A Fun Fundraiser Booksigning

Almost two weeks ago, I attended a fun booksigning at the Next Page Bookstore in Frisco, Colorado (shown below). The book being sold was Entertaining! Summit Style!, a coffee-table style cookbook developed as a fundraiser by Applause!, the volunteer fund raising committee of the Breckenridge Music Festival. The second photo below is of me with Nancy Sawvell, the chair of the cookbook committee.



Many of the committee members brought samples of recipes they had contributed to the cookbook, and those who bought a copy received a free glass of wine from the store's wine and tea bar. The food and wine were delicious, but the most fun part for me was collecting signatures from everyone there on their recipes and photos.

The first photo below shows Linda Mirro, one of the cookbook photographers, signing her favorite photo of a filled margarita glass resting in the snow. The second one shows me with Sandy Kuschnerus, owner of the "Bon Vivant! by Chef Sandy K" catering business, who was instrumental in testing many of the recipes. Over a thousand were submitted, but only a little over two hundred were selected for inclusion.



The next four photos show various Applause! volunteers signing their recipes.






Many Summit County restaurants contributed recipes, including the Briar Rose Chophouse and Saloon, the Keystone Ranch Restaurant, the Hearthstone Restaurant, Le Petit Paris Bistro-Restaurant, Food Hedz World Cafe, and Ember. I hope to visit many of these restaurants in the coming months and take my cookbook with me so I can ask the chefs to sign their recipes. One restaurant chef who was at bookstore, Kevin McCombs, Executive Chef of the Ski Tip Lodge, is shown in the photo below, signing one of his recipes.


The photo below shows me with Vera Dawson, the Baking Columnist for the Summit Daily News and the Vail Daily News. I'm always fascinated by the high altitude adjustments she makes in her recipes. I can't wait to try her bread and dessert recipes at Breckenridge's high altitude.


The man in the middle of the photo below is Maestro Gerhardt Zimmerman, Music Director and Conductor of the Breckenridge Music Festival, who signed his photo and introduction in the cookbook for me. And the last photo is of Mary Grace and Hardy McAlister, who have a home in the same neighborhood as our second home in Breckenridge. They both contributed recipes to the cookbook.


I own many, many cookbooks, but after paging through this one and sampling some of the recipes at the event, I know that Entertaining! Summit Style! is going to become one of my favorites. If you'd like to own this special collection, complete with mouth-watering photos, contact the Next Page Bookstore in Frisco, Colorado to purchase your own copy.