14 Jun What’s orange, pink, striped and floral all over? 10 Reasons You Should Buy it!

Shayla Copas NEW BOOK – FOUR SEASONS OF ENTERTAINING. Its so hot, that it sold out after only three weeks on Amazon, but thankfully they’re back in stock. Shayla’s Book Tour is so popular that she’s already into her second edition and has extended the book-signing tour into 2020. How exciting! Congratulations Shayla!!

NOW WHO IS SHAYLA COPAS AND WHAT’S THIS BOOK ALL ABOUT

Shayla is one of the most talented, award-winning, luxury interior designers and tastemakers this side of the Mississippi.  Well, really, the entire country!  From interiors to table tops to lavish events and galas, this little darlin is spreading her entertaining and design aesthetic, “Southern Glam”, all over the United States, if not the world.

 

Shayla doesn’t stop at designing interiors…she designs tables, events, showrooms, products and has been a Style Maker at many design tradeshows. But that’s not all Shayla does. Shayla Copas lives in Little Rock, Arkansas, and is also a wife, mother, speaker, TV host, brand ambassador, event host, philanthropist, and more.  To learn about Shayla and her many accomplishments, please read HERE, look over her interior design website, and follow her on Instagram.

Shayla Copas has been a rising star for over 20 years and there’s no stopping all the positive love and design beauty she gives to the world. And from personal experience, she’s also a wonderful, supportive, and incredibly inspiring friend.

Am I biased?  A tad. But you can count on an honest review of her brand new book released this spring, Four Seasons of Entertaining.

 

Here I am seeing Four Seasons of Entertaining by Shayla Copas, for the first time, in my new One Room Challenge Blue & White Bedroom. Photography by Gregg Cestaro.

THE BOOK

Now, let’s dive into looking through the book, shall we?  It’s an inspiring presentation of 156 pages featuring talented chefs with visually enticing recipes organized by the four seasons  – so you can create and enjoy fine dining throughout the year.

 

PILLOW GODDESS TOP 10 REASONS you should add this beautiful entertaining design cookbook to your collection, or give as a gift.

Four Seasons of Entertaining:

1. is GORGEOUS!!!  The book is a visual feast of abundant beauty,
2. it’s photography by Janet Warlick is simply stunning….breathtaking really,
3. is divided by the four seasons with four themed parties and menus for each season,
4. features 82 amazing recipes by 12 different chefs, including Shayla herself,
5. includes colorful photos of the multi-course menus, place settings, dining tables, tabletop decor, floral arrangements, place cards, guests enjoying the meals, cuisine, and many more details,
6. includes fun facts, entertaining, and design tips and quotes for each event,
7. includes enticing detailed recipes for each course, including serving size,
8. features sections about each wonderful contributor (chefs, florist, photographer),
9. is a design and cookbook packaged all in one,
10. lastly, is full of inspiring color and texture that’s perfect for yourself or a gift!

 

Did I miss anything?  I’m sure I did, because every time I open the book I see another detail I hadn’t noticed before.

COOKING WEEKNIGHT DINNER

To be honest, the book is SO gorgeous that you almost don’t want to touch it.  While it’s beautiful in its own right as a lovely coffee table book, it IS a cookbook and is meant to be used, so that’s what my husband David and I did.  The recipes appear daunting at first because they are gourmet, fine dining recipes for sure. We thought, boy, this one meal is going to break the bank, but it didn’t. We wanted to test out the recipes before we entertained, so I took off the cover and told my husband, “Don’t you dare spill any food on Shayla’s book!” I think he laughed…maybe??

SUMMER – POOLSIDE SOIREE

Even though we’re dying to try the short-rib recipe, we decided it would be best to sample a couple summer recipes, so we chose two out of a seven-course dinner from the “Poolside Soiree”.

Now, we don’t exactly have a pool.  But since we live a stone’s throw away from Austin’s famous Barton Springs Pool, we feel as if we are ALWAYS poolside every day.  All we have to do is go down the hill to the back entrance and we are in heaven swimming in the cool refreshing waters of Barton Springs!

SETTING THE TABLE: Above, alongside Shayla’s book, I prepared the kitchen table with David’s mother’s Limoges floral china by Charles Ahrenfeldt.  This china, with pink flowers, green leaves, and gold daubs, is one of my favorites that we break out each summer and use every day because the plates are smaller and they’re so pretty. They just feel light and “summery.”

 

I set the round table with a vintage pink tablecloth with dragon flies, David’s mother’s clear Fostoria salad plates, the Limoges dinner plates and my Main family’s gold-rimmed champagne and water glasses. I also had some orange tulips and red roses on hand that worked perfectly with the color theme in a small vintage, white Fenton hobnail vase. There’s a couple orange Deborah Main Designs pillows in the background too.  And Veuve Clicquot goes with everything, right?  Luckily we have a few bottles on hand from our 35th wedding anniversary dinner party.

PILLOW GODDESS TIP: Keep it simple when tackling new gourmet recipes.

