"When she hosts a dinner, it always becomes an event," said Janet, who lives in Phoenixville and works for an e-commerce Web site. "It is a planned menu, from hors d'oeuvres and appetizers to dessert and after-dinner drinks. It makes our celebrations all the more special. She thrives on the challenge."
After working for years as a medical-surgical nurse, Caruso is unlikely to be daunted by something as minor as a kitchen crisis. As a newlywed, she had limited cooking skills, but a friend who had worked as a chef encouraged her to keep learning and trying new things.
In the 1960s, the New York Times Cookbook was her bible; in the 1970s, it was The Joy of Cooking. The well-worn Times cookbook is so treasured that Caruso laid claim to it when she and her husband divorced: "I said, 'I need it for the osso buco recipe.' "
Now she is more inclined to re-create restaurant dishes, or recipes she has seen chefs prepare on cable's Food Network. She is also influenced by the vacations abroad that she takes every other year, most recently to Greece.
Her organizational skills are tested each summer at the Jersey Shore, where Caruso shares a rambling Victorian house in Avalon affectionately known as "the White House" with 25 people, some of whom have been returning for more than 20 years. Caruso joined the group eight years ago.
On Saturday nights from Memorial Day through the end of September, 20 to 30 people sit down to dinner at one long table in the dining room. A typical communal meal: grilled marinated chicken breasts, roasted vegetables and fresh strawberries with Grand Marnier sauce, served buffet-style.
Caruso does the menu-planning and shopping, and many hands pitch in to help prep and cook. Others handle the clean-up, which is fortunate because no disposable plates, glasses or cutlery are used, and the kitchen has just one dishwasher.
