Steamboat Pilot & Today

What began as a small community cookbook has turned into a coffee table quality souvenir of Steamboat Springs. And the project that Strings in the Mountains Guild members thought they could put together in a couple of months ended up taking 2 1/2 years.

That extra time was well worth it. "A Medley of Recipes: Steamboat Seasons" is a hard-bound, 224-page book, held together with seasonal photos of the Yampa Valley by Chris Selby and Corey Kopischke. The pages are accented with violins by local artists David Taylor, R.C. Dieckhoff, Julie Anderson and Edie Dismuke from the Strings' 16th season signature art project.

The new cookbook will be released officially in stores Sunday with a reception at Off the Beaten Path Bookstore. There will be complimentary wine and tastings of three "Steamboat Seasons" recipes -- Scotch Eggs (p. 16), Marinated Mushrooms and Artichokes (p. 178) and Triple-Chocolate Nut Cookies (p. 209).

As they designed this book, guild members thought of the things that were important to them as cooks.

The first design element they added was a book that lays open no matter what page your recipe is on. All recipes were contributed by Steamboat residents, including 30 recipes by local chefs, musicians and restaurants. The recipes are interspersed with anecdotes about Steamboat.

All recipes were tested by guild members during testing parties. Of the 650 recipes the group collected, they chose 235 for the book. The book includes soups, salads, meats and desserts.

The book will be available at Off the Beaten Path, The Homesteader, Home on the Range, Soda Creek Mercantile, F.M. Light, Tread of Pioneers Museum, the Cutting Room, Steamboat Floral and Gifts, Catamount Ranch and Club Golf Clubhouse, Haymaker Golf Course, Lyon's Corner Drug, Rocky Mountain Wellness Spa and at all Strings events. Proceeds will benefit Strings in the Mountains musical programming.