By now, most of you have heard or likely seen how stunning this book is! The photos are gorgeous and inviting, the recipes are fantastic and the concept, is well, just awesome! And how clever and cute is the name?
Coming from an Armenian family, gathering and entertaining is such a big part of our culture, probably the most important part. At any given day, my parents could be hosting 20-30 guests with less than an hour notice. Completely true, no exaggeration! Could you imagine cooking for that many guests at the drop of a hat? I mean, I prepare all day to have a few friends over for dinner.
This is common not only at my parent’s house, but at any of my relatives homes. In case you are curious how 30 people gather together in what seems like just minutes, here is how it typically goes… A cousin is driving through the neighborhood and decides to stop by and say hi to aunt and uncle (my parents), cousin 2 calls cousin 1’s cell, and cousin 1 says, I am at uncle H’s house, cousin 2 says I haven’t seen him lately, I’ll come too. Then aunt and uncle say, lets also call so and so, haven’t seen them lately. Within minutes, calls are made, the barbecue is fired up, wine is poured and laughter is roaring. Good times! Oh how I miss living 365 miles from my amazing family!
Unfortunately, I am not a pro like my mom or my aunts, when it comes to cooking for large groups. I am much better at cooking for 4 or 5 people. I think with the help of Gather, I could pull together something like the aforementioned party pretty easily. Maybe not at the drop of a hat, but with a little bit of advanced planning. I love how this book is organized in menus, and each menu gives you tips on how to prepare for the party efficiently.
My other favorite part of this book is that most of the recipes use simple, fresh ingredients. If you are already a real-foodie, you likely have a lot of the ingredients on hand. Whenever I get a new cookbook, I ask my husband to go through it and pick out something he wants to eat. Of course he went for the Costillitas (Cuban Baby Back Ribs) and saffron rice. The funny part was that he thought he was getting real rice (since that is something we eat occasionally). He was a little disappointing when he saw me preparing cauliflower rice. The meal was incredible and the husband even devoured the saffron rice! Overall, I highly recommend Gather!
Here are a few photos of our meal. Please excuse the quality, as I had to take them with my iphone since I was camera-less for a few days. I sold mine and bought a way nicer one from one of my bestest friends, who is a professional photographer! I am super excited about this upgrade… now if I could only figure out how to use her fancy camera! 😉
I am also excited to announce a new giveaway series. This one is exclusively for my newsletter subscribers. I am going to be giving away one of my favorite Paleo cookbooks every month for the next 6 months (at least)! To kick off this new giveaway series, I am going to giveaway a copy of Gather at the end of the month.
Here is what you have to do to be entered in the drawing.
- Sign up for my newsletter. Click here.
- Open my newsletter
Every month one subscriber that has opened my newsletter will be randomly selected to win one of my favorite Paleo cookbooks.
Hahahaha your parents sound amazing! They must have mad skillz. I love this story.
I just walked through the grocery store the other day with ‘Gather’ in the front of my cart, to make sure I had all the ingredients I needed for all the amazing recipes!
On my to-do list from the book: pan-seared lamb chops with rhubarb chutney, cherry and walnut salad with fig balsamic vinaigrette, antipasti salad, pizza margherita, chocolate chip biscotti, and General Tso’s chicken. I just wish I had a kitchen torch to make the crème brulee!!
Those all sound amazing, Meg! I really want to make General Tso’s chicken next!
Signed up for your newsletter! The food looks great! I wish I had a big family like that to gather with! My family is small!
Michelle – It has it’s pros and cons! 🙂
I can’t wait for my husband to get home so we can cook meals from Gather. I couldn’t put that book down!
Yeah! I want to make more meals from it too. It is such a beautiful book!
Your story about your family reminds me of mine back in Australia. Us Persians and Armenians are a lot a like as you know! Growing up we would constantly have people over all the time or be at someone’s house.
I’m waiting to order Gather, been wanting it since I heard about it but I’ve got travel plans soon so waiting until after to order it! It’s hard though because I’m so eager to get my hands on it! 🙂
Yes! Our cultures are so similar! It is really fun having such a large family. And you will love Gather! It is such a gorgeous book!