butter in a 12-inch sauté pan and sweat the garlic in it for 2 minutes over medium heat.3 Add all the spinach at once, then add the Champagne and cover the pan with a lid to steam for 5 minutes.
4 Lift the spinach out of the liquid in the pan with tongs and set it aside in a 12-ounce gratin dish.
5 Add the cream to the liquid left in the pan, turn the heat to high and reduce liquid by half, 5 minutes.
6 Sprinkle the salt, pepper, and nutmeg over the cream reduction and swirl the pan to distribute the seasonings. Remove the pan from heat.
7 Pour the cream reduction over the spinach in the gratin dish, sprinkle the spinach with the Parmesan cheese and bake for 15 minutes, until browned.
8 Serve with toast points.
Jazz Age Philosophy
Beneath Zelda Sayre's 1918 high school senior yearbook photograph read the words:
“Why should all life be work, when we can all borrow. Let's only think of today and not worry about tomorrow.”
Party in Shangri-La
Doris Duke
Born with a silver spoon in her mouth in 1912, Doris Duke would become the heiress to her father's tobacco fortune at age twelve. Born to a rags-to-riches millionaire, baby Doris grew up in an opulent Fifth Avenue mansion in New York and immediately started receiving sacks of mail asking baby Doris for money. Kidnapping threats were routine and the pampered “Million Dollar Baby” was guarded from the public by a battery of nurses and bodyguards. Her father showered her with toys, ponies, and expensive gifts but didn't allow many friends to play with her in her gilded cage. He was obsessed with germs so he bought a private Pullman car (naming it Doris) to isolate her from the public on her travels between their New York mansion, their country farm estate in New Jersey, and their Newport, Rhode Island, beach house.
The richest girl in the world grew up in the rarified air of over-the-top extravagance where dinner guests at parties would be given unimaginable party favors. At one such Newport party, rubies, sapphires, emeralds, and diamonds were buried in sand at the center of the table, and the guests were given sterling silver shovels and pails to dig for their treasures.
Doris and her fellow “poor little rich girl” Barbara Hutton, heiress to the Woolworth fortune, became jaded young women in this atmosphere of excess and their competitive pursuit of excitement became legendary. The “gold dust twins,” as they were known, were frequent guests on the party circuit and had lavish debutante balls of their own in the same year. As a result of their astronomical wealth “Dee Dee” and “Babs” developed different behavioral problems. While Barbara Hutton became the victim of her own excess, Doris Duke never learned the value of money and became known as one of the smallest tippers among the young social set. She often carried no cash on her, which meant others were stuck with the cab fare or the restaurant bill. Barbara squandered her money in grand gestures while Doris held back, burdened by the obligations of such a fortune.
In adulthood Doris Duke became fascinated with Hawaiians and their culture and, with her husband Jimmy Cromwell, she rented a cottage in Hawaii. She started taking hula lessons and spent her days on the beach at Waikiki. Doris found peace in the simple pleasures of island life and was frequently seen surfing. She befriended Olympic swimming champion Duke Kahanamoku, who was also the sheriff of Honolulu. She spent time swimming and surfing with Kahanamoku and eventually she was considered one of the best female surfers on the island. The Cromwells built a vacation house in Honolulu and Doris dubbed it Shangri-la. The heiress on her surfboard near her Diamond Head home is the inspiration for the following party.
Surf Party
Every surfer needs energy, and dates are packed with the source of it in the form of natural sugars. The Date Smoothie is a surfer's delight—just sip and go. Chocolate Chip Banana Bread takes advantage of the produce of Hawaii. Bananas and cocoa beans are both grown there and high quality chocolate is produced from the locally grown cocoa beans. Another Hawaiian crop is pineapple and it is put on a stick with tropical delights such as mangos, coconut, and bananas along with pound cake in Tropical Fruit Brochettes for a refreshing beach-worthy snack. Fish Tacos are the perfect beach party food, with a squeeze of lime that adds a splash of sunshine to your tongue. You can bring the flavors of the beach to your table with this menu even if it is cold and snowing outside. Just serve up the tacos on beach ball motif paper plates and the fruit brochettes in plastic sand pails. Place your “sidewalk surfboard” (skateboard) in a pile of sand in the center of the table, line it with banana leaves, and serve the banana bread slices on it. Decorate the edge of the table with hula skirts and hang loose!
Date Smoothie
SERVES 2
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup chopped dates
1 cup milk
1 banana
1 cup vanilla yogurt
¼ cup orange juice
4 scoops vanilla ice cream
METHOD:
1 Soak the dates in the milk for about an hour to soften them.
2 Purée the dates, milk, and banana in a blender.
3 Add the yogurt, orange juice, and ice cream and blend until smooth.
Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
SERVES 6
INGREDIENTS:
¾ cup sugar
¼ cup honey
6 ounces unsalted soft butter
2 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 ripe bananas, mashed
2 cups flour
1½ teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup chopped macadamia nuts
¼ cup shredded coconut
½ cup chocolate chips
METHOD:
1 Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9-inch x 5-inch loaf pan and set aside.
2 Combine sugar, honey, and butter in a mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer until fluffy and light yellow in color.
3 Add eggs and vanilla and mix well. Add bananas and mix well.
4 Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl and then add it to the batter, mixing well.
5 Fold in the macadamia nuts, coconut, and chocolate chips.
