Entertaining - General & Miscellaneous, Holiday Cooking - General & Miscellaneous

B. Smith : Rituals and Celebrations

Name: B. Smith : Rituals and Celebrations
Author: Barbara Smith, Mark Ferri
ISBN: 9780375502361

by Barbara Smith, Mark Ferri

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Overview

Television lifestyle expert B. Smith shares her passion and ideas for entertaining, cooking, and crafts in this fabulous twelve-month celebration of holidays and rituals. As a restaurateur, TV host, columnist, and former model, B. Smith lets us in on the tricks of entertaining with flair and personal style.

The first in a series, Rituals & Celebrations is organized by calendar month, each including two or three celebrations and containing a history of the ritual, full-course recipes, party ideas, and step-by-step craft instructions. In addition to such basic celebrations as a wine tasting at home,a Labor Day picnic on the beach, and a New Year's Eve pajama party for kids, Rituals & Celebrations also incorporates such African American traditions as a Juneteenth celebration and a bid whist card party. The book also includes some wonderful variations on traditional holidays, such as a hot pink Valentine's Day, a Thanksgiving featuring Jerked Roast Turkey, and Christmas Eve spent dipping into fondue.

Shrimp Dumplings with Ginger Soy Sauce, Candied Glazed Pork Tenderloin with Sweet Potato Stuffing, and Triple Chocolate Torte are just a few of the other mouthwatering recipes included. Craft ideas include putting together the perfect houseguest thank-you basket and creating beautiful personalized hand-painted glassware.

B. Smith brings these celebrations into your home and helps you make them your own. Filled with beautiful full-color photographs, B. Smith: Rituals & Celebrations completes any home and makes a great gift all year long.

B. Smith gives us twelve months of menus, recipes,crafts, and party ideas that help us celebrate with style

About the Author, Barbara Smith, Mark Ferri

Barbara Smith is the host of her own half-hour nationally syndicated television series, B. Smith with Style, and appears regularly as a lifestyle expert on NBC's Today show. She is the owner of three B. Smith's restaurants in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Sag Harbor, Long Island. Her new magazine, B. Smith Style, will be available on newsstands this fall. She lives with her husband, Dan Gasby, a television producer, and her step-daughter, Dana, in New York City and Sag Harbor.

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Editorials

From Barnes & Noble

Celebrate the Holidays in Style

Not being much of a television watcher, I had had little exposure to the current entrepreneurial phenomenon, lifestyle expert Barbara Smith. I had eaten a few tasty meals in her New York restaurant, B. Smith's, but otherwise had remained untouched by her passion for cooking, entertaining, high-impact homemaking, decor, and handicrafts. A sudden media blitz, however, made me more than aware of her gifts—television hostess, lifestyle expert, restaurateur, magazine editor in chief, and author. Where does one woman find the time to do all of this well, I thought.

Catching up with Barbara Smith was no easy task as, just in time for holiday entertaining and giving, she was traveling across America promoting her new book, B. Smith: Rituals & Celebrations. The first in a proposed series of four lifestyle books, it is a wonderfully conceived celebration of giving. Broken down by month, with each section highlighting two or three celebrations of the moment, Rituals & Celebrations gives the reader a bit of history, party ideas, easy-to-execute recipes, and simple handicrafts to make home entertaining a snap. You can find helpful ideas to celebrate Christmas in a stylish fashion as well as hints on the perfect Chinese New Year bash. This is a great book for anyone who wants to entertain with great style and little stress.

A former model, Barbara Smith has, like many single-minded career women, had a tough row to hoe as she's built her many enterprises. Unlike Martha Stewart, to whom she is most often compared, the very beautiful Ms. Smith now seems to enjoy every minute of her success. She makes cooking and entertaining fun and within the reach of us ordinary souls. Where Martha Stewart intimidates and makes me feel a bit inadequate, Barbara Smith makes entertaining with style well within my reach. Her self-described "casual elegance" is accessible elegance. Her "creative vision and playful style" are in evidence on every page of the book.

Rituals & Celebrations made me take a look at Barbara Smith's new magazine, B. Smith Style, which has hit the newsstands in time for the holiday rush. Called "the new lifestyle magazine devoted to entertaining, home, garden, travel, fashion, and beauty," this is a magazine that Barbara assures us is filled with her personal style and passions. "We wanted to create a lifestyle magazine that makes elegance and style an achievable reality for our readers," she says. "The real challenge will be to relate ideas that are not only truly elegant and stylish but also creative and simple."

With her new book and her exciting new magazine, Barbara Smith certainly presents a uniquely personal message: "We live in a multicultural world where everyone wants to be able to and should have the opportunity to experience elegance and beauty in their own lives." Find your own festivity in the pages of Rituals & Celebrations and add it to your own library or give it as a gift this holiday season. Either way, you will feel a little bit more stylish and elegant during this busiest of all seasons.

—Judith Choate

NY Times Magazine

B. Smith's goal is to get you looking good and having fun.

Wall Street Journal

Ms. Smith has surfaced as one of the most formidable rivals of Martha Stewart.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

"You don't need vast resources to be creative," Smith believes. "You just need to be resourceful." True enough, but most admirers of this restaurateur and television personality will have to enlist a few helpers in order to emulate her dynamic style: Smith is passionate about entertaining. She insists that hostesses must be well-organized, for there's a lot of work involved in her seasonal meals, party plans and craft projects. More than 100 chic and highly seasoned recipes are presented in the context of monthly, celebratory menus--from Heart-Shaped Swordfish Papillotes with Mango Salsa for a Valentine's Day Dinner for Two to Orzo Paella at a Labor Day Weekend Dinner Party. Classics are given clever twists: Warm Apple Spring Rolls with Rum Cider Syrup can be served for Chinese New Year and Jerked Roast Turkey for Thanksgiving. Many African-American traditions are incorporated into the food and party themes as well--Smith recommends serving Black-eyed Pea Salad for Juneteenth. Craft projects such as painting glassware sound like fun, and her decorations can be as lighthearted as setting real goldfish swimming in small bowls at each place setting. Smith describes herself as having "creative vision and playful style," and she exhibits both in this first of a planned four-book series. 16-city author tour. (Oct.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

In this book, Smith, former model and now owner of three restaurants (in New York City, Sag Harbor, NY, and Washington, DC), offers "menus and ideas for festive events throughout the year, from `A New Year's Day Buffet' to `A Christmas Eve Fondue.'" (LJ 9/15/99) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.