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I've see them at the Upper East Side Citarella fairly regularly. You still have to remove and dispose of the organs you won't eat, but if you're going to make Coquilles St. Jacques, you gotta have the coral and the shell.

As Jfitz says, Sandra Lee is the girlfriend of governor of New York, and Vogue likes featuring the consorts of the various alpha guys around town. Just understand that it's one of those things that given their audience and who they look up to, want to push.

Just like their constant assertions that a certain politician's wife is the most beautifully dressed and the most beautiful woman since Audrey Hepburn, Jackie O, Grace Kelly, you name it. If they keep saying it, it must be true, how can it not.

I would figure 60 pieces of different canapes or tea sandwiches. Take a look at the sandwich chapter from the mid 1990s edition of Joy of Cooking for ideas. Pigs in a blanket, various pastries ( fifteen petit-fours? get these from the best baker in town), a large cake or pie, olives, nuts, almonds, cheese straws. As long as no one has a gluten allergy, this is fine.

Sparkling wine, iced coffee, lemonade, gin, seltzer, whiskey, ice, tomato juice, orange juice, water.

Celebrities, huh? I guess roast prime rib with perfect vegetables, Yorkshire pudding and bottles of Pommard for Sunday lunch with Michael Caine.

Tongue. Dried coconut flakes.

Le Severo and L'Ami Louis are my reccs.

La Grenouille in New York makes a great banana souffle on some nights

Blue Bottle Chiapas

2nding the reccomendations of Vij, Kirin, Blue Water and Tojo.

Also, the bartender at Tojo is possibly the best in North America.

When I'm in a romantic mood, food is the last thing on my mind....

The series Richard Olney edited and wrote for Time/Life's The Good Cook/Techniques and Recipes series is excellent and all the volumes are worth owning.

Also, Louise Bertholle's Secrets of the Great French Restaurants. A really wonderful anthology of of French recipes, many of which I haven't seen in other books. Whole chapters on freshwater crayfish (langoustines), Frog legs and snails. A book that has Pintadeau farcie au Pied de Cochon and two recipes for Stuffed Goose Neck has to be pretty hardcore.

Other musts are Raymond Sokolov's book on sauces and Paula Wolfert's book on the cooking of Southwestern France.

All of the above are out of print, but not difficult to find.

You can probably find some good local recommendations when you get there, which could be the same as what's mentioned in the travel guides. Hopefully the better restaurants won't be closed in August. Only spending a day in Florence would drive me crazy with frustration, but maybe you could do a day trip to Pietrasanta.

Il Latini in Florence. Spectacular. Also a Bologna gelato article was useful and good. Finally, numerous articles got me to finally try Two Red Hens bakery in my neighborhood.