Lisa Messinger's
Cookbook Corner

Tracy Porter's Inspired Gatherings

by Tracy Porter with Deborah Hernandez and Sarah Willett (Andrews McMeel Publishing)

For anyone who thinks that big cities are this country's only style setters, look no further than Princeton, Wisconsin. Living on a farm there you'll find designer Tracy Porter and a nearby store filled with her items that have set the tone in thousands of tony homes nationwide.

The successful designer's moniker can be found on everything from wallpaper, fabrics, and hand-painted furniture, to dinnerware and accessories. This being the multimedia generation, her wares also can be seen on her website (www.tracyporter.com) and often on TV's "The Oprah Winfrey Show," E! Television's "Style" and Home & Garden's HGTV cable channel.

After reading her book, though, the place you may be most eager to see Porter's whimsical and eclectic goods is the scene of your next party. In Tracy Porter's Inspired Gatherings, every page is packed with photographs of and details about how to duplicate creative party touches. It's all plenty inviting even without the photos of the tall, tanned, thin, beautiful, blond Porter prancing dizzyingly happily with her equally attractive husband. She seems more than poised to become the high-couture Martha Stewart. Here are some of the reasons why (although dynamic, virtually all her projects are easy; e.g., "take a look at this great idea you'd have never thought of on your own and now duplicate it"):

For a centerpiece, take a cement cinder block, add flowering herbs and slices of kiwi. Top it with a decorative paper umbrella. You can also do this with an antique dresser drawer as the foundation.

Use a small watermelon as a vase. After cutting a wide opening into the top of the fruit, stick about nine flowering yellow roses directly into the fruit and surround them with smaller red flowers. (The water in the fruit keeps the flowers fed for days.) These colors make a nice contrast with the green of the watermelon rind.

To jazz up colorful paper cups, attach ribbons, silk flowers, faux jewels, plastic toys, stickers and wax seals. Dainty trims, rhinestones and such also get added to plastic flatware and paper plates.

Take a clear, round cookie jar or unused, round fish bowl and add colored sand, small cactus and a multitude of candles.

Drape ribbons, faux jewelry, hanging herbs and light whimsical dolls from your chandelier.

Of course, even after guests become mesmerized by your innovative chandelier, they probably will still want to eat. Although this isn't a cookbook, Porter does give some tips on stocking your pantry (caviar, darling, as well as prosciutto, canned oysters and tellicherry peppercorns) and what to eat.

Her shish kebabs, for example, are as stylish as many of her decorating tips. Sticking to her overall philosophy of looking "for the things that make your eyes dance," Porter writes of the kebabs, "We all know the classic ingredients...but once in a while, go for entirely new delectables."

To emulate the posh Porter, skewer and grill any mix-and-match of the following: lobster, mango, fennel, plums, Greek olives, pea pods, lamb, baby artichokes, Gruyere cheese wrapped in spinach and bread dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinegar. That probably will make your taste buds—as well as your eyes—dance.

(Updated: 01/05/07)