Girl Hunter Weekend

I’m not a hunter, but I did play one in Texas for a weekend back in December!  Maybe you saw my tweets and Instagram pics while I was swinging a Silver Pigeon V 28GA Beretta at Joshua Creek Ranch in in Boerne, Texas with 13 other food bloggers!

gun slinging

How did this all come about, you wonder?  Not your typical “girls weekend” right?  Although I do HIGHLY recommend it!! It was a lot of fun stepping outside of our usual realm and learning something new all while bonding!

You see, our friend Georgia, has led this really exciting life!  She was a classically trained chef in New York City when she decided to leave the city and learn about where our food really comes from.  Georgia traveled with veteran hunters who showed her the ropes and taught her to hunt things like quail, venison, squirrel, turkey, pheasant and elk!

She embarked on this journey to find her main course,  but along the way she learned surprising lessons about food and life and she put it all in a book titled: Girl Hunter Revolutionizing the Way We Eat, One Hunt at a Time.

Girl-Hunter-Weekend-Marla-Meridith-Photography

Photo via Marla Meridith

Georgia had the grand idea that it might be fun to let some of her friends step into her world, even if it was just for a few days.

We climbed out of cars and planes into another dimension. One filled with guns, taxidermy, fishing poles and bunk beads.

We didn’t have to worry about dressing up……

although where else could you wear a sequined camo dress? HA!

Joshua Creek Ranch was the setting

Joshua Creek Ranch

The staff was amazingly patient with all of us.  Teaching us how to shoot clays and fly fishing

Hunting and Fishing Girl Hunter Weekend

We learned to ignore cameras in our face, as the a couple of Food Network camera guys were there with us for the weekend (rough jobs right?  hanging out all weekend with a bunch of women at a hunting ranch! I bet THEY could write a book! HA!)

Food Network Camera Crew Girl Hunter Weekend

We did spend a little girly time, leaning how to decorate cookies from Bridget, Shelley and Kristan and a few lessons on cake pops from Angie!

cookies and cake pops Girl Hunter Weekend

While the staff at Joshua Creek filled our bellies with amazing food from the ranch! We ate like hunters; quail, pheasant and venison!

Girl Hunter Dining

We had a cooking demo with Georgia, where she shared how easy it can be to prepare a dish like Quail en Papillote (quail baked in parchment with vegetables)

We got to see Georgia in action (with the hunting dogs! – so cool to watch them too)

Georgia Pellegrini Girl Hunter

Group shot of the Girl Hunters:
Left to right: Kristan of Confessions of a Cookbook Queen, Bridget of Bake at 350, Shelly of Cookies and Cups, Wendy of Wenderly, Angie of Bakerella, Amy of She Wears Many Hats, me TidyMom , Erika of Ivory Hut , Dara of Cookin’ Canuk , Georgia of Georgia Pellegrini , Elana of Elana’s Pantry , Marla of Family Fresh Cooking, Carrie of Deliciously Organic and Lori of Recipe Girl. Front and center: Eric of Joshua Creek Ranch, the other kind of Girl Hunter lol

I loved all of our girl bonding over our new experiences.  Sitting around the fire sipping wine, listening to Georgia’s stories about an outing that turned illegal and dangerous, making loon calls and eating s’mores.

I took a lot of video of us shooting our guns and even more pictures, here’s a little more from our weekend in 1:40

 

I admire Georgia for her passion and courage!  Learning about the art of hunting, sipping brandy with the men and gaining their respect and cooking it all up in one inspiring book!

Meet Georgia for yourself!  Video shot by the incredibly talented White of Rice Couple, Todd and Diane

Thanks to Joshua Creek Ranch for hosting all of us Girl Hunters, and to Georgia Pellegrini for bringing us all together for one modern day pioneer weekend we’ll never forget!

You can read some of the other great recaps from our weekend.

You can watch me shooting clays with Georgia here.

photo credits: Girl Hunter Flickr Pool

TidyMom Giveaway

 THIS GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED! Congrats to the winner, comment #13 Valerie Saurer

 

You don’t have to be a hunter to enjoy Georgia’s book, Girl Hunter Revolutionizing the Way We Eat, One Hunt at a Time.  Georgia uses style and wit to introduce us to hunting and the art of cooking what you eat.  Throughout the book  you will meet several characters, learn how she gets along in a sport dominated by men, and find out how to take food from field and stream to plate with mouth-watering recipes for a variety of wildgame.  Girl Hunter is full of enthusiastic stories that any new or experienced hunter, chef or foodie can appreciate.

You may even find yourself itching to grab a shotgun and skillet!

 

Win It: Georgia and Da Capo Lifelong Books is providing 1 lucky TidyMom reader with a Girl Hunter book!

Required Entry:  Tell me about your experience with eat, cooking or hunting wild game.  If you don’t have any, tell me about what kind of books you enjoy reading. (if you are reading this post via email, please note that you must enter on the blog post, NOT by replying to the email)

Want extra entries?

Official Rules: No purchase necessary. Open to residents of US and Canada . Must be over 18. Giveaway will end on January 24, 2012 at 5:00 pm CST. One winner with a valid entry will be selected at random using random.org.   Winner will be notified by email and  will have 48 hours to claim their prize or another winner will be selected. TidyMom, Georgia Pellegrini and Da Capo are not responsible for lost or undelivered emails.

Good Luck!

 

Disclaimer: This giveaway is sponsored by Da Capo Lifelong Books.  I was sent an advanced copy of Girl Hunter to read.   I was not compensated in any way for this review or giveaway.