ALAMOSA — Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. The Gift Shoppe at the Rio Grande County Museum may have just the right gift for someone special.
A lasting memory for the special day might include a handcrafted necklace by Patty Haught, crocheted scarves by Jean Hanna and intricate crocheted doilies by Judy Nicolais. The snow people by Rosie B. are still a perfect thinking-of-you gift.
The Gift Shoppe features a collection of books. The inventory has been expanded to include cookbooks along with the history and books of local interest.   “Southwest Comfort Food” cook book features recipes from stocks, soups and stews to southwest dishes and slow cooked meals and desserts. “Coffee creations” and “viva chocolate!”  give the history of the coffee and chocolate in the Americas. Exciting drinks from both coffee and chocolate as well as meat dishes, marinades and desserts are featured in both books. Chocolate burritos and pizzas and cappuccino cheesecake are a sampling of some of the fun recipes in these two books.  They would make a perfect pairing for a gift.
A cookbook for the more simple, down home cooking would be the “Cowboy Cookbook”. Two fun recipes are Cowboy-Style Corn Chowder and Cattle Call Stew along with bits of Cowboy Humor make the book fun reading. One of the Cowboy humor notes is “ Horseback riding:  The art of keeping a horse between you and the ground”.
Rio Grande County Museum is open Tuesday through Friday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and on Saturday 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more information, please call the museum at 657-2847 or check out the Facebook page. The museum is located at 580 Oak Street, Del Norte.