At Mesa's Edge

Eugenia Bone, a Manhattan food writer, was perfectly happy with her life in New York City, but her husband, Kevin, was filled with formless discontent. So when he returned from a fishing trip in the western Rockies and told her he wanted to buy a forty-five-acre ranch in Crawford, Colorado (population 255), she reluctantly agreed. Then she did what any urban food lover would do: she loaded artichokes in oil, imported pasta, cured Italian salamis, and other survival items into her bag and headed west, with her two young children. At Mesa"™s Edge is a story of restoration, rejuvenation, and discovery. As Eugenia struggles with barbed wire, marauding cattle, and defiant skunks, she begins to explore the fertile valley around her. She learns to garden, fly-fish, forage, and hunt. She grills steaks from the local coop, fries dandelion blossoms in tempura, stuffs peppers with guacamole, pan-fries trout, and makes sour cherry pies with thick, sugary crusts. Eventually she realizes that the best food is not imported from Tuscany or Provence but found in our own backyards. The second part of the book consists of more than 100 recipes, from Fried Zucchini Blossoms with Cilantro Mayonnaise to Cherry Brownies.