Honorable Mention 2008 DIY Book Awards

Last year Ruth McLeod entered Tastes & Treasures in the DIY Book Awards. The cookbook has just won Honorable Mention in the 2008 DIY Book Awards Cookbook section.

Phoenix Zoo now carries Cookbook

You can now enjoy Zoo Lights with your family and purchase the cookbook in the gift shop for a wonderful Christmas present. Delivering books to the Zoo and seeing all the children gave me flashbacks to the days when my children were young. Kids love to see the animals and vegetation. Parents love spending such quality time. What could be better?

Another Satisfied Buyer

Ruth received an email from a woman who purchased Tastes & Treasures at the Wickenburg home tour organized by Toby Daum. She ordered 2 more through online sales.

"Thank you, Ruth. I love the book, I bought it at the little Xmas bazaar when we came for the tour of the five homes in early November. These two are presents for good friends.

I took the Cowboy Caviar to a party last weekend and am bringing the John Wayne eggs to a family get-together this weekend...great cookbook!"

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.