Last week was all about whoa, wow, and what a whirlwind. And let’s not forget wonderful. It has been a great experience launching my book (the support has been amazing—you all rock), and last Friday’s reading (my first!) at Booksmith in the Haight was such an unexpectedly touching evening. I had no idea who was coming, so as people kept arriving, it was like a surprise party; one of my old bosses from my advertising days even showed up, along with a designer I used to work with, dear friends I didn’t even know read tablehopper, and even a friend from out of town.
It also felt like a fun cocktail party, with pink Pompadour Rosé bubbles provided by Domaine Carneros, and the delicious Indian flavors of orange-cardamom-ginger with saffron gobs from Gobba Gobba Hey, and cardamom-ginger chai and green chili chai from The Chai Cart (thank you all for donating your treats for the soirée). And many thank yous to the kind staff at Booksmith for throwing such a special kickoff party—and apologies to those of you who came and weren’t able to buy a book when the store ran out of copies! Me lo siento.
Coming up this week is my reading on Thursday at Books Inc. on Chestnut Street at 7:30pm. (Let’s hope you’re not too wrecked from St. Patrick’s Day the night before.) Of course I have to have something for us to taste, so to continue the Indian theme, we’ll have some “Suria” chocolates from Maison Mitchell, a blend of dark and milk chocolates infused with cardamom; we are also going to be enjoying Durigutti’s Malbec “Clásico” (many thanks to Bock Wines and Spirits for the donation). Hope to see you there—or next Wednesday at Omnivore (here’s my book tour schedule).
After all the emails and phone calls and deadlines and running around last week, it was a much-needed treat to hit the road for a 24-hour trip to St. Helena on Sunday, with a wine tasting and lunch at CADE, more wine (and olive oil) at Long Meadow Ranch, and dinner at Farmstead (where our table got a peek of Thomas Keller and Laura Cunningham having dinner at the bar). The weather was ridiculously perfect—what a dream. And then I woke up. Oh, it’s you, mister alarm clock, reminding me that it was time to pry myself from my comfy bed at the Wine Country Inn and scoot my heinie home Monday morning to get this beast of a column written.
Speaking of, we have a historical hardhat this week from Erin Archuleta on the upcoming Comstock Saloon, and I also have a review of Contigo, where I happily celebrated my book launch last Tuesday with a dear friend. (Whaddya know, that’s a new occasion I’ll have to put in the next edition of my book, heh.)
Here’s to longer evenings, spring produce, and all the kind people I know! Oh yeah, and finally having a “Kabaret Kab” ride from Buzz Brooks—it was an entertaining way to travel to my reading on Friday.
As Buzz would say, “Manifest more mirth!”
Yours,
Spring morning view from the Wine Country Inn.View tablehopper Newsletter from Tuesday, Mar 16 2010
