In our search to find the most Artful Entertainers and hear their stories, we found so many wonderful new friends and learned so much about how you truly make entertaining a personal and memorable experience.
Though it was hard to select just one, today we proudly announce the winning Artful Entertainer: Tracy Bosworth Page! What we love most about Tracy's entertaining is the fact that it's a way of life, something that has been shared and passed along for several generations.
I love listening to my 95 year old Sicilian grandmother talk about her family. My great grandfather would make sauces and sausage in the cellar of their 4 story brownstone while small snippets of opera from his phonograph would drift upstairs. I've learned the art of sharing my food from both my grandmother and my mother and it will continue to pass generations through my daughters. Memories of growing up in her kitchen are very distinct and influential to who I am today.
Due to the overwhelming response of entertaining stories we received, we just couldn't stop at just one winner! Honorable Mention this year goes Kathleen Delgado for her beautiful story below. What we love most about Kathleen is that artful entertaining means it's not only about how you feed people's appetites, but also how you feed their souls.
Artful Entertaining: As an antique dealer, I incorporate lots of the old with the new.... I start with a table set with a layering of beautiful French hemp linens in natural and white. Tabletop is Arte Italica white w/chrome lining dishes coupled with antique (circa 1880's) and depression (circa 1920's) stemware. My artful signature is a minimum of 60 mercury tealight candles, placed at varying heights around the dining room, thus insuring that from whatever place one sits, they are basked in candlelight. The dining room is chandelier is lit very, very low. With a Mexican/Italian heritage, the bounty of food is immense...all bowls and platters MUST overflow so that there is something to nibble on later or take home packages. EVERY dinner gathering includes a small party favor, usually a small burlap bag filled with lavendar (harvested from my garden) or a small gathering of lemons and limes (also from my garden. Often these items will include a stenciled initial, thus also serving as a place card. I rarely use store bought flowers, but instead focus on items from my garden...a bunch of parsley or cilantro look GREAT in vintage depression glass "spooners" dispersed around the table. Lemons off my tree are always artful additions. My most important artful factor is to include friends+family who love to laugh, and laugh loudly! The wine flows as does the background music: both absolute musts! Tonight we're celebrating a birthday and we'll set a place for you!
Grazie to all who participated and shared the artful stories with us. Wishing you all a new year filled with family, friends + good food.
Buon appetito!
copyright 2009 Alisa Barry
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