Entertaining with Betsy Bloomingdale, Signed by Betsy Bloomingdale
[Signed by Betsy Bloomingdale] Bloomingdale, Betsy. Entertaining with Betsy Bloomingdale. First Edition. 1994. Book and dust jacket are both in very good condition--jacket has a Rizzoli "Autographed Copy" sticker on the front cover. Book is warmly inscribed in Bloomingdale's typical green felt tip pen, "To Marilyn & Bill Hollingsworth, Happy Cooking, Merry Christmas ... Love, Betsy Bloomingdale," on the half title page.
The famed Los Angeles-based hostess Betsy Bloomingdale gets it right. There is only one thing that can ruin a party, and “that is for the hostess to stop smiling.” In this book on entertainments past and prospective, she covers the entire spectrum, from state dinners at Buckingham Palace to dinner parties saved by emergency trips to Kentucky Fried Chicken. The book consists of mostly her recipes and pairings, but there are exceptions, such as the menu for Irving and Mary Lazar's legendary Spargo Oscar parties, which were to that era what the Vanity Fair fêtes are to today's.
“Giving a party or hosting a dinner is in many ways like a performance. You are the producer, director, stage manager, and finally the actor.”
--Betsy Bloomingdale