Texas Cooking Online * May, 2005 Newsletter *

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Food Gifts for Father's Day Surprise Dad this year with a Father's Day gift he will really love. Our gifts include fine Omaha Steaks and gourmet dinners from A la Zing. See these and other great specials in the Texas Cooking Food Gift Store. Atkins Products Atkins Baking Products | Atkins Bars Who remembers that we even had a winter? Summer's almost here, and we are living in the moment. This is a great time of year to take advantage of Texas's many wondrous cities, towns, parks and lakes. Up for a day trip? Try to get down to San Antonio, the state's most popular tourist destination. We have two articles focusing on two very different restaurants in the Alamo city: Azuca and Biga on the Banks. Randy Lankford has the inside track with interviews with the respective chef-owners of each of these colorful, unique establishments, and recipes, too. We also review a great travel book that is not only interesting and informative, but promotes fitness and health: San Antonio on Foot. All are fun reads for the armchair traveller. John Raven treats us with a discussion of the state's Czech heritage and how that translates to traditional kolaches available in many parts of Central Texas. Perhaps after a vigorous walking tour of the San Antonio Mission District, the reader can reward himself with this to-die-for sweet. Many of our readers also know that we have a complete store selling colorful Fiestaware dishes, useful china that cheers up any kitchen Southern-style. It is not as generally known that our pages also list vintage Fiestaware auctions running on eBay -- yes, those collectible plates that decorated your mother's and grandmother's tables. Check daily to see what is listed. Make a little time to check out what's going on in the Texas Events Calendar, and scroll down the page for this month's T-shirt contest winners. Keep you busy for a while. Help Yourself to Our Weekly Recipe Email Sign up for our latest feature, the Texas Cooking Weekly Recipe Email. Nothing fancy, just a carefully selected recipe that's sure to please with maybe a link or two to some compatible dishes. Recipes range from savory to sweet -- the entire spectrum. At Texas Cooking, we have always focused on quality over quantity, and we carry that tradition to our Recipe of the Week email. Sign up here.

Roses | Perennials | Bulbs | Houseplants | Hedges | Ground Covers Special Features Kolache: Czech It Out by John Raven, Ph.B. Czech and German roots run deep in Texas. Of course, the Czechs had to eat just like everyone else. The one food item that identifies Czech cooking is the kolache. This to-die-for sweet roll with filling is a favorite with every Texan I have ever known. The aforementioned town of West located on I-35 is a "must stop for kolaches" spot on everyone's map. Azuca: San Antonio by Randy Lankford Their menu is described at Nuevo Latino, a far cry from the traditional beans, rice and enchiladas. "There's no ethnic food on the menu," says chef Rene Fernandez, one of Azuca's co-owners. "Nuevo Latino means we cook in a Latin style. We use ingredients from Latin America combined and prepared in a unique style. We offer plates full of color and freshness. Lots of vibrations. Lots of exoticism." Biga On The Banks: San Antonio by Randy Lankford "It's Italian slang for a bread starter. You'd keep a biga around the house and use a chunk of it to start your bread dough." That's as close as Bruce Auden comes to explaining the name of his restaurant, Biga On The Banks on San Antonio's Riverwalk. Test your knowledge of Texas trivia This month's trivia quiz has stumped everyone! Today the movie industry utilizes Texas frequently as a choice location and place to do business. Can you guess with what movie this trend started? Have you read John Raven's latest Q&A column, Ask Dr. John? A new online form has been added that makes "asking Dr. John" easier than ever. Not only does he field questions about barbecue, chili and outdoor cooking in general, but his downhome culinary knowledge extends to all parts of the menu. Cooking with Texas Highways: This collection of recipes from Texas Highway magazine is full of surprises. A trove of goodies, this new cookbook adds substantial Texas-style value to any kitchen. Great items for Longhorns, Aggies and Red Raiders fans. Visit today New Texas Book Reviews San Antonio on Foot This delightful and very informative book presents over thirty walking tours of San Antonio, creating a comprehensive travel guide of value to both the leisurely ambler or the interested traveler. Read Our Book Review Quotable Texas Women Texas is and has always been peopled by strong characters that, as often as not, know how to turn a phrase. This quality runs deep in Texas women. Read Our Book Review More book reviews in the Lone Star Bookstore on our sister website, Texana Discount Cigarettes Inexpensive shopping by the carton. Click on our link to find out more. Looking for free stuff? Participate in contests, get product samples, trial offers and information Let's go to Luckenbach, Texas with Willie, Waylon and George by John Raven, Ph. B. Every year for the past twenty-seven years around Valentine's Day there has been an interesting gathering of folks at Luckenbach, Texas, to celebrate The Hug-In. The Hug-In started with about three dozen chili cooks who were getting together to plan the coming year's chili-cooking schedule. Other than the usual visiting, picking, grinning and hugging, there is always a Feed-In -- a big pot luck meal for the assembled. Classic Recipe: Monkey Bread Monkey bread is fun to make and absolutely delicious to eat. No bread knife needed, since this is a true pull-apart loaf. This bread can be mixed in the traditional manner, by hand, or in the dough cycle of your bread machine. 