Crinella Family Cookbook
Our Grandparents' Favorites
Anti Pasti
Soups
Salads
Pasta
Vegetables
Fish
Poultry
Meat
Wild Game
Sweets
Brunch or Luncheon Dishes
Odds & Ends
Sour Dough
Other Breads ETC
Entertaining Ideas
Table of Contents
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Guests, Their Number and Comfort
I can have sit down dinners or buffet dinners, but never any more than a total of 8 guests to dine at Squaw Valley. Why? That is the number of my dinner plates. If my guests come right after skiing to watch something such as a football game on television, I just lay the food out and let the guests help themselves.
I can serve four people at my regular table which is small and holds just four place settings. The table is not large enough for
flowers or to hold large serving dishes, so I use small votive candles and sometimes add a whimsical antique toy for decoration. If
I have six or eight people coming, I have a table brought up from downstairs and remove my table. For the downstairs table, I keep
a blue sheet that exactly matches the color of my walls, and use that for a table cloth. I can make a very attractive presentation on the larger table
with the addition of flowers, candles and colorful dishes or interesting antique toys.
There is almost no room for storage at Squaw Valley so everything has to serve a very useful purpose. I have no "special occasion"
dishes or linens, so that makes every occasion special. I collected some antique linens for four table settings and sewed some for eight
table settings. Having so little space has made me ruthless about keeping only things I love and use daily.
Impromptu gatherings I have down to a science, now, because I am always thinking of places where I could entertain. If I have invited a lot of
people at Squaw Valley we gather downstairs around the fireplace at the Lodge. I serve wine and a little something to eat. People stop by to chat and we always have a lot of fun. Now, in Santa Rosa, as I move around my house and garden, I think, "This is another good place to enjoy the view, I could put a table and two chairs here and we could have a glass of wine, here." or, "The rhododendron's are blooming, we can see them better from this window. We'll have lunch here." I try to imagine new places to entertain to suit the changing of the seasons. I think about what I would do, what kinds of glasses or
dishes I would need or use. I make notes of these things. I will often ask friends to stop by for a glass of wine on their way home from work and this is a pleasant interlude of an hour and a half or so after a long day, especially in the summer when the garden is in full bloom. Sometimes we have picnics
on the hillside at Crinella Estate Vineyard
which are famous for the fun everyone has. We bring a bottle of wine and some bread and cheese to the Plaza
in Sonoma to spend a pleasant hour or two when we are showing people around.
I think spur of the moment things can be a lot of fun, if you have planned ahead of time and know where and about how many people can
be comfortable in a certain place and what you will use for serving. Keep everything in a state of readiness and invite people over often.
You will have a lot more fun in life.
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Suggested Recipes for Summer
Suggested Recipes for Spring
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