Montana - The Treasure State

Second official nickname: "Big Sky Country"

Suggested nickname: "Vacation Home Country"

Two Truths and a Lie

• Montana elected the nation’s first congresswoman, Jeanette Rankin, in 1916. This is especially remarkable because it occurred four years before the 19th Amendment granted women the right to vote nationwide.

• Like much of middle America, people here love meat and potatoes. But the folks in Grand Forks, Montana takes things up a notch by hosting the nation’s largest french fry festival.

• The largest snowflake on record landed at Fort Keogh in the Montana Territory back in 1887. It measured 15 inches across.

The Recipe - Forager's Shortbread

Montana has some lovely boutiques, museums, and theaters. Well maybe it does, who knows? The main appeal of Montana lies out of doors. Between rolling prairies, scenic rivers, and picturesque mountains, Montana is a fantastic place to fish, hike, hunt, or climb. To celebrate Montanans love for the great outdoors, I raided the jars of foraged ingredients I packed away last summer. Sumac from the roadside, juniper from the woods, and coriander seeds from my garden made a nice mix. I ground them all in my handy mortar and pestle.

My kitchen instantly gained the aroma of a sunny afternoon in the mountains. The juniper was especially powerful with its woodsy, citrusy scent. Those flavors needed room to shine, so I prepared a simple shortbread dough. I skipped rolling and shaping the dough and just pressed it all in a cast iron. A sprinkle of sea salt, some scattered docking and it was good to go.

They baked so nicely! The shortbread was appropriately soft and crumbly. They tasted lovely with a piney, herbaceous note that lingered pleasantly on the tongue. In summation, I wish every gin and tonic I tried to enjoy had tasted more like these cookies.

Want to experience Montana for yourself? Then Teresa recommends ...

My parents took me to Glacier National Park when I was just a baby. The photos are phenomenal (see below) and I dream of returning. As a teen, we returned to the state and camped in many of the national forests. One highlight was a visit to the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. We also stayed at the original KOA in Billings, which was not as scenic as the National Forests, but after two weeks of roughing it, untimed warm showers and plumbed toilets screamed luxury.

I currently have "A River Runs Through It" by Norman Maclean on my reading list. A former Montanan recommended it to me.

Time for the whole truth

Grand Forks and its french fry festival are in North Dakota.

(By the way, you can click on any of the 2 truths and a lie statements to visit the source of the trivia)