You don’t always have to have a fancy dinner in your dining room. For us in the middle of the week, the kitchen table was just fine. And even though the recipes are quite extensive, and you should have some cooking experience to tackle these (luckily David is the chef in our family!), the recipes are laid out clearly in the book so you can keep it very simple and choose to try one (an appetizer or dessert) or seven (a full course dinner) if you’re ambitious.

We prepared, cooked, and enjoyed these recipes:

Coriander-Cured Steak Served with Sweet Potato Puree and Collard Greens and Crab Mimosa Salad. 

THE INGREDIENTS

Below are some of the ingredients we bought for a dinner for two. Maple syrup, coriander seeds, lemons, fresh time and more. We cheated a little and bought pre-made bone broth.

Now David is not big on sweet potatoes and I’ve always felt that collard greens were bitter, but we both love meat and we thought the crab salad would be a refreshing accompaniment, so we plunged forward.

Below is Chef Tim Morton, of RH Catering, enjoying drizzling the demi-glace over the meat.

David was in charge of the main course and I was in charge of the crab salad. I noticed just a few small disconnects in the book like it suggests you use a martini glass for the salad (which we did and it was a nice presentation) but the book shows the salad on a plate.  Also, it’s garnished with a slice of avocado, but avocado was not mentioned in the recipe.  These are very minor flaws compared to the overall presentation and detail of this fabulous cookbook.

While David was worried he wouldn’t find whole coriander seeds, he said preparing the steak came together very easily. For the two of us, just a pound of the skirt steak coated in the coriander cure, made of coriander seed and brown sugar, was plenty.

 

While the meat wasn’t as rare as I’d like, the demi-glace not the exact consistency as the chef’s above (not the recipes fault; our snafu), and we’re far from professional food photographers, we were incredibly impressed with the dinner’s complex flavors.

The steak sliced and served over the delicate sweet potato puree was absolutely delicious and full of flavor. And despite my concern that it would have a too Tex-Mex flavor with chili powder and cumin, it did not have a “south of the border” flavor at all. It instead had a sophisticated complexity of flavors that honestly was indescribable!  And to my surprise, I kept going back for more collard greens as they were so sweet and tender.

CONFESSION

I had a double helping of everything –  the smooth as velvet sweet potato puree, the cured meat (I love my meat!), and the greens.  Note: When cooking this again, I might opt for a better quality of meat like a tenderloin, as the skirt steak was a tad tough. But the flavors just melted in your mouth, it was THAT good!! And I’m definitely going to find some more colorful napkins!!

 

CRAB MIMOSA SALAD PREP

All in all, it was a divine meal!  While the crab salad had so many wonderful ingredients in the dressing, for some reason the flavors were not as noticeable. I kind of think the crab wasn’t as fresh as the package said, because the dressing ingredients were delicious all on their own.

But hands down, we both would absolutely, 100%, prepare the delicious steak, sweet potato, collard greens trio again!! 

In fact, we definitely plan to save that recipe for one of our “Chandelier Diary” Dinner Parties for 12 we started last fall after I won a gorgeous chandelier from Lamps Plus.

Like Shayla said in her book, “Something about a party makes life magical.” 

I feel this way too and especially like Shayla “nothing brings me more joy than to see the love on the faces of treasured friends as they converse and toast throughout the night.”  We certainly felt that wonderful feeling at our 35th wedding anniversary “Chandelier Diary Dinner Party.”

BOOK TOUR SCHEDULE

 

As you can see above, Shayla will be at Dallas Market Center with designer Shay Geyer for an entertainng talk and book signing. So if you’re going to market, you do NOT want to miss this on Friday, June 21st, at 3:30 p.m.

The rest of the 2019/2020 Book Tour schedule is still being fine tuned, but you can also get a signed copy and meet Shayla on July 29th at Polywood and attend a panel discussion and cooking demo at the Atlanta Market on July 13th.  I promise I’ll post the new schedule as soon as it’s finished so you will not miss the opportunity to meet Shayla and get her book signed.

As you can see below my delight in having my very own copy, I HIGHLY recommend Shayla Copas’ FANTASTIC entertaining cookbook Four Seasons of Entertaining. Take my word for it, this book, in my opinion, gets five gold stars for sure 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟!!

 

Order Shayla Copas NEW book, Four Seasons of Entertaining, today on Amazon HERE. If you want a signed copy you can order one on her website HERE. You will be in heaven from the incredibly gorgeous photography of the dinner parties, table settings, floral arrangements and delicious meals all planned, designed, and executed beautifully by Shayla Copas and her team. And follow me on Instagram so you don’t miss the BOOK GIVEAWAY coming up sometime late summer.

David and I can’t wait to try another recipe and entertain. There’s a “4th of July Poolside Celebration”, and we just might entertain with that recipe in a couple weeks!

Pin this image to Pinterest and help me spread the word about Shayla’s NEW gorgeous book so more people can enjoy entertaining with these inspiring designs and delicious recipes!

Till next time, I know you will really enjoy this beautiful book when you entertain throughout the year.  XO PG

NOTE: This is not a sponsored post.  All images are by me, photographer Gregg Cestaro where noted, and Shayla’s image and Book Tour are by her photographer Janet Warlick. All opinions are my own.