Local cookbooks quite a treat

Auntie’s Bookstore is serving up goodies from two local cookbooks this weekend.

On Saturday, activities program director, Beth Alcorn, will make food samples to share from the recipes in the new “Southside Senior Activity and Community Center Cookbook.” She’ll be there from noon to 2 p.m.

Then Sunday, Tullia Barbanti will offer a taste of the recipes in her cookbook “Al Dente” from noon to 2 p.m.

Auntie’s Bookstore is at 402 W. Main Ave. in Spokane. For more information, call (509) 838-0206.

Ticket to wild game

We know the menu for the North Idaho College Alumni Association’s Wild Game Feast is supposed to be, uh, wild, but Tibetan yak meatballs?

Yep. Yak meatballs. Appetizers for the Feb. 2 event also include wapiti quesadillas and alligator wontons. The four-course dinner menu, created by Steve Taylor of the North Idaho College food service, includes Creole turtle soup, spinach salad with crispy boar bacon and quail eggs, kangaroo medallions and huckleberry bread pudding.

Dinner starts at 6 p.m. in the Ts’elusm Dining Room of NIC’s Edminster Student Union Building.

Tickets are $75 per person or $70 for NIC Alumni Association members. All proceeds benefit the alumni association and scholarships for NIC students. For tickets, mail a check to the NIC Alumni Association, 1000 W. Garden Ave., Coeur d’Alene, ID, 83814 or call (208) 769-5978.

Secret ingredients

“You’ll never guess what’s in this.”

If you have a recipe that has you saying that to everyone who tries it, we want to hear from you. We want to know your secret ingredient. So, if you make a cake with – surprise! – mayonnaise or cook a roast with – who’d have guessed? – Dr. Pepper – we’d love to hear about it for a story about dishes made with unusual, unexpected ingredients. Share your recipes with Heather Lalley at heatherl@spokesman.com or (509) 459-5089. Submissions are due by Tuesday.