Joan Nathan is more than a Jewish cookbook writer. Her new memoir reveals why
LOS ANGELES -- The morning after Joan Nathan's 80th birthday party last year — a long-table Palm Springs gathering on the grounds of a hacienda-style compound where Samuel Goldwyn, Lucille Ball and Judy Garland are said to have lived at various times — guests from the nighttime celebration were invited to brunch at the midcentury showcase Abernathy House.
The partygoers who had come from Denmark, Germany and cities across the U.S. poured themselves coffee and took in the glamorous poolside setting after celebrating Nathan the previous evening with testimonials and dinner made with the help of her family, friends and colleagues. Grilled cabbage with spicy sour agave nectar from D.C.'s Centrolina chef Amy Brandwein; Lulu chef David Tanis' citrus, olive and fennel salad; lamb sent from Philadelphia by Zahav chef Michael Solomonov; a new Tehachapi Heritage Grain Project rice variety from Anson Mills' Glenn Roberts; Sherry Yard's knockout birthday cake infused with passion fruit curd, plus many other courses. The toasts
