The Montana Standard from Butte, Montana • 23

Montana Standard INSIDE SECTION Mutual Sunday, Sctntmner 17, tztt i On th Money fes Cable subscribers will still get Fox itTC Cj fi 7 i X- V'z is: Local cable subscribers have expressed concerns this week over potentially losing the Fox channel. While minor Fox changes are in store for Butte customers, people won't lose the network it will just be arriving from a new source, said THI BOZFMAS HRONICLE AP MEREDITH BROKAW signs copies of her new cookbook at Way Out West in Livingston on Aug. 30. Brokaw is quietly putting-down roots in southwest Montana, even though she never set out to do that. In fact, when her husband, TV journalist Tom Brokaw bought the ranch on the West Boulder River in 1989, she wasn't sure about this place at all.

'Big Sky Cooking' Cookbook by Meredith Brokaw captures passion for Last Best Place 'The Montana ranchers whom we've met are selmxwtained, accomplished, no-nonsense; tan-do -teople. They have to be, given their isolation and Mike Oswald, a spokesman for Bresnan "The former Fox channel was FoxNet.that was a satellite feed directly from Fox," Oswaid said. "Most of our systems picked that up because we didn't have a local Fox By Erin NlCHOLES affiliate." Recently, Fox discontinued its national satellite feed, alarming Butte customers who rely on the channel for NFL games, among other things. Not to worry, Oswald said, Bresnan picked up a local affiliate Fox station to provide service for Butte. Missoula-based Max Media is now providing the feed.

"Their programming isn't going to be exactly like the national feed was, but it's going to carry a lot of the same things, including the NFL and Nascar," Oswald said. Bresnan is working on updating its programming guides to reflect the new schedules, he said. NEW MAGAZINE A Butte man is aiming the spotlight on artists with a new magazine. "Montana Arts and Cultural Magazine" debuts Sept. 25, said publisher Randy Vralsted.

"I'm just trying to showcase some of the artists we have in Montana who are just excellent and never seem to get a name for themselves," he said. "It's about 1 trying to promote the arts in general, from dance and drama to writing and literature." A Billings native, Vralsted transplanted to Butte after living 13 years in Portland, Ore. There, he was a graphic designer and partner in a coffee shop. "The partnership went sour," he said. "I've always wanted to get back to Montana; I had a little job offerto work for somebody (in Butte)." While here, he got the idea for the magazine.

"I've always liked type, copy and images," he said. "I picked up quite a bit of stuff from Butte; the magazine has a lot of Butte artists in it right now." The full-color newsprint magazine is being printed in Bozeman and will soon be available locally, for free. Butte, people may recognize a few names in the first issue: Painter Eben Goff and photographer Bob Berisford are both featured. While the magazine is Butte- See DIGGINGS, Page D5 Silver Hggings tMiMIB THE DIFFICULTY OF LIVING IN THIS RELATIVELY REMOTE, SOMETIMES HARSH CLIMATE. THE TRANSPLANTS MEANING YOU WEREN'T BORN HERE HAVE TO LIKE AND APPRECIATE THESE VIRTUES OR THEY DON'T Meredith Brokaw in "Big Sky Cooking" "The Montana ranchers whom we've met are self-contained, accomplished, no-nonsense; 'can do' people," she wrote.

"They have to be, given their isolation and the difficulty of living in this relatively remote, sometimes harsh climate. The transplants meaning you weren't born here have to like and appreciate these virtues or they don't stay." She appreciates those virtues and has no qualms about sharing her love of Montana with friends and family, who come and go from the ranch all summer. One regular guest has been Wright, Brokaw's friend of 30 years, and her husband Joe. Wright, founder of a New York interior design firm, has been "cooking seriously since 1960," she wrote in her essay, "Friendship." She's the one who talked Brokaw into writing the book. "After writing two cookbooks, I thought I had tasted, or was familial with, almost everything," Wright wrote.

"Then I was introduced to the meats and fresh produce available in the West: bison, elk, antelope, chokecherries and huckleberries, to name a few. I didn't realize how much I would learn, and it didn't take me long to love it all." The result of their shared enthusiasm is the 224-page book organized around menus for different times of the day: "Sunrise," "High Noon," "Dusk" and "Under the Stars." Many of the dishes are from "retooled family See COOKING, Page D5 By Karin Ronnow The Bozeman Daily Chronicle LIVINGSTON (AP) Meredith Brokaw is-quietly putting -roots in southwest Montana, even though she never set out to do that. In fact, when her husband, TV journalist Tom Brokaw, bought the ranch on the West Boulder River in 1989, she wasn't sure about this place at all. "For six months, Meredith refused even to visit," Tom Brokaw wrote in the foreword to his wife's new.book. But eventually she was persuaded and, "the truth is, that by the end of that first day I knew that owning the ranch would turn into a love story, and it has," she wrote.

For a South Dakota born-and-bred gal, that first visit triggered a "very real physical sense of homecoming." "We soon discovered that this wasn't just a place to inhabit; it was a world of its own and a way of life," Brokaw wrote. Her new book, "Big Sky Cooking" ($35 Artisan), co-authored with longtime friend Ellen Wright, captures that passion for the Last Best Place. It comes through in her personal essays about life on the ranch, in the beautiful photographs and in the recipes for the simple-yet-sophisticated fare, which she says is "by and large, really the way we cook at the ranch." "I made the short ribs at cow camp last night," she said recently, jp3 i jr It 3 Bow fJsnJMarl S1 referring to the Dutch oven short ribs on page 114. The book is about food. But it's also an homage to Montana.

And she's been pleasantly surprised to find it rings true to Montanans. "I think this is absolutely wonderful," one woman gushed at a recent book-signing. "It is such a lovely book," another woman raved. Brokaw, 65, said she had been a tad nervous about what the locals would think. "But it strikes a chord with people who know Montana," she said.

That's a relief, she said, because she reveals a lot about herself in the book. "I really opened the door and let you come in. And it feels right." Perched on a cowhide-covered tor cf 0CG $3J422 Jr $1,675 $5,389 $5,040 $4,808 Sourc Montana stool, the heels of her cowboy boots hooked on the bottom rung, Brokaw signed books recently at Way Out West, a boutique-feed store just off U.S. Highway 89 South. Brokaw said she likes the store and regularly shops there.

"It's one of the nicest stores in town," she said, almost whispering, as if not wanting to be overhead by anyone who might take offense. On the counter in front of her were piles of "Big Sky Cooking." The cover photo features the front porch of a log home, which is the Brokaw ranch guest house, she said. She and Tom live in the old farmhouse, which is "very ordinary," she said. "I love it." That affinity for simplicity and authenticity appears sincere. 5 mm mm A mm mm nm Oaparttmrc of Indusry.

Labor Day flaport 13,987 $1 05,674 Beaverhead JJan-MarL $26,639 $23,116 f. mm 8" (J JtfP0 I MM fMR nm JSL. a-- mm KM9 IMR MkHV cum mm mm mm mm mm MkP Mfc Deer Lodge (Jan-Mar) $4,522 Granite i jarvWarj $1 ,834, i Jefferson (JarvMar) $5,452 Madison (Jart-Mar) $6,018 Powell (Jarvflar) $5,600 Source: Travel Montana Economic glance Lodging tax revenues for the 1 first quarter of 2006 were up significantly in most southi-est Montana counties from the same period in 2005. And, according to the Department of Labor and Industry Labor Day Report, Montana 's real wages have grown faster than the U.S. in almost every industry over the last five years.

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