COOL ENTERTAINING

Two cookbooks which aim for simplicity and ease of preparation. Reekie sensibly avoids haute cuisine and draws her recipes from bourgeois and regional cookery. Unlike so many French cookbooks, this one thoughtfully de-emphasizes lobster, oysters, truffles, and other forbiddingly expensive ingredients. There's a terrific group of mostly meatless soups--chestnut, pumpkin, garlic, cauliflower, etc.; and the seafood includes affordable cod, mussel, and sardine dishes. Not everything is absolutely authentic, though there is a fine chapter on terrines, patÉs, and galantines. None of it is intimidating. Our reaction to Rhode's cool dining, on the other hand, was downright chilly. It's really only for people who enjoy everything congealed in aspic, even something called Bloody Mary Meatloaf and a tunafish pie made with grapefruit and pecans.