Georgeanne Brennan - Gather

Table of Contents

acknowledgments

First, foremost, and always, to my husband, Jim Schrupp, my biggest fan, who reads everything I write, and without whom there would be only a small garden. Thanks to Tom and Katie Schrupp and Dan Schrupp for cheerfully sampling so much food in my kitchen and from our garden over the years, and for becoming such good cooks and gardeners themselves. Ethel, a special thanks to you for your inspired food and prop styling, and for the good advice you gave me about this book when I would go astray. And thanks for the fun we had working on this project together. Thank you, Lara, for the gorgeous photos and the way you captured the special light of every season. Thank you to Elise Revert for her calm, French demeanor while food styling. A very special thanks to my friend Melanie Bajakian who, when called on short notice to help with the wedding shoot, produced a carload of still-wrapped presents, party favors, platters, and trays from her daughters wedding the week before, and for producing a three-tiered chocolate wedding cake from her restaurant, the Putah Creek Cafe. And to Yvonne, who made the cake.

Thanks to my agent, Danielle Svetcov, who pushed me to write several versions of the proposal, and to Gary Luke, publisher at Sasquatch Books, who patiently waited until I produced a proposal for the book he had in mind.

Thank you to Maison dEtre (www.maisondetre.com) for letting us use so many of their beautiful props. Thank you to Elise Ravet for her help, use of her home, and for her beautiful food styling. Thank you to Heidi Hildenbrand-Goodman for joining in the styling fun; a very special thank you to Melanie Bajakian for her very generous contributions to our wedding-menu shoot. We would also like to thank Yvonne Galloway at the Putah Creek Cafe in Winters, California, for the delicious chocolate wedding cake! Thank you to Berryessa Gap Winery in Winters, California, for the use of their vineyardsone of our favorite locations.

introduction

If I close my eyes I can see it. Were all in the kitchen, everyone helping. Mary Ann, a longtime friend and cooking coconspirator, is filling gougres with the lobster salad she has made that morning. My daughter, Ethel, and two of her girlfriends from San Francisco are cracking open the roasted chestnuts for the soup. My son, Oliver, is grinding peppercorns with a pestle in the wooden mortar I brought from France many years ago, and my stepsons, Tom and Dan, are filling Belgian endive leaves with dabs of goat cheese, finishing them off with bits of smoked salmon and green peppercorns, and arranging them on a tray. My husband is adding another oak log to the kitchen fireplace, and a waft of wood smoke mingles with the rich aroma of the cassoulet in the oven. Katie, our friend from England, opens the Champagne and starts pouring it into flutes, just as the last gougre is filled. We raise our glasses in a toast. The occasion? An opportunity to be together.

Ten years later, my kitchen ranks have swollen to include two daughters-in-law, a son-in-law, and three grandchildren. The girlfriends are back, this time with husbands and children. Mary Ann, alas, is in Australia, but I think of her once again, as family and friends gather together in my kitchen, spilling out into the dining room, sipping Champagne as we put the finishing touches on a special meal. The occasion this time? Katie is back in town.

Life is full of occasions for celebrating, but too often we postpone them, thinking were so busy that we dont have enough time or energy to plan and execute the party in our minds eye. Sometimes this is true, such as the time I gave a prewedding dinner party for my stepson and his bride-to-be. More than fifty people were invited. Id had my menu planned for weeksgazpacho, paellas, green salad, and oven-roasted peaches with ice creamand I had even hired someone to help me in the kitchen that evening. On the day of the party, the peaches I had ordered arrived hard as rocks, and while most of the food was ready, some of the details were missing. A friend helped me shop for the salad greens, picked up my seafood, adjusted the seasoning on the gazpacho for me, organized some helpers to peel and poach the peaches, finished the bouquets for the tables, and sent me to dress and have a glass of wine before the guests arrived. After a slightly stiff beginning, the two extended families and their friends cooked the paellas over the three grills I had lined up against the grape arbor, the wine and conversation flowed freely, and it turned out to be a memorable evening for all of us. In the end, it didnt matter that I hadnt rubbed every single toast with garlic, that I had forgotten to serve the olives, or that the party began with the wrong wine being poured.

A celebration doesnt need to be grand or large. It can be as simple as a housewarming for a friend or a new neighbor, a special meal for a book club or a movie night with friends. Celebrations are occasions to bring people together over good food, where the shared memories that are the basis of family, friendship, and community are created. Sometimes the occasion is a culturally acknowledged one, such as Thanksgiving or Christmas, a wedding or a birthday, but it can also be personal or quirky, like a summer solstice party, a dinner for the Day of the Dead, or an Easter eggdecorating party. For thousands of years people have celebrated the harvest, welcoming the new crops that will ensure that years sustenance, so why not a Vintners Feast, celebrating the grape harvest? Personally, I think a cozy Sunday supper, even for only four or five people, is one of the most enjoyable of occasions; and best of all, there are fifty-two Sundays in a year.

There are ways to make entertaining fun instead of stressful or time-consuming. I have learned a lot from my friends and neighbors in the south of France, where I have had a house for many years. They dont prepare every single dish for an entire meal. They focus on one or two items and purchase the rest. For example, appetizers are often simple: olives, nuts, toasts with a spread or a topping. The first course might be a composed salad, easy to prepare, followed by the main course and a beautiful dessert from the local patisserie. The host or hostess is free to focus his or her creative energy on cooking the main course.

Part of the fun of entertaining for me is choosing the table linens, flatware, and glassware; deciding on the decorations; and then assembling them all a day or two before the party. This takes a bit of doing to pull everything together, so I try to prepare well in advance. I usually set the table the morning of the party, or even the evening before. I prefer to keep the decorations simple and casual, focusing on the foliage, flowers, fruits, and nuts that are seasonally available, much of them harvested from my landscape and garden. Doing the table planning and executing it well ahead leaves me plenty of time to devote to cooking. And of course, whenever possible, and especially for larger gatherings, choosing dishes that can be prepared ahead, even frozen, is very helpful and eases the flow of the event.