80s-era entertaining was gone forever, Stewart (Martha Stewart's New Old House) releases another book destined to make party-givers want to blow up balloons and repolish their candelabras.

Martha stewart entertaining book