Everyday Celebrations: Savoring Food, Family, and Life at Home [Paperback]

Donata Maggipinto (Author), France Ruffenach (Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 18, 2005

The closeness of family, the beauty of the seasons, laughter among friends, the festivity of a shared mealwhy wait for the holidays to count our blessings and mark them by rejoicing? Donata Maggipinto, lifestyle contributor for NBC's Today show, reawakens our appreciation for all that has meaning in life in Everyday Celebrations and shares her sensational craft and food recipes to create heartwarming gatherings at home. Whether it's a spring garden celebration with asparagus and basil frittatas or creating bejeweled star ornaments in winter, each thoughtful/creative/clever touch and mmmm-inspiring recipe takes advantage of seasonal ingredients and materials to capture a distinct moment in time. Sparkling with style and great ideas, this entertaining book will make every day a special occasion, and every get-together a celebration.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Donata Maggipinto has authored several books, including Christmas Family Gatherings and Halloween Treats . She lives in Marin County, California, with her husband, sons, and assorted animals.

France Ruffenach's photographs have appeared in Real Simple , Bon Appétit , and Travel + Leisure magazines, as well as in such books as Inner Beauty (0-8118-4276-2) and Knitting Pretty (0-8118-3533-2).

Product Details

• Paperback: 180 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books (August 18, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811844870
• ISBN-13: 978-0811844871
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 8.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,213,746 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars These Celebrations are not for everyday., March 24, 2008

By 

kiwanissandy "Go Bucks!" (Heart of Ohio) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Everyday Celebrations: Savoring Food, Family, and Life at Home (Paperback)

Having a book titled Everyday Celebrations would lead one to believe that it would be ideas that could be done easily, or in a day or simply. Most of these suggestions are neither.
For elegant eggs the suggestions were to fill galvanized pails with bird seed, and nestle blown-out eggs in them. Another idea was to rest one or two robins' eggs in a homemade nest of bright orange embroidery floss. There are no instructions for building this nest made out of orange embroidery floss, no idea how much floss to purchase, or what it should look like.
Another idea was to arrange cupcakes on a platter and decorate with letters cut from purchased refrigerator sugar cookie dough. I'm assuming you'd have to bake the letter cookies although the directions do not state to bake the cookies. Quite unclear.

One of the party ideas was red, white and blueberry breakfast. It calls for making nectarine ginger pancakes, blueberry turkey sausage, blueberry muffins and cherry-blueberry compote with brown sugar mascarpone. The pancakes use grated fresh ginger with juice, and nectarines pitted and diced, top with blueberries and syrup. The turkey sausage involves mixing white meat, dark meat, onions, allspice, blueberries, etc making your own patties and cooking. There were no decorating suggestions for this party.
Another suggestion for decorating was to use a gourd for a doorstop, splitting walnuts in half, removing the nut and then filling each half with salt and one with pepper and using on the table. I guess you'd serve with your fingers (?).

I did give it 2 stars because the photography is excellent, it's a beautiful cookbook just the ideas are not very practical.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Slow down and enjoy life, February 1, 2011

By 

Chantilita "gypsyf33t" (UT, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Everyday Celebrations: Savoring Food, Family, and Life at Home (Paperback)

I disagree with the previous review. I think the purpose of this book is not to show you things you can do simply, easily, or in a day; but rather the purpose is to bring simple celebrations back into every day life. Life's a celebration, and this book is filled with ideas to try to help you incorporate that idea.

I agree, the recipes and ideas might take a bit of shopping and work, but I think they also inspire you to take a look at things a little differently and change your perspective a little; some of the projects are quite simple (like crystallizing flowers, or drying pears and apples), while some recipes might take a little more preparation (Cape Cod Clam Chowder). But just flipping through the book and perusing the projects made me want to examine things a little differently, and made me question why I hold out the good recipes and silverware for when company's calling? Why not enjoy the blissful things of life and celebrate a little bit each day. We are hounded and spoiled with so much prepared and processed food that the idea of making sausage patties from scratch may be intimidating, but my mother did it, and has passed the skill along to me. With a little extra time, the outcome of cooking something like this on your own is a very rewarding one.

If you're looking for a something full of quick projects and recipes that can be done quickly and satisfy an urge to create, some of the projects and recipes will be for you. But if you're wanting to slow down and greet the seasons with a plate of Nectarine-Ginger Pancakes with the World's Easiest Blueberry Sauce, then my darling, this book is definitely for you.