ArtFest Success

Customers at the ArtFest in Old Town Scottsdale (Nov 21-23) loved Tastes & Treasures. One fellow (shown at right) returned to buy it and wanted a cookie. Leslie and Jeannine joked that he could have a FREE cookbook if he paid $24.95 for a cookie. So he did.

Last year Leslie sold 180 books at the event and as of Sunday at 1 pm she had sold 130 books. She reported final sales of 151 cookbooks, 4 adult, 1 junior and 3 children' aprons for a total of $3,872.05 to support our museum programs.

Leslie expresses her thanks for all the wonderful help - especially to the newcomers - Joan, who helped with set up, and her new sales women, Sharon, Kassie and Lindy. Kassie & Lindy (shown in photo) even helped with tear down. Leslie wondered, how are your backs??

It was a very successful event, considering the economy and hearing other vendors complain that their sales were way down from last year.

Growing Cookbook Availability

An update on market locations - Tastes & Treasures is now available for sale through DelStar (Westin Kierland, Sheraton downtown, Desert Ridge Marriott and the airport). Barnes & Noble is offering the cookbook at several Valley stores and also online.

Roast Beef Salad Recipe

Following the cookbook inventory, we shared a lunch prepared by Ruth McLeod. This delicious salad is a recipe from the Winter Lunch section in Tastes and Treasures, page 167.

Roast Beef Salad

Blue Cheese Dressing
1/2 cup olive oil or vegetable oil 1/4 cup red wine vinegar 3 tablespoons crumbled blue cheese 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley or cilantro 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard 1 garlic clove, crushed 1/2 teaspoon sugar Salt and pepper to taste

Salad
1 1/2 pounds chilled roast beef, julienned
12 small fresh mushrooms, sliced
12 cherry tomatoes, cut into halves
1 (14-ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1 avocado, sliced

For the dressing, combine the olive oil, vinegar, cheese, parsley, Dijon mustard, garlic, sugar, salt and pepper in a jar with a tight-fitting lid and seal tightly. Shake to combine. Chill in the refrigerator. Substitute Gorgonzola cheese for the blue cheese for a milder flavor.

For the salad, toss the roast beef, mushrooms, tomatoes, artichokes and avocado in a large salad bowl. Add the dressing and mix until coated. You may serve on a bed of lettuce. Serves 6

2nd Printing of Tastes & Treasures

Tuesday morning, Ruth McLeod assembled a crew at the museum to unload a shipment of the 2nd edition of our cookbook. 2 pallets held boxes filled with a total of 2,000 books. A daunting task? Not so -- Mary Parker, Zona Lorig, Renee Donnelly, Terrie Sanford, Ruth Ann Hogan, Kay Holcombe, Jeannine Moyle, and Joan Robinson-Blumit cheerfully opened boxes; inspected books for quality; then re-sealed the boxes. Inventory numbers were assigned to the boxes, which were then moved into storage. The 830 originally printed cookbooks were moved from the storage area and transported to vehicles for storage at various members' homes or to taken to stores.

Ruth whipped up the Roast Beef Salad (recipe in above post) from Tastes & Treasures - for our lunch. Yum!

Tomorrow, 11/21 through 11/23, League members will be selling the cookbook at ArtFest in Scottsdale, which is held on the grassy area by the central library.

New Store Selling Tastes & Treasures

Always good to visit a new customer and it was a treat to deliver cookbooks and meet Missy Shakelford and Vivian Mueller, owners of Gifts with a Conscience at 3301 E Indian School in Phoenix. http://www.giftswc.com/

Their philosophy is to support non profit organizations and a percentage of all their sales goes to worthwhile causes. The shop is filled with lovely gift ideas and our cookbook is selling very well. This delivery was a reorder for them. My eye caught the lovely wrought iron book stand that would look so good in my kitchen with our cookbook displayed on it. Check it out www.giftswc.com

Vivian told me her 23 year old daughter, Christina, loves to cook from Tastes & Treasures and Roasted Teriyaki Beef Tenderloin, pg 157 is a favorite, especially with her boyfriend and sister. She also makes the Mexican Chicken Casserole, pg 182, but "lightens" it up a bit with lower calorie ingredients.

The ladies mentioned that they usually go out for dinner at Christmas but this year, with a down economy, they have decided to celebrate with a dinner party using recipes from the cookbook.

Williams Bus Tour

Tours of historic sites and other locales of interest are organized monthly for League members, and November's trip to Williams turned into an unforgettable experience. As recounted by Delores Tomasek, a 7:15 a.m. departure meant very early rising since she lives in Fountain Hills. She needn't have been so punctual. The bus had a flat tire and a new bus had to be sent from Gilbert, pushing their departure to 9:15 a.m.

Arriving in Williams, the group discovered that their planned tour guide was no longer with the company. They were greeted by a guide who specialized in telling the town's ghost stories, not what they'd signed on for.

Lunch was fine, but the group joked that it was a long way to go for a hamburger.

The ride home began at 3:00 p.m. and shortly after, the bus pulled off I17 to the shoulder and stopped. The bus wasn't going to make it and a new bus had to be sent from Gilbert. The wine and cheese they'd brought along helped "ease" the wait, and they enjoyed waving at the truckers.

Everyone finally got home and all agreed: in spite of everything, they had a lot of fun.