Penrod - Urban cowgirl: decadently Southern, outrageously Texan, food, family traditions, and style for modern life

Research has proven that people all over the world who consistently rank themselves as happy and fulfilled have one thing in common: They live in villages.

This tribe is a group of people who remain constant in your life. Your best friend, the kids you grew up with, your fairy godmother, or, in my case, a group of people I have known my whole life who support and influence me as much as my own family does. They really are family.

These little tribes share in lifes most precious moments, from teaching you to tie your first pair of shoelaces to sharing the gnawing heartache of watching your last baby walk into kindergarten.

Theyre a troop of people who triumph in your accomplishments and weep with you in your losses. They dont have to RSVP because theyre always there, usually bringing the ice you inevitably forgot at the grocery store along with extra napkins and a giant coffee. These are the people you can drop in on unannounced because theyll gladly set you a place at their table, or give you the spare bedroom after a wee bit too much holiday eggnog.

I believe magic happens when we connect with another person. When two hearts swell together, a little spark of pure genius is born. Like God is in the midst of them saying, See, this is what I put you here for. This is how to live life abundantly.

I often wonder why this is. And the closest thing I can find to an answer is this: Abundant life is full of emotion. Emotion loves company. Sharing emotion amplifies the experience and satisfies the heart.

I thrive on connecting and collaborating, so it will come as no surprise that my most heart-felt thanks goes out to our tribe in and around Denton, Texas.

You are my crew, my pack, my family, and my village.

The truth is, this book is a collaboration of all of us and the life weve shared over three decades.

We worked on this book side by side, nitpicking food photos and contemplating true stories that helped breathe life into this snapshot of Urban Cowgirl Country. But we were always living that life, we just never knew it would be presented in this form. The rest of you raised us and star in the tales we divulge in this book, and for that I will apologize ahead of time. *Smirk*

I hope that you find that Urban Cowgirl is the product of the lifestyle it preaches throughout its pages.

Specifically I wish to thank a few very important people who climbed aboard the Urban Cowgirl mission and built her from the ground up.

The person I must thank first is my staggeringly creative cowriter, REBEKAH FAUBION .

Today, I sat across from her at Mr. Chopsticks with a platter of sushi between us. We drew the line of death (a line down the middle that separates the sushi even-steven) and continued brainstorming our work, just like we have since we were eleven years oldthe age when we wrote our first screenplay.

Rebekah, what can I even say to convey how grateful I am that God put you in my life?

You were the first one down in the creative trenches with me, and like a potter, you and I crafted the Urban Cowgirl together. Not just the manuscript, but the very soul of the book. We learned together that first you create the essence of the book, and then the book tells you what it is and is not. If we lived in Harry Potters universe I am quite certain this thing would be a Horcrux of both of us. The soul of our book communicates with you just as much as it does with me, which is the greatest compliment I can offer you.

Thank you for your patience, for tolerating the endless texts of this isnt quite it and I think its a little more like this imposed upon your whimsical portrayals of the modern country girl. It is a common thing for someone to have a great concept in his or her head, but rarely can we articulate it, bringing it into the world with as much justice and gusto as we see it in our imagination. You did that. You are the doctor who delivered the baby. Without you, Urban Cowgirl would lack the depth and emotion that you challenged me to invest in it. Thank you for holding our book to that high of a standard.

CHEF GRADY SPEARS is as swashbuckling and handsome as a cowboy can get. I vividly remember being perched on the deck of a weathered log cabin overlooking the glass-like surface of Possum Kingdom Lake devouring his first book, A Cowboy in the Kitchen. It was the first time I had seen gourmet Texas fusion, and I was completely mesmerized.

Exactly ten years later, overlooking Lake Austin, we shared the most expensive bottle of wine that I have ever seen in real life, and Grady, the King of Texas Cooking, insisted that I write a Texas cookbook. To say it was a significant moment in my life is an understatement. In that moment, Grady Spears turned the page on the next chapter in my life. Grady, the opportunity for me to write Urban Cowgirl came from the paths you forged writing the rustic yet refined cookbook I fell in love with on the lake that October day. You opened the door for me not once, but twice. First, when I was a young woman, you introduced me to high-end Texas cuisine, and then you inspired me to write my own chapter. I dont know what else you could ask for in a mentor. I love you almost as much as I love your chicken-fried steak.

I dont think its possible for anyone who meets DENNIS HAYES to not completely adore him.

He is a cozy and gentle teddy bear man who loves his dogs and wears a bowler hat everywhere he goes. He has kind, honest eyes and a generous smile. Dennis is what you call a weaver. He weaves people together to produce stellar literary projects, a lot of them in food. He seems to always be handing me a glass of iced tea, which as a Texan is like someone always handing you a cupcake.

One rainy day as I was still coming down from the anxiety and turmoil of appearing on reality TV, we had a phone conversation on my back porch that forever changed my life. Dennis gave me an assignment. He said to me, I want you to write some notes about the book you would do if you didnt have to answer to anyone, if no one imposed their opinions on you of what is marketable, or who they think you are. I thought that was a wonderfully freeing thing for someone to say.

A couple days later I e-mailed him a short selection of recipes with some rambling in between about my philosophy on cooking and life. I didnt censor my words or vision at allafter all, this was just between us.

He read the notes and I could hear the grin on his face as he chuckled and said, ever so gently, Sarah, you are the Urban Cowgirl. His utter certainty turned on a light in me, illuminating what was already there. This person, the Urban Cowgirl, was ready to be introduced to the world.

I didnt think anyone would see those notes, but a few days later I learned that everyone in the world had, and Dennis had several soft offers on the book. If youre in publishing, you know this is utter insanity.

And that is the story of how Dennis Hayes became my favorite human.

Dennis, you are as compassionate and good-natured a person as any of us will ever meet, yet you are also strategic and clever. Youre like a duck gracefully floating on top of a beautiful lake but with your little feet madly churning under the water, taking us all to a carefully chosen destination. A better place.

God has a special reward for shepherds like you. Thank you, for absolutely everything.

Which brings me to the greatest editor a girl could ever hope for, Erin Turner. Erin is a person whose reputation precedes her. I cant count how many times Ive heard, Erin knoooooows Texas, referring to the number of long-term, best-selling Texas-y books shes produced, from folklore to gardening. And shes certainly an Urban Cowgirl if there ever was one. Shell say things like, If you need me Ill be making pickles Saturday so just text but if I dont pick up I am probably hiking in Yellowstone and Ill get right back to you! Rebekah and I will just stare at each other dumbfounded like,