2-1/4 teaspoons (1 package) active dry yeast 4 cups white flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon sugar 1/2 cup warm milk 1/2 cup warm water 1 egg, at room temperature, lightly beaten 1 tablespoon butter, melted 1 cup toasted pecans, finely chopped (see Note, below) 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 2/3 cup light brown sugar 5 tablespoons butter, melted Lightly grease a 9-inch springform or Bundt pan. In a large bowl, combine the yeast, flour, salt and sugar, making a well in the center. Add the milk, water and egg to the well, and stir together to form a soft dough. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes, until dough is smooth and elastic. Place dough in a bowl that has been lightly sprayed with vegetable cooking spray. Brush dough with 1 tablespoon melted butter, and cover with waxed paper or plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place for 45 to 60 minutes, or until doubled in size. While bread is rising, mix together the toasted pecans, cinnamon and brown sugar. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently for two minutes. Divide dough in to 30 equal pieces. Shape pieces into balls. Dip each ball into the melted butter, then roll in the pecan mixture. Place in prepared pan. Do not pack pieces together, but leave some space between the dough pieces. Sprinkle any remaining pecan mixture and melted butter over the dough pieces. Cover with waxed paper or plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for about 45 minutes. Bake in a 375°F preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes. Bread should rise well above the top of the pan and be golden brown. Cool on wire rack. Lightly toasting the pecans will make a big flavor difference. To toast whole pecans, spread them out on a baking sheet and toast at 350°F for 4 or 5 minutes, or until you begin to smell them. Pecan pieces or chopped pecans will take less time to toast. You can find this and over 450 more recipes in Grandma's Cookbook. Cookie Gifts Our sponsor Chip-N-Dough offers a sweet selection of cookie gift tins. You can order them now for the holidays. Custom designed gift tins are very popular, no lead time. Texas Cooking readers get $5 off regular price. (coupon code AFF5 at checkout) Martini Gifts Martini Glasss Gift Packs. We have the most unique martini glassware online. Shipped FREE, Gift Wrapped FREE, and FREE Gift card. We are sure to please. More Great E-Mail Newsletters Texas Cooking's Recipe of the Week email is great for people who enjoy our new and classic recipes from our cookbook. Cooks, recipe collectors and fans of Texas will enjoy this brief, weekly email that contains a carefully selected recipe with maybe a link or two to some compatible dishes. Sign up here. Stop Spyware! Kazaa, Gator and other similar programs have been sneaking onto people's computers wreaking havoc to their systems. These malicious programs are difficult to remove. They flood the screen with their own pop-up ads and open up the computer to a host of viruses. If you have programs like Kazaa, TopText, Gator, WhenU and others on your system, take a moment to learn about the problems these programs cause. We have written a useful and quick tutorial that will inform you about these programs and how to uninstall them from your computer. Free Catalogs Enjoy Great Savings from Free Catalogs Clothing Bridal / Wedding Invitations Wine & Brew Sporting Goods Hobbies / Crafts Pets _________ Cosmetics, samples, DVDs, promotions Gratis! May T-Shirt Contest Winners Gail B. of Amarillo, Texas Mary Nell F. of Houston, Texas Ron G. of Little Rock, Arkansas Gary H. of Sacramento, California Greg J. of Grand Rapids, Michigan Danielle M. of Bakersfield, California Bob M. of Aurora, Illinois Phil R. of Framingham, Massachusetts Patsy S. of Santa Fe, New Mexico Edie T. of Austin, Texas Congratulations winners! We are frequently asked if we award T-Shirts to non-US residents, and the answer is Yes. We have had quite a few Canadian winners, and have also sent T-Shirts to winners in England, Australia, Ireland, Switzerland and Germany. The Rules Since we began our T-Shirt giveaway seven years ago, our contest rules remained unchanged. Readers have been able to enter as many times as they like, and their entries were retained in our database. As you can imagine, our contest database has become very large (which is good), BUT much of it consists of old email addresses that are no longer valid. Therefore, we are making the following change in our contest rules: Readers can still enter as often as they like; however, each contest entry will expire three months following the date it was entered and will disappear from the database. This will greatly reduce the number of "names in the hat" and improve the odds of winning. We think this change will result in an even better contest. We are frequently asked how one goes about entering the T-shirt contest. Sign up here. Subscription / Unsubscribe Help This newsletter is sent to you because you, or someone on your behalf, indicated you would like to receive it when you signed our Guest Book or entered our T-Shirt Contest. If you wish to stop receiving the Newsletter, click here or point your browser to http://www.texascooking.com/unsub1.ihtml If you would like to change your email address, please send an email to txmailbox@texascooking.com. ©2005 Texas Cooking Online. All rights reserved.