Park Avenue Potluck Celebrations!

That's the one and only Florence Fabricant, writer for The New York Times and editor of many cookbooks. A couple of years ago, she co-authored Park Avenue Potluck, a collection of recipes assembled by The Society of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center meant to raise money and awareness for patient care, research and education.  Well, the ladies who are known to lunch did so well with their first book that they decided to release a follow up: Park Avenue Potluck Celebrations. The book gives composed menu ideas to occasions such as Valentines Day, Christmas, Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July.

At the press luncheon, hosted at Le Cirque, we got the chance to sample some of the best dishes from the book.  Artichoke Soup with Oysters, though I was at first hesitant, turned out to be a fantastic hors d'oevre.



Our lunch started with a simple, peppery arugula salad with proscuitto. Quite simple but quite perfect to kick off a 3-course lunch in the middle of the week.



Our main course was a Le Cirque specialty - Halibut pierced with a bay leaf, nestled in a pea broth and topped with a fried squash blossom purse of pea purée.  It was all at once light as well as structured.  I was surprised to see elegant ladies around me cleaning their plates.



Dessert was a perfect fruit sorbet - a recipe from the book.  Surrounded in macerated fruit, a pale purple scoop of liqueur-infused sorbet nestled in the bowl.



We all received Tate's wheatless chocolate brownies as our to-go dessert.  They, too, were excellent. Nibbling on them for days after the event, I couldn't help but salivate in anticipation for October when the book will be available on Amazon.com.  Luncheon attendees had the chance to see excerpts and they are nothing short of spectacular.  All photos were shot in these ladies homes - both dotted along Park Ave as well as their abodes in the Hamptons.



If that's not enough to get you to pre-order, there's also the fact that purchasing the book could help find a cure for cancer.