BIG-BIRD DINNERS for your ginormous family. Sunday brunches for a zillion co-workers. New Year's drinks for a mob. During this season of hosting, entertaining on a grand scale might seem more folly than jolly.
But having a crowd over should be about bringing loved ones together, not freaking out about whether you have enough stuffing for everyone, says Eric Ziebold, chef at CityZen (1330 Maryland Ave. SW; 202-787-6006). "When you welcome people for a family-style meal, everyone wants to be in the spirit of eating, not stressing."
Whether you're hosting a holiday feast for Kate Gosselin and kids or a spirited Sunday supper for 45, the recipe for success is the same: Balance the workload so you make something delicious and still see guests. The goal: you sitting down at the table, not slaving over a tray of Beef Wellingtons for 200.
Continue Reading "For the Maddening Crowd: Feed a Crowd Sans Stress With Horde-Pleasing Dishes" »
D.C.'S OLIVIA WILDE has tackled the teen market (as Alex on "The O.C."), the prime-time drama (as Thirteen on "House") and the Hollywood blockbuster (next year's much-anticipated "Tron"). But she takes an indie turn with her new film, "Fix," directed by and co-starring her husband, Tao Ruspoli. The actress — and daughter of veteran news journalists — chats about working with a spouse and coming home for the holidays.
» EXPRESS: Tell us about "Fix."
» WILDE: I like to describe the film as a dark comedy, a road movie and a story about a family. It's about two brothers, one of whom has 12 hours to get his brother to rehab, or else he'll have to go to jail for seven or eight years. It involves this wild odyssey through Los Angeles, where they encounter all these different characters.
» EXPRESS: Was it difficult to work alongside your husband?
» WILDE: It was fun! The great thing about working with someone that you're involved with romantically and whom you respect and admire is that you trust them. I really felt very safe in Tao's hands and very free to take risks. I think that's when actors can really thrive.
Continue Reading "Actress, Washington Native: Olivia Wilde" »
MY BOYFRIEND INVITED me to spend Thanksgiving with his family in rural Kentucky. This is my first meeting with his "kinfolk," and while I know he is exaggerating when he describes their country ways, I'm still worried. What should I wear?
Manolo says, The Manolo is sorry, but whenever he hears the words "kinfolk" and "Kentucky," he thinks of the movie entitled "Next of Kin," in which Bill Paxton, Liam Neeson and the late Patrick Swayze play three hillbilly brothers from deepest Appalachia. (Even the Manolo, whose English is not so good, could tell that everybody was faking the accent.)
MANY RECIPES FOR savory tarts, such as quiches, or for dessert tarts or pies with very sweet fillings call for unsweetened pastry. And if the filling is rich you may want to use a minimum amount of butter in your crust. Traditional recipes for this basic pastry, called pate brisee in French, call for half as much butter by weight as flour. The pastry dough is moistened with water and includes no sugar. In this recipe, you have a choice of liquids, because water activates gluten and using eggs or a bit of heavy cream instead helps to keep the pastry from becoming tough. Water makes dough crispy and light, while cream and eggs make it softer and richer. A sweetened version, what professionals call pete brisee sucree, is included as a variation below.
Take care not to overwork the pastry dough; keep it cold and resist the temptation to make the finished pastry dough perfectly smooth and homogeneous — when you roll it out it should look a little ragged, with pieces of butter suspended throughout.
This recipe gives full instructions for a variety of mixing methods — by hand, in a stand mixer, and with a food processor. The stages look similar whether you mix by hand in a bowl or on a surface, or use a stand mixer or food processor.
Continue Reading "Recipe File: Basic Pie and Tart Pastry Dough (Pate Brisee)" »
Ingredients:
» 2 recipes for pie crust (see below)
»5 cups Bing or sour cherries, pitted; or frozen pitted cherries, thawed
» 1/2 cup sugar if using Bing cherries, 3/4 cup if using sour cherries
» 3 Tbsp cornstarch
Makes one 9- to 10-inch pie
Dede, 29, is a patent examiner. Michael, 30, is a patent attorney. They will live in D.C.
» The Main Event: A semiformal, traditional ceremony in Washington on Dec. 5 with 100 guests in attendance.
» Honeymoon: St. Maarten, where Michael's grandmother has a condo.
» How They Met: They started working at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on the same day in 2006.
CURTIS BATEMAN WANTED to pop the question to Nancy Perschbacher with flair, so he got them into Breakfast With the Penguins at the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore. (Why not? Their first date was a visit to see baby Tai Shan at the National Zoo.) During the penguin talk, the zookeeper explained that penguins mate for life, and that the zoo puts bands on the penguins to show which penguin is mated to which. The keepers, who were in on Curtis' plan, "asked for volunteers to demonstrate the banding process. I didn't want to volunteer, but Curtis insisted. They put a band on Curtis and then he interrupted them and said he had his own band for me." "Her surprise at seeing me down on one knee was priceless," Curtis said.
Nancy, 28, is a collections manager at the International Spy Museum. Curtis, 26, is a collections manager at the IBEW Museum. They live in Alexandria and will marry Oct. 10, 2010, in Leesburg, Va.
Written by Express contributor Rachel Kaufman
Chris, 25, is an ophthalmology office assistant. Rebecca, 25, is a physical therapy grad student. They live in Falls Church.
» The Main Event: On Oct. 10, 2010, they'll wed in Baltimore in front of 150 or so guests. Their wedding planner's husband will officiate.
» How They Met: In college, when he called a foul on her intramural basketball team. "My team was all athletes, and we were playing a sorority team," she says. "We needed two points to win by default, and he called a technical foul on me!"
TOWARD THE BLEARY END of every autumn, we start suffering from seasonal wardrobe affective disorder. The doom and gloom sets in when it comes time to banish bare legs and bright frocks in favor of thick long johns and bulky sweaters. This season, however, some sartorial sunshine comes via the latest crop of stylish coats, which blend mood-boosting hues (taxi yellow, nearly neon pink), cheeky fabrics (throwback plaids, fuzzy fur) and dressy additions such as ruffles and draping. After all, you might as well brighten up if you have to bundle up.
1) (Pictured at right) The Scottish plaid and exaggerated collar of Liquid's car coat suit casual weekends on the moors or the Mall ($350, Sugar, 1633 Wisconsin Ave. NW; 202-333-5331).
2) An elegant cascade of airy, abstract rosettes adds evening-worthy flash to a classic coat ($325, Ann Taylor, 1140 Connecticut Ave. NW; 202-659-0120).
Continue Reading "Top Coats: The Latest Coats Showcase Notice-Me Hues, Dressed Up Detailing" »
THE SLENDER, TENDER French haricots verts that have emerged in upscale food markets in recent years bear no resemblance to the leathery-skinned, stout green beans our parents grew when we were kids, the kind that seemed suited only to long simmering in a pot with a chunk of really good bacon. In this recipe, we "skillet-toast" those fat beans, which adds a charred, smoky dimension to them, transforming even the toughest beans — which, truth be told, is the kind we find most often in the precincts of the U.S. we inhabit — into something as addictively delicious as salted popcorn.
Serves four. Time: 10 minutes preparation, 10 minutes cooking.
Serve these beans with Pimento-Cheese Potato Gratin and Skirt Steak With Parsley Sauce, and you have a well-rounded, knockout menu that takes only an hour to prepare.
Continue Reading "Recipe File: Skillet Green Beans with Orange" »
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