Cristina Ferrare's Family Entertaining

Book excerpt: Growing up in a close-knit Italian family, Cristina Ferrare learned early that nothing equals the satisfaction of putting together a delicious meal, setting a lovely table and getting rave responses from the people you care about. Cristina Ferrare's Family Entertaining brings all these elements together in a beautiful book filled with menus, more than 150 recipes, gift and decorating ideas, and, most of all, Ferrare's sense of what makes a meal truly magical. Ferrare takes us through a year full of celebrations at her home, with osso buco, risotto and chocolate mousse cake for New Year's, through Mother's Day, the Fourth of July and a sumptuous Thanksgiving feast, to five festive and delicious menus for parties during the Christmas season. A great believer in creativity and flexibility in entertaining, Ferrare suggests ideas for a birthday party, a Mexican fiesta and a late-summer picnic that take advantage of the fruits and vegetables of the season. She also includes many of her family's traditional Italian recipes--variations on her mother's and grandmother's classics, including fourteen different pasta sauces--and her own favorite comfort foods, such as chicken pot pie with a cornbread crust. Cristina Ferrare's Family Entertaining inspires us to make every day a celebration of home, family and food.