Everything you need to know to make a potentially intimidating social occasion as easy as pie. You can pacify the hungry hordes at a cocktail party with a fabulous spread, painlessly feed a crowd with a wonderful cassoulet, or dazzle dieting guests with a genuinely low-calorie feast. It's all here.

The six menus vary from light, summery fare to luscious banquets:
Birthday Dinner (featuring roast duck with cracklings and ending with an apricor-filled torte)

Lo-Cal Banquet (including Angosoda cocktail, chicken bouillabaisse with rouille, and caramel-crowned steam-baked apples)

Cocktail Party (puff pastry tarts, Peking wings, oysters, clams, buttered radishes, and more)

Cassoulet for a Crowd (a consomme au Porto and a cassoulet of beans baked with goose, lamb, and sausages, followed by cool pineapple slices)

A Vegetarian Caper (spaghetti squash tossed with eggplant persillade and a gateau of crepes layered with veggies and cheese)

Buffet Dinner (savory appetizers followed by potato gnocchi, old-fashioned country ham, and fresh vegetables a la Grecque, and as a finale an orange Bavarian torte and sliced strawberries with orange liqueur)

Julia's inimitable voice guides the home cook through recipes step-by-step, helping compile shopping lists and making suggestions for leftovers after the party's done.

With 120 full-color photographs