Bloggy Giveaway Carnival is Here!

It's here! It's here! The Bloggy Giveaways Quarterly Giveaway Carnival is finally here!

I am giving away a cookbook called "The Fiddlehead Cookbook" - Recipes from Alaska's Most Cherished Restaurant and Bakery.   There are many recipes in it that you will want to try, from Crabby Eggs to Sourdough Strawberry Waffles.

 

The rules are simple:

1. Leave a comment on this post just saying "Hi!", and you are entered! To be entered TWICE tell me something about your favorite cookbook OR what you would do with this nice cookbook from Alaska.

2. Please leave your email addy or a link to your blog  so that I can contact you if you win.   I would love to know where you are from and those that tell me will be entered TWICE!

3. I will randomly draw a name early on August 2nd and will post the winner here. I will also contact the winner via email, but if I do not hear back from him/her within 3 days, I will have a re-drawing. I will pay ALL shipping costs for the winner.

4. At this time, I cannot extend this offer to those residing outside the United States.

If you like giveaways, you will find lots of them here.

Thanks and I hope that some of you will "cook" with me!

Cowboy Chow

You never know what little gems you'll find at used book stores!  

On a recent used bookshop hop, I came upon the cutest cookbook in the shape of a red cowboy boot called "Cowboy Chow" by Judy Barbour.  It was published way back in 1988 so it has been out a while and had found it's way onto the cookbook shelves at Half-Price Books on Westheimer Road in Houston, Texas.  Lucky for me!

It seems that Judy Barbour and her husband, Barry, are (were?) chef/owners of a western style restaurant in Texas  and some of the recipes in this cookbook were created for the restaurant. 

There is a tribute to the American Cowboy, as well as sections on Cowboy Equipment, Cowboy Slang, Saddle Snacks and others.  Some of the recipe titles are:  "Armadillo Eggs", "Texas Trash", "Jalapeno Jelly", "Mexican Albondigas", "King Ranch Chicken" (of course!), "Frito Pie", a 100+ year-old family recipe for "Heubner Ranch Muffins", "Navajo Fry Bread", "Pastel de Margarita" (Margarita Pie), and thirst quenchers such as "Firefly", "Cowboy Kiss", "Border Buttermilk", "El Vacquero Coffee", and biggest surprise of all for me - "Cerveza Roja" (Red Beer).  I've heard of beer and tomato juice before but thought it was someone's idea of a quirky combination but never expected to see a recipe for it!   There are lots of other delicious sounding recipes in this 77-page specialty cookbook.

There is also a section on entertaining cowboy-style with cute and interesting ideas for a truly cowboy chow experience.

I checked online to see how available it is and located a few copies at Amazon and one at ebay.  If you should run across a copy somewhere and have a special cookbook shelf reserved for cowboy style cookbooks, this one should be on it, so grab it!

If you are a cookbook collector and would like to join CookbooksEtCetera, click here.

Australia Wide Cookbook

A couple of weeks ago I received a wonderful surprise in the mail, all the way from Australia! Michelle Moon of  the Australia Cookbook Collectors Society sent me a most beautiful cookbooks with photography by Ken Duncan, a well known Australian Photographer, and recipes by Valwyn McMonigal. She said she had  picked it up at a yard sale and the condition is excellent. It is such a nice book, not only with the beautiful countryside photos but also the unique recipes throughout.

There are recipes for crocodile, kangoroo, buffalo, Wattle Seed,  Yabbies, Aussie Meat Pie, Anzac Biscuits (yum!), Barramndi with  Orange Sauce, Lamingtons (another yum!), and others. The food photos  are very appetizing and the recipes sound simple and easy to make.  There are sections for different parts of Australia, such as  Victoria, New South Wales, Tasmania, South Australia, Western  Australia, The Northern Territory and Queensland.

The photos remind me the Pacific Coast and also the Southwestern part  of the USA. Australia is a beautiful and vibrant place and I would  love to visit and try this food first hand! Between the recipes and  the photos, this cookbook is hard to put down.