Partying with Paula and Rachael

REVIEWS BY SYBIL PRATT

Paula Deen, the diva of down-home and queen of the Savannah cooking scene, is, as usual, ready to party. And in Paula Deen Celebrates!, she gives you her annual schedule for living it up, offers the recipes to make each event a doozie, has her personal assistant Brandon add a unique decorating tip (a foliage-lined bowl filled with yellow and green bananas for Elvis's birthday) and offers "Paula's Pearls of Wisdom" to set the mood. Every celebration, traditional and non-, gets a complete menu. Start a special Valentine's Day dinner with shrimp and lobster bisque, try Green Grits Pie for St. Patrick's Day, peanut butter-glazed ham for Easter and Margarita Mousse for Cinco de Mayo. Y'all have a ball!


Rachael Ray, that one-woman conglomerate and super-popular force of nature, does the numbers in her latest, Rachael Ray 2, 4, 6, 8. In most cookbooks the recipes are for four or six, but Rachael knows that our busy lives are filled with uncertainties and that cutting recipes down or doubling and tripling them can be unnerving and disappointing. So, this ever-practical cook has come up with 100 different menus for her signature 30-minute meals designed to suit the number of folks at your table, be that 2, 4, 6 or 8. Each menu has a game plan that keeps you on track and each has a theme from an "Aren't We Fancy? Supper" for two with cognac-sauced steaks to "Jazz Fest" for a foursome with muffuletta salad and shrimp po' boys, a "Movie Marathon" for six featuring three kinds of pizza and a "Belly Up to Brunch" for eight designed around Heavenly Angel Hair Pasta. So, whether you're dining à deux or creating for a crowd, Rachael Ray will make your day.


The Chinese challenge

If you've ever wondered whether you could make Chinese food at home, wonder no more. With so many fresh items and once-exotic sauces and spices now available, you can do it more easily than ever. Two new cookbooks, both with gorgeous full-color photographs, will add to that ease and make the joys of this fabulous cuisine truly accessible. In the spirit of full disclosure, Yan-Kit's Classic Chinese Cookbook by Yan-Kit So is not new (though it's new to me and probably to you). It was first published more than 20 years ago, but as Claudia Roden says in the foreword of this new edition, "it remains one of the best introductions to Chinese cooking." Yan-Kit starts with a fully illustrated guide to the ingredients, equipment and all-important techniques, many with step-by-step photos, that help define what makes food Chinese. Then come the recipes, hors d'oeuvres to desserts, with carefully detailed instructions, and regional menus for multidish dinners that will inspire you to become a champion Chinese cook.


Simple Chinese Cooking by Kylie Kwong is a large-format (10 inches by 11 inches) knockout. The chef and restaurateur of billy kwong in Sydney and fourth-generation member of the largest Chinese family in Australia, Kylie has had two cooking series on the Discovery Home Channel here. When she says "simple" she really means it, and she makes sure that you'll find all the ingredients she uses on your supermarket's shelves. The book is divided into 14 chapters, each devoted to one main ingredient, including salads (unusual in a Chinese cookbook) and a selection of tofu dishes to delight your vegetarian friends and family. So, gaze at the full-page, almost edible photos that accompany each recipe, then start shopping and chopping, slicing and dicing, heat up that wok and get to work!


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