lauraanne_gilman: (Default)
 Today involved me hauling downtown for a Sekrit Business Meeting (it went well, thanks), and then hauling back home again before the storm AKA Nemo turned to full-on snow.
 
We won't get hammered the way southern NE will, but da Bronx looks to be taking its fair share.  Earlier today there was a beagle doing the OMG HAPPY Snow HAPPY! dance outside my window.  A little while later a Yorkie was doing the OMG HALP RESCUE ME! dance.
 
The next 24 hours are all about nesting and holing up.  I am doing the traditional storm carb-loading, with pasta and a bottle of Lion' Whisker, which is a SA red blend I recently discovered and am quite fond of.  I probably should not drink this entire bottle of wine my ownself.  But when watching snow falling and reading innnnteresting research materials, it's hard to keep an eye on the bottle level....
 
lauraanne_gilman: (brain.  hurts.)
tv's on in the background this afternoon, some design show, and the homeowner is saying "well, I have these bookcases, I thought I needed them to fill the space, but I don't have anything to put on them or in them...

Bwa? Huh?

Please, honey, give 'em here. I neeeeeeeeeeed 'em!

Meanwhile, work done for the day, I have moved on to the hot bourbon toddy recipe, as was given to me several years ago by an evil friend. You have to be either just coming down with or in the recovery stages of for it to work, but oh it does indeed work...
lauraanne_gilman: (Default)
Ah, Monday. Now that I'm trying to keep schedule with an actual 'regular' work-week again, Mondays are all sorts of filled with ...Mondayness. But I still have a really short commute and a very cool job, so I shan't complain.

For those of you itching for a hint of what's to come, there's an excerpt from Blood From Stone over at the Cosa Nostradamus On-Line. And, to get your lazy fingers clicking, LJers who comment there will be entered for a random drawing of copies of Curse the Dark and Bring it On in mass market form, a month before they're available in stores!


Had dinner last night at B Cafe, on the Upper East Side. Mussels and confit pig belly, and Carbonnade Flamande, oh my. Also, salsifis for the first time. Mmmm. Nice little place, solid food, excellent waitstaff, and they seem to have a courtyard in back for warmer weather.

And since it's been a while since my last wine confession:

The bottle we opened to celebrate the final revisions to FLESH AND FIRE was a 2004 Philip Togni Cabernet Sauvignon, a gift from [livejournal.com profile] taikyoyo and the lj-less D. Really all I can say about this wine is that it was everything that is classic and good about a Napa Cabernet, and nothing bad.

I've also been drinking a 2005 Cote de Beaune-Villages from Camille Giroud. I picked this up for purely emotional reasons (Beaune was one of the towns I fell in love with while in Burgundy) and 2005 is an amazing year. My personal preference is for the darker fruit of Cote de Nuits, but this is soft, very classic-strawberry pinot noir, and worked very well as a chat-and-cook wine. I also put some of it into the risotto, to excellent effect. $25.

I was also given a bottle of Louis Jadot Beaujolais 2007 by a neighbor and while -- as close readers of the LJ will remember -- I'm not a fan of beaujolais as a rule, this was pleasant, and has excelled at every recipe it's been added to, including the short ribs mentioned last week. Around $10-15

Remember: don't put any wine you wouldn't drink into your food. Your taste buds will thank you.


and now, back to work, me. What's everyone else doing on this lovely Monday of Mondays?
lauraanne_gilman: (scotch)
Last night, I dragged myself away from the manuscript (kicking and screaming, really) to [eat really amazing red meat and] attend the Master Series Scotch Tasting for Highland Park, hosted by F. Paul Pacult.

(pause to be amused that I now know two F. Pauls)


To say that this was an Experience is understating it. As it was recently Robert Burns' birthday, we started with a traditional piping in of the haggis, and the traditional ode read to it (this is something to behold at least once in your life, even if you claim not to like bagpipes or haggis or poetry). Then on to the tastings.

There were eight malts listed, all from Highland Park, but nine glasses set at each place. Hrmmm...what's this? A whiff (like wine, scotch is 80% about the nose) made some folk say tequila, some think of PGA, and some (okay, me) consider overripe oranges.

#9: pure spirit, distilled 23 January. 70% proof. What the good stuff tastes like before it gets mellowed by barrel aging. Discussion of how the distillery masters know when it's ready, and I joke to [livejournal.com profile] quarkwiz that this -- Malter's Bane -- will be the sequel to Vineart War I-III.... and then I realize that I have, actually, already set it up in book 1. Heeeee. But in terms of tasting and understanding, this is a really good place to begin.

and then on to the featured performers!

(note: for those new to this, the year listed is the youngest a whiskey in the bottle can be -- some may be older. 'single malt' means it is all from one distillery/region, not that it's all from one barrel. 'Single cask' is something else entirely. 'Blended" means it may be from many different regions, losing the specific geographic identity.)

#1: Highland Park 12-year-old Orkneys Single Malt Whiskey.
- a touch of brine, smooth. A little too faint and sharp-toned for me.
43% $40 SRP

#2: Highland Park 15-year-old Orkneys Single Malt Whiskey.
- thicker in the mouth, smoother. Very nice.
43% $70 SRP

#3: Highland Park 18-year-old Orkneys Single Malt