Time to Entertain?

It's that time of the year again, when all the cooking magazines on the newsstands are covered with turkeys, cakes and other holiday treats. How are you doing on serving pieces? Do you have enough platters, bowls and accoutrement to handle your guests and hosting obligations?

If not, can I make a few suggestions? (I promise I won't subject you to a parade of all of my serving pieces, which could take all day...)

Williams-Sonoma (not Williams and Sonoma...) has some great new platters available. They come in two different sizes and are very flat, with just the tiniest lip on the edge. Since these don't curve up on the sides, service space is maximized allowing you to pile hors d'ouevres, cookies or candy as high as you like.

The Leo all-purpose glass from Crate and Barrel is affordable and slightly different than many of the wine glasses on the market. These would be perfect for your holiday bar, but also for serving dessert. Think: individual trifles, piles of chocolate mouse or scoops of ice cream. Multiple uses means you can easily justify the purchase, but at $1.95 per glass you don't really need to!

Aluminum serving pieces from West Elm would brighten up any holiday table. Each of these pieces would mix in well with just about any table setting and could be used to stack bon bons, sweets or creme puffs to majestic heights.

Ever affordable, IKEA has a variety of bowls that would be perfect for mashed potatoes, salads and side dishes. Mix and match colors, textures and styles loosely for a table that is warm, welcome-y and homey.

One of my ugliest predilictions is for salad servers, I can't stop buying them! How many sets is too many? I have several vintage sets, in addition to ones I've picked up at Crate and Barrel, Bloomingdale's Home and elsewhere. This olivewood set from Sur la Table is truly covetable, though, and if you don't have a nice set of servers I suggest you splurge on these. They are made in Fraaaaance.

Happy Holidays!

Don't Say I didn't Warn You...

...but in this month's issue of Bon Appétit, they have proclaimed that the punch bowl is BACK. Literally. Dear reader, recall that you heard it here first (never doubt me!) and that I have been proclaiming the social merits of the punch bowl forever. In my opinion, the punch bowl never left the party, so there is no reason to declare it back. And what say you? Will you jump on this bandwagon, or wait until it's too late and everyone has a punch bowl while your sideboard sits empty? What? You don't even have sideboard? Get thee to the furniture store!

Likewise, both Metropolitan Home and Bon Appétit have also professed a fondness for the coupe, the short, rounded champagne glass made popular by the media and at champagne fountains for ages. In legend, this small rounded glass was said to be shaped upon the breast of a variety of French noblewomen, including Marie Antoinette, Madame du Pompadour, the Countess du Barry and Diane de Poitiers. The idea being that suitors and admirers of said women could toast the beauty of their bosoms with glasses shaped on those very breasts and filled with the very best champagne. Notorious women all (mostly French, n'est-ce pas?), this legend is of course fantastical fiction, but a delicious idea.

Strangely, for years these same magazines and lifestyles guides has derided this traditional glass as second rate. The simple reason being that a tall, elegant flute preserves the all-important bubbles of sparkling wine longer. Suddenly, this doesn't matter and you can purchase coupes from Crate and Barrel or Baccarat. Am I tossing my lovingly collected set of mismatched flutes for a new set of coupes modeling on the breasts of decadent French aristocrats? Oh reader, I thought you knew me.

Shopping for Your Kitchen

Real Simple published a nice on-line shopping guides for various aspects of your home. The list for the kitchen has some great sources, if for nothing else besides browsing and dreaming.

Also, Japan's Muji (a super-stylish and affordable store featuring a wide array of items) is opening two branches in New York. While this isn't necessarily convenient for me, I'm hoping this means there will be a branch of the web store for the States. That way, we can all get some of their wonderful stuff for our kitchen.

Happy shopping!