Chicago Interior Designer Kimberly Whitman “A Loving Table” sets the table on entertaining.


Now that summer has finally arrived and we’re eager to host friends and family once again, lifestyle and entertaining expert, Kimberly Whitman, has partnered with prominent Chicago-based interior designer (and close friend,) Shelley Johnstone Paschke, on seasonal entertaining for their new book, A Loving Table: Creating Memorable Gatherings, released this spring. 

Beautiful tablescapes and entertaining styles is the focus of A Lovely Table.

The book showcases inspiring tablescapes and the entertaining styles of 34 trend-setting women from around the world, who also share tips and lessons from the important women in their lives. Built on authenticity, many of the tablescapes captured in A Loving Table are from real dinners and events with tastemakers’ families. 

Traditions and Heritage Passed On

“These style-setting women pay tribute to how their mothers and grandmothers have influenced their own styles of entertaining at home,” writes Whitman on her website. “Whether they proudly incorporate recipes passed down from a grandmother’s collection or follow a mother’s lessons for making guests feel comfortable, it is clear that family role models have had a strong influence. Blending inherited dinnerware or decorative pieces in their modern tables is also big in the way women embrace their heritage for entertaining. From formal to casual occasions, city to country, and grand to intimate, indoor and outdoor tables beautifully designed tell a story about how these women host guests at their tables. Each style maker shares tips and lessons in entertaining that she learned from the women in her life.”

A Lovely Table shares advice from tastemakers like

A Loving Table offers inspiration for events ranging from grand to intimate, city to country, and even indoor to outdoor. Some notable moments in the book include a Vietnamese Christmas Eve, a Royal Luncheon in Portugal, a Mardis Gras brunch, and even a 100th Birthday for your Grandfather.

Be sure to intertwine the generations of advice passed down to these tastemakers into your next family-oriented celebration.

Interior designer Kimberly Whitman creates perfect tablescapes.

About Kimberly

With a talent for making the ordinary extraordinary Kimberly Schlegel Whitman has taken her original and clever take on parties and created business ventures to help you celebrate in style. While planning her own Idlewild Debutante Ball in Dallas, Texas, Kimberly found an undiscovered opportunity—a lack of quality goods for party rentals.

In 1998, a quick-thinking Kimberly launched her own event company, RSVP Soiree Luxury Event Rentals, and, after building up a wonderful business, sold it in 2006. She also took the century-old RSVP Social Calendar online in 1999 and created an online resource with a comprehensive list of Dallas’ finest charitable events at http://www.RSVPcalendar.comKimberly’s success in this field led to the publication of nine books on entertaining, countless television appearances, a daily radio segment on CBS’s 103.7 KVIL, Dallas’ number one morning radio show, and a spot as co-host of KTXD’s live daily television talk show, Texas Living.  In 2011, she became the Editor-at-Large of Southern Living Magazine, the seventh-largest monthly paid consumer magazine in the nation.

In 2015 Kimberly joined forces with sorority sister and calligraphy artist Jen O’Neal to create a line of table linens that brings classic designs to the modern hostess.  Halo Home by KSW’s monogrammable linens and popular emoji cocktail napkins are found in over 200 stores across the country.  In 2018, the pair sold Halo Home to Mariana Barran de Goodall, the founder of Hibiscus Linens.  In 2020, Kimberly founded and continues to operate ShopKSW.com, a website that features and sells tabletop treasures curated by tablescape, brand and style. Her popular Summer 2021 fashion collaboration with Antonio Melani, exclusively at Dillards, is celebrating another successful collection with the Summer 2022 selection of twelve dresses perfect for any celebration.

Celebrity Caterer Andrea Correale Shares Summer Recipes

If you’re wondering what Mariah Carey, Leonardo DiCaprio, Adam Sandler, Alec Baldwin, Liam Neeson, Jimmy Fallon, Kevin Costner, and P. Diddy are eating this Memorial Day, it might be something that Andrea Correale, the founder and president of Elegant Affairs, has whipped up. Correale counts such stars as well as corporations like Ralph Lauren, Amazon, American Express, American Heart Association, and Cirque du Soleil among her clients.

         She started her own company at 16 after working in a variety of jobs at a local country club. Initially she hoped to earn enough money to buy a car. She not only got the car but also was set on a career path. Correale received her training at the Hotel and Restaurant Management program at New York Institute of Technology and then founded Elegant Affairs, a full service off-premise catering and event planning company in the Hamptons, Long Island and New York City.

         Besides the following recipes, Correale also shares some of the latest in food trends which can easily be incorporated into Memorial Day entertaining.

         This being the fruit best, it works that cobblers are trending. Correale says you can serve blueberry, apple, peach, cherry, or any type of fruit cobbler you’d like simply à la mode — oversized and baked or deconstructed in a glass or jar.

Andrea with Kevin Costner.

         For condiments, peppers are totally in starting with sriracha and other unique hot sauces. Correale says the hotter the better and also, when they’re available at farmers’ markets—salted shishito peppers.

         It’s not really corn on the cob time yet, but if you can find some, Correale suggests a corn on the cob bar where besides roasted or steamed corn, there’s every topping imaginable: flavored butters, spreads, herbs, cheese, bacon, and spices.

          Gluten-free and vegan anything and everything.

         People want fresh food, it doesn’t need to be fancy.

         “It’s much more about the quality of the ingredients, and the freshness,” says Correale, than it is about overabundance.”

Watermelon Pizza

Servings: 8

Prep Time: 5 Minutes

1 large watermelon

5 cups vanilla frozen yogurt

3 cups fresh raspberries

3 cups fresh blueberries

Cut watermelon into 8 thin slices, to create your “crust”.

Spread a layer of vanilla frozen yogurt on top of each watermelon slice.

Add berries as your toppings and serve immediately.

Red Velvet, Berry and Cream Parfaits

Servings: 4

Prep Time: 15 Minutes

4 oz cream cheese

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup heavy cream

3 cups fresh blackberries or raspberries

8 inch red velvet cake

Bake a red velvet cake in an 8-inch pan, using your favorite recipe, and let it cool.

Combine cream cheese, and sugar in a bowl. Using a hand mixer, beat on a medium-high speed until creamy.

Add in the heavy cream and mix on low speed, until the mixture has a pudding-like consistency.

Line the bottom of your glasses or dessert cups with

cake and a layer of cream. Add another layer of cake, followed by another layer of cream, then add in a

layer of berries. Repeat these layers until you fill your glass or desert cup.

Refrigerate for at least one hour, and garnish each serving with a cookie or pastry of your choice.