For our wedding anniversary last night, my husband and I wanted to go somewhere nice. So we wandered down to 202 Market, which is just about the most beautiful bar in Roanoke.

Since we’re trying to save a little dough for our big trip to Busch Gardens next weekend (woo hoo! Big Bad Wolf!), we weren’t in the mood to drop $100 or more for dinner. We decided instead to either order bar food and appetizers or split an entree at the bar.

Lots of people seem to have an aversion to eating at the bar, or an aversion to splitting an entree in a fancy restaurant, as if that would be tacky. But my friend Megan taught me that it feels more casual and acceptable to do that at the bar. She and her husband do it all the time, and they get to try out all kinds of meals in nice restaurants without dropping a wad or blowing the buttons off their pants.

At 202, Howard ordered a beer and I had a half-price lemongrass martini (it was Ladies’ Night), which consisted of lemongrass-infused vodka, vanilla simple syrup and fresh lime juice. Refreshing and delightful. We started with the $5 mushroom tempura snackie, which has to be one of the best appetizer deals in all of Roanoke — you get a whole bowl full of crispy, meaty wild mushrooms in a savory sauce.

File photo by Sam Dean/The Roanoke Times

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Photographer George Motz took an interesting tour around the country for his new book, “Hamburger America.”

There’s no telling how many patties on a bun he must’ve consumed to come up with the “state-by-state guide to 100 great burger joints.”

As with any food tour book, I’ve always got to find out right away whether any eateries in our neck of the woods made the list.

In this case, only one place made the list. And it’s the same place that makes just about every American road food book that hits the shelves.

Did you guess which restaurant it is? Don’t cheat! Hazard a guess before you click to the jump.

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It’s time to give away another free cookbook, boys and girls!

We’ve given away collections of recipes for bar food, delicious chocolate creations and more. Now, it’s time to give those vegetarian and vegan readers a little love.

A few weeks ago, I received THREE copies of “Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook” by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. THREE copies! They really wanted me to see this book.

Moskowitz and Romero are described as “America’s best-selling vegan chefs.” They are the authors of two other vegan cookbooks called “Vegan with a Vengeance” and “Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.”

I love the title of that last one, don’t you? I am just thinking of some cheesy B-Movie where giant, pink-iced cupcakes come crashing through the skyscrapers of New York City. Okay, so I digress.

“Veganomicon” is packed with almost 300 pages of recipes for appetizers, brunch items, salads, salad dressings, side dishes, bean dishes, tofu dishes, soups and stews and more. Although I’m not a vegan myself (I spent a few teenage years as a vegetarian), I believe I could totally survive off the recipes in this book.

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It’s time to give away this month’s free cookbook, folks! So many of you wrote in for a chance to win “Great Bar Food at Home” by Kate Heyhoe. I appreciate all of the wonderful responses to my question, “What is the best bar food you ever ate, and why?”
It was difficult to choose a winner because there were so many mouthwatering responses: bacon-wrapped dates, popcorn, raw bar fare such as cherrystone clams and stone crab legs, spinach-artichoke dip and seafood potato skins. YUM!
But the book goes to blog reader RICH, who wrote in with this response:

“My favorite barfood is any that deviates from the chicken (tender or wing)/ cheesestick/ riblet variety. On business in Denver once, I had an amazing rumaki marinated in a great soy/bourbon mixture. I liked that so much that I returned the following night and tried the Ovos de Cordona (quail eggs) and some roasted chicken hearts. Just as good as the rumaki.
I enjoyed these and chose them because I KNEW I’d rarely get the chance to dine on them at a bar ever again.”

Rich wins not because he was the first to respond, although I do appreciate that. I liked his answer because it showed he has a sense of adventure about food and a desire to try bar snacks that don’t fall into the typical categories. That willingness to experiment, I think, makes him a good match for Heyhoe’s book of eclectic bar foods.
Rich, e-mail me your address at lindsey.nair@roanoke.com and I’ll put this book in the mail for you.
Everyone else, do not despair! I have plenty more free cookbooks where that one came from (in fact, I just got one in the mail called “I’m Dreaming of a Chocolate Christmas” by Marcel Desaulniers) and the same person is not allowed to win twice in one year, so I’m keeping track.
Y’all keep reading!
Before I mail out Rich’s book, I will share one recipe from the book. Maybe we can all whip this up this weekend while we’re relaxing the work stress away.

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As I said last week, I’m going to be giving away a cookbook once a month to the winner of a simple contest. This month’s book is “Great Bar Food at Home” by Kate Heyhoe.
Kate even commented on the blog contest herself! Here’s what she had to say:

“Brilliant idea, Lindsey! I am the author of Great Bar Food at Home, and I adore how you’ve thrown the gauntlet out to your readers. By the way, they can read outtakes and recipes from the book at GreatBarFood.com. For me, picking one favorite is tough, but I have many fond memories of Harry’s Bar in Venice, and the little toasted cheese sandwiches there, wrapped in pristine white napkins. I’ll look forward to seeing what your readers pick. And with wings, rumaki, garlic fries, prosciutto rolls, and all sorts of other treats in it, this book was written for everyone who loves bar food, especially those who prefer to munch on their bar food at home. Cheers! Kate Heyhoe (GlobalGourmet.com and GreatBarFood.com)”

So come on, y’all! You know you want to check out this book. All you have to do is write in and tell me your favorite bar food and why. The deadline to enter is noon on Wednesday.

My darling readers, I have emerged from beneath the crush of deadlines and I am still alive to tell the tale. Except the tale isn’t really all that interesting, so I will spare you. Suffice it to say that four deadlines at once have forced my blog entries this week to be a little wimpy. For that, I apologize.
How might I make it up to you? Well, I have an idea: free cookbooks!
I mentioned on the blog a few days ago that I receive many free cookbooks in the mail from publishing companies. When someone commented that I am one lucky gal to get all these free cookbooks, it got me thinking. I mean, I’m never going to have the time to whip up all these delectable dishes myself.
Henceforth, I will be giving away a cookbook once a month to some lucky reader who plays along with my silly game, “Answer my question, please.”

This month’s selection is “Great Bar Food at Home” by Kate Heyhoe. It includes such tasty little recipes as Eggplant Pizzettes, Beer-Bathed Shrimp and Authentic Garlic Fries.
To win this book, shoot me a comment with a few sentences about your favorite bar food. Where did you find it and what was so great about it?
The best comment wins the book. The deadline is noon on Wednesday, October 10. I will announce the winner on Friday. But you’ll have to provide your address so I can mail it to you.