This hip, fabric-covered guide includes creative ways to style a table—whether for a sit-down dinner, cocktail party, brunch buffet, picnic in the park, and other fun get-togethers.

Whether you live in a small apartment or sprawling suburban kitchen, How to Set a Table features stylish, modern ideas for welcoming family and friends in your home. This gift book, wrapped in a pretty, printed fabric, serves as a practical step-by-step guide to entertaining—with extra information on etiquette, place setting basics, centerpieces, mixing and matching, essential glassware, and napkin folds. With unexpected ideas for using all the great tableware you can find at flea markets, chain stores, or around the house, How to Set a Table updates a classic topic for a new generation of hosts

Kentucky: Historic Houses and Horse Farms, pre-eminent architectural and interiors photographer Pieter Estersohn guides us through Bluegrass Country, the legendary landscape around Lexington, Kentucky. The wealthiest town west of the Alleghenies prior to the Civil War, Lexington has a rich architectural and cultural history that is manifest in the elegant houses within and around the center. Equally compelling is the equestrian heritage that has made Lexington the “Horse Capital of the World.”

Among the properties presented are Ashland, an Italian-inspired villa built for distinguished statesman and orator Henry Clay; Pope Villa, one of only two extant residences by Benjamin Latrobe, the architect of the U.S. Capitol; Waveland, a completely intact Greek Revival estate from the 1830s; and Pleasant Hill, the largest restored Shaker community in the country.

Dramatic aerial photographs celebrate the rolling landscape and expansive horse farms, including Gainesway Farm, a 1,500 acre site that has produced an impressive roster of legendary Throughbreds.

Kentucky is a multifaceted and compelling portrait of a unique part of our country that combines a reverence for history and Southern traditions of hospitality and generosity with a vital present.

(For Being Such Good Friends)

The two of you laugh at things that no one else would understand. You make great moments happen without even trying. And you remind each other of what’s truly important. Celebrate her, and your unique friendship, with this delightfully illustrated gift book.

Hardcover
7.25"H x 7.25"W
64 pages 

For fifteen years, food writer Belinda Ellis traveled around the country for the White Lily flour company, teaching people to make biscuits and listening to their stories. "I learned that deep in the soul of a biscuit, there’s more than the flour, fat, and milk. A hot biscuit embodies a memory of place and family," she writes. Ellis's heartfelt tribute to the biscuit celebrates the many possible flavors and uses for this classic southern bread. The first recipe in the book is a master recipe with step-by-step photographs showing how to make the perfect biscuit.

In an evocative and enlightening introduction, Ellis delights readers with biscuit history and its intimate connections with southern culture and foodways. The book's 55 recipes range from traditional to inventive offering a biscuit for every occasion: Flaky Butter Biscuits; John Egerton's Beaten Biscuits; Pancetta, Rosemary, and Olive Oil Biscuits; and The Southern Reuben.

Did you know that bourbon must be made in America and aged for at least two years in new American oak barrels that are charred on the inside? In this spirited little cookbook, Kathleen Purvis explores the history, mythology, and culinary star power of this quintessential southern liquor. On the scene in Kentucky, home to most bourbon makers, she reports on the science and love behind the liquor's long, careful production. Featuring both classic and cutting-edge cocktails, the cookbook ranges well beyond beverages to present bourbon as a distinct ingredient in appetizers, entrées, side dishes, and desserts.

From Classic Mint Julep to Bourbon-Ginger Grilled Pork Tenderloin to Pecan Bourbon Balls to Bourbon-Chicken Liver Pâté, the 54 recipes in Bourbon are punctuated by Purvis's wicked sense of humor. Did you know that even the taxman takes a cut from the "angel’s share" that evaporates from bourbon barrels?