Cookbook Profile: Girlfriends Get Together

Girlfriends Get Together
Food, Frolic, and Fun Times!

by Carmen Renee Berry, Tamara Traeder, and Janet Hazen

Where do women turn when they want to rejoice in a promotion, analyze a relationship, or complain about a miserable workweek? To their girlfriends, of course! Girlfriends Get Together (Wildcat Canyon Press) highlights those times when women seek each other's company-whether to celebrate, commiserate, or commemorate-and the comfort, support and laughter (and of course, food!) to be found in their midst. Girlfriends Get Together is the ultimate party planner, created by Carmen Renee Berry and Tamara Traeder, authors of the best-selling girlfriends book series; plus new girlfriend Janet Hazen, revered Northern California chef and food writer. From more traditional celebrations such as birthdays and baby showers; to less orthodox occasions like Wild Women Picnics, Hallelujah Lunches and You're-Better-Off-Without-Him Dinners; these three co-authors have developed 15 girlfriend get-togethers, including helpful planning tips, amusing food facts, simple recipes and innovative ways to create and record friendship memories.

Just need to let your hair down, TGIF-style? Plan a Friday Night Film Fest with Margaritas and tasty Tex-Mex finger food. Suggested themes include:

* Babe-O-Rama Night (any movie starring Cary Grant, Denzel Washington, Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio, or the babes of your choice)

* Women's Solidarity Night (try Thelma and Louise, Fried Green Tomatoes, Pride and Prejudice, Charlie's Angels, The Joy Luck Club, Waiting to Exhale, or reruns of Xena: Warrior Princess)

* True Love Still Exists (An Affair to Remember, Roxanne, Romeo and Juliet, The Goodbye Girl, Titanic, or The Philadelphia Story are possibilities)

* I Hate My Job (be sure to include 9 to 5 and Working Girl).

Have a friend who is recovering from illness or just lost her job? "When the ground falls out from beneath us, our girlfriends are there to catch us, with understanding, support, and a casserole or two," write the authors. Organize a "Take Comfort Dinner" to provide emotional and nutritional undergirding for a friend in crisis, while learning secrets of Truly Comforting Garlic Bread. As a creative woman, you'll undoubtedly want to customize our ideas to fit our situation," the authors write. "So mix-and-match (or delete) recipes, pare down an event or make it more elaborate, create your own party favors and decorating ideas. The idea is to have fun!" they emphasize. Whether we see each other every day or only once every few years, this collection of stories, recipes and tips helps enrich the valuable moments we spend with the important women we call our "girlfriends." Girlfriends Get Together is sheer inspiration for turning an ordinary event into an extraordinary experience.

About the Authors

Carmen Renee Berry and Tamara Traeder are the authors of Girlfriends, The Girlfriends Keepsake Book, Girlfriends for Life, and Girlfriends Gift. Berry lives in Sierra Madre, California, and Traeder in St. Helena, California. Janet Hazen is the author of 14 cookbooks, and hundreds of trade and newspaper articles. She has been primary chef at the venerated Greens Restaurant in San Francisco and is currently working on a Ph.D. in Special Education at the University of California, Berkeley. Hazen lives in Oakland, California.

Buy the Book!

Girlfriends Get Together
Food, Frolic, and Fun Times!
by Carmen Renee Berry, Tamara Traeder, and Janet Hazen
Wildcat Canyon Press
$19.95/hardcover
Publication: April 2001
Illustrations throughout
ISBN: 1-885171-53-6
Information provided by the publisher.