July Events and Book Giveaways

See Finn's tail wagging? He'd rather have biscotti than a free book. I baked this lemon-hazelnut biscotti ( a recipe from my book); then I got ready for upcoming book events.

Every weekend this month I'm busy with fun cooking demos, book signings and farm and food talks. Check my July venue below and join me. At each event, you can enter a drawing to win a signed free copy of my new book--The Northwest Vegetarian Cookbook.

I draw a winner's name each Sunday from July 11th through August 1st. (Who knows maybe I'll continue through August.) The first winner on July 11th was Teresa Salak who entered the drawing at Magnolia's Bookstore on July 10th. You can check this blog to find out who won for the week.

On July 11th I was at Marlene's Market and Deli where I made two salad dressings, a cool fruit soup and my favorite smoothie recipe--all from my book. On Marlene's Web site, check out my new column called "Take 5" in the July issue of Marlene's monthly newspaper The Sound Outlook.
These are the remaining July events (plus August 1st). I'm looking forward to meeting everyone and sharing food, farm and gardening stories.

July 17 -- 12-3pm

I'll be at Mrs. Cooks in University Village making some great seasonal recipes to share while I talk about favorite local farms and food. I'll answer all your burning produce questions.

July 18 -- 11-1pm

I'll be at Lake Forest Park farmer's market for a book signing. This is a great fairly new community farmers' market and after you've finished shopping here, you can browse Third Place Books. How cool is that? Come listen to stories about local farmers, get produce information, discover new ways to serve summer produce and just chat about gardens, markets and local foods.

Here is a cool sign from one of the farmers at the Lake Forest Park farmers' market.

July 24 -- 10-11am

Look for me at the U-District Farmers' Market doing a cooking demo instead of my usual shopping and socializing with friends. I created a new recipe especially for this demo--a pie cherry vinaigrette that I'd been thinking about for days. I'll also make one of my favorite soups and an easy fruit salad with a hazelnut butter dressing.

This is a photo of the U-District market before it opens and fills with summer crowds.

July 24 -- 3 to 5:30pm

After the market, I'll head south to the Pacific Northwest Writers' Conference at the Hilton Seattle Airport and Conference Center where a number of my writers' group friends and I will present a panel discussion about successful writers' groups.

July 25 -- 1 to 3pm

I'm happy to announce some Northwest CostCo stores will be carrying my books and I'll be at the Everett CostCo for a book signing event. I'd love to answer produce questions or just chat about local food and farms. Be sure to stop to help encourage big stores like CostCo hop on the local food bandwagon.

July 31-- 11 to 1pm

I'll be at the Edmonds Bookshop (in Edmonds, of course). It's about 1/2 block from the Edmonds Summer farmers' market, so come chat with me about farms, fruits and vegetables, then head to the market and buy some great local produce and of course don't leave the market without some beautiful flowers.

August 1 -- 1 to 2:30 pm

Join me at East-West Bookshop for a discussion about Northwest produce, the challenges of local farmers, sustainable diets and local food trends at the markets, in gardens and in restaurants.