SEASONAL CELEBRATIONS
That’s the title of a new cookbook now at the printer—and hopefully ready for your holiday gift list. The fundraiser for the Lopez Children’s Center is described below. Watch for announcements and details of its coming release !!!!
Download missing cookbook page
A COOKBOOK of CELEBRATION!
This is the 30th anniversary of the release of the original “Old Island Favorites” recipe collection published by the Lopez Island Preschool Building Fund Raising Committee in December of 1977. That fundraising effort began what eventually evolved into the Lopez Children’s Center, with the Lopez Preschool Cooperative still going strong. The Preschool and the Play and Learn Program (PAL), housed within the Center, provide a safe, welcoming place for Lopez children and visitors, ages 2 to 6, to learn, to interact and to play.
A CELEBRATION of GREAT FOOD!
We are fortunate on Lopez to have access to local farms growing organic fruits and vegetables and organically raised beef, lamb, and pork. Local sellers and Saturday Markets make it easy for us to find the freshest food for our tables. Many wonderful cottage industries supply us with locally produced and award winning jams, chutneys, syrups, pickles, mustards, and estate grown wines.
Our island is blessed with great restaurants, chefs, and caterers, and an island full of talented, knowledgeable “home cooks” whose recipes fill this cookbook. Some of the recipes are originals, devised to take advantage of the fresh produce of the season (or as a way to use leftovers). Some are old favorites clipped years ago from newspapers or magazines and lovingly prepared again and again. A few of the recipes were culled from the original preschool cookbook and are just as good today as they were 30 years ago.
A CELEBRATION of SEASONS!
The recipes in the book have been selected to take advantage of what is fresh or readily available ON LOPEZ during each of the four seasons of the year. Fall brings us lots of fresh apples, so you will find several recipes for desserts. Why do we have four apple cake recipes? Each of the recipes is so different and so delicious we decided to include them all (and let you try to pick a favorite).
Lopez pork and lamb is plentiful, especially in the spring. Try Pork Loin Lopez, or Lamb & Rice Curry, or an Easter feast of Roast Lamb with Potatoes.
And, what could be more Lopezian than Kelp??? Jennifer Hahn, local kayaker, adventurer, and author shared her recipe for “Horn Tootin Kelp Pickles”.
Many of our contributors have included recipe background, origin, or history, and personal information, making the book an interesting read even before you whip out your pots and pans. Open to the page for “Cam’s Yummy Chicken Curry”, for example, and you will find that Cam DeVore suggests “use thighs. Chicken breasts are for sissies”. Or, Robin Bergstrom tells us her recipe for Possum’s Honey Wheat Bread was a staple at the MacKaye Harbor Inn in the 1980s.
In addition to the recipes themselves, the last section provides a sampling of complete menus—one for each month of the year—highlighting ingredients in season or easily available on Lopez during that time.
Whatever the CELEBRATION, we are sure you will find great recipes to bring that special touch, and, in the process, CELEBRATE the wonderful producers, purveyors, and preparers of Lopez Island.
Contact: Shanley Lett for more information