Christmas is for Cookbooks

The New Midwestern Table by Amy Thielen

I'm a pretty simple person to buy Christmas gifts for, get me either a cookbook, kitchen gadget, garden gadget or garden supplies and you have a winner.  This year for Christmas Shannon got me "The New Midwestern Table" by Amy Thielen.  Now I haven't tried any of the recipes as of yet, but I've enjoyed reading it already.  Amy has great little stories in between recipes.  She talks about Midwest Crawfish (which all my southern friends call Crayfish), Natural Wild Rice, Birch Syrup and Booya.  Which tell us all from Minnesota that Amy truly is a Minnesota girl.  So far I've had the book almost a day and already have book marked the recipes I want to try.  Rhubarb Tarragon Sangria, Smoky Sauerkraut Soup, Wild Rice with Smoked Chicken Soup, Black Maple-Glazed Pork Belly and I haven't even got though most of the book!  If you got this cookbook, let me know what recipes you have tried and what recipes you want to try! Me, I'm thinking the first one will be Pasties for the boys going up north Snowmobiling.