Dinner Chez Moi: The Fine Art of Feeding Friends

by Laura Calder

Product Description Laura Calder is one of Canada's most charming Food Network hosts, proving herself witty, engaging, an excellent teacher and a great deal of fun. Laura's passion for cooking and writing about food shows in her elegant cookbooks, and Dinner Chez Moi is no exception. A menu-based, seasonal cookbook offering multiple options and mix-and-match menus gives cooks as many ideas for meals as there are days in the year. Dinner parties, Laura says, are not stuffy and difficult ordeals; rather, as she puts it, "in my world, 'dinner party' just means eating with others. It can be as simple as an omelette or a baked potato, but if I'm not stuck eating it alone, that's party enough for me!" Dinner Chez Moi is a book for anyone who wants to cook for people they love. Menus deliver delicious food, thoughtful advice and amusing real-life stories, with a light touch.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Food, Nonfiction

354 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2011

Reviews

[Sherry · Rating 4 out of 5]

So what's a nice gluten-free, dairy and sugar free girl like me reviewing a book loaded with recipes requiring flour, crème, butter and sugar? Simple. The sheer pleasure of reading about the author's travel's, various dinners with friends and philosophies towards food and entertaining made it a worthwhile read for a girl who has foresworn a good many of the recipes found in the book.

The author is as laid back and charming as she was in her cooking series 'French Food at Home' of which I was such a fan. She has a way of approaching cooking and entertaining which I find utterly appealing and with a wee bit of effort, doable. What's more, she is obviously as passionate and proficient in the art of writing as she is cooking, bringing the same laid back charm to the process with amusing anecdotes of friends, family and her extensive travels.

The icing on the proverbial cake is that there was a number of recipes that someone who is unable to eat gluten, dairy or sugar (such as moi) would be able to make. Bonus!

Sad to think though, that with all my food allergies, I'd likely make a lousy dinner guest. Food for thought.

[Millie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like Laura Calder's show on the food network because she transformed simple ingredients into exciting dishes but so far I have the recipes in this book to be pretty unspectacular. My partner liked the recipes maybe because he has a decidedly western palette. But I prefer food with more aplomb. I was bored by the flavors, but I'll still try recipes from her first book from the show 'French Food at Home'.