Customer Reviews

Cocktail Parties With a Twist: Drink + Food + Style

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is a breath of fresh air in the sometimes overly fussy genre of entertaining books. The parties all have a fabulous air of fantasy about them, but the authors really show you how you can get the same feel. My favorite is the Impossibly Small Apartment party, which shows how a less-than-perfect pad can be transformed into a cool spot for a glamorous get-together.

Actually, the best part is the original cocktail recipes, which are sophisticated and delicious. Too many cocktail books are just encyclopedias of drinks, many of which are awful. The authors have done a great job of presenting excellent classic recipes, and their original recipes are killer!

Overall, this is a younger, hipper version of Colin Cowie or Martha. This book is a must-have for bartenders or aspiring mixologists, and would be a perfect present for a young person starting out in party-giving (maybe for a 21st b-day) or for anyone who's get-togethers could use an infusion of fun, funky ideas.

Why did I buy it? Looked good, sounded good. Lived up to it's promise? Too many group shots of chatty singles in salubrious discussion. Would have been nice to have seen more shots of the food. In the end, the recipies themselves proved to be a little more of the same. Unimaginative, hardly unique.

A friend of mine got me this book because I am having a Christmas party, and the book is awesome. Being a single guy, most of my parties consist of your basic beer, wine, vodka and tequila. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but this book has really fantastic drink recipes - speakeasy-type drinks from the Prohibition era and other cool cocktails. It also teaches you how to mix excellent drinks and about different kinds of alcohol, etc.., as well as how to make many different kinds of party food. I highly recommend it. It's laid out like a coffee table book, with very cool pictures (including several good looking girls, which is a bonus, at least for me). I am about to buy it for some friends and wanted to stop off and give it a good review. Check it out!

I'm always looking for new ideas for parties and I thought this book might give me some new and upscale "twists" on the cocktail party theme. What I got was a book by 20-something "wanna-be-the-Rat-Pack", featuring pictures of the like, with recipes for food that's perfect for the skinny crowd -- because you wouldn't want to eat any of them! They epitomize the reason the "Cocktail Party" fell out of vogue. When you're trying too hard to project style, you just don't have it.

This book is simply gorgeous. It will inspire you to dream up some excuse to throw a party and enjoy it. It is a "must-have" for every kitchen bookshelf and certainly worthy of display on the coffee table. I bought one for myself and am now buying a few more to give away as Christmas presents.

If you're looking for a recipe for a Singapore Sling, turn to Mr. Boston's. And if party pictures of young people upset you for some reason, this isn't your book.

But if you're looking for truly distinctive, really impressive, great tasting cocktails and food to go with it, this book is for you. While it's masquerading as something of a lifestyle book, I found it to be a suprisingly serious and well-researched effort.

I've had a lot of memorable nights thanks to the ideas in here, and I've never seen another book like it -- it's almost like the French Laundry Cookbook, but focused on drinks. I'm very glad I trusted the positive reviews here.

Most books on cocktails focus exclusively on how to make the drinks. This book takes a more atmospheric approach. It has great examples of what drinks and food to serve for different kinds of cocktail parties.

I highly recommend this book.

It's so difficult to find party advice that doesn't fall somewhere between quaint and precious. I'm thrilled by the exquisite and sophisticated ideas set forth in this tome of cocktails, cuisine and style. This book leaves Martha Stewart to the elder set and finally provides guidance to the young and cosmopolitan. Look ma, no more doilies!

Combing the aisles of any well-stocked bookstore, one can't help but notice the ever-growing population of cookbooks encroaching on the real estate of its neighboring "Computers" section. It seems as though any marginally recognizable public figure, regardless of how remote his/her connection might be to the very notion of food preparation, has something to share on the subject of cooking and entertaining. Sadly, yet predictably, the majority of these publications falls woefully short of anything useful or instructive for the individual who appreciates fine entertaining. For those who value this rarefied art, look no further, as Alexandra and Eliot Angle will take you on a guided tour of how it's done in their fantastic book, "Cocktail Parties With a Twist: Drink + Food + Style."

Contained within its exquisitely photographed 160 pages is everything one needs to know on how to execute an elegant cocktail party: uniquely original cocktail recipes, unpretentious and easy-to-prepare hors d'oeuvres, thoughtful and artful serving suggestions. But what truly separates The Angles's book from the competition is its almost scholarly approach toward preserving the fine art of entertaining and its understanding that there's much more to a successful evening of entertaining than good food and drink.

Recipes can be followed closely to yield a delicate pie crust or a Perfect Martini, but hosting, in its purest form, has no scientific recipe; it's something that must be learned through careful observation and practice. The Angles know this, and with their new book, "Cocktail Parties With a Twist: Drink + Food + Style," they've assembled a comprehensive reference guide for all those eager to commence (or perfect) their education on the fine art of hosting.

Cheers!

This book is amazing. It teaches you how to have the hippest parties in town. Lacking cocktail enthusiasm - this book helps you find it, in a big, glamorous way. And beautiful photos and people, to boot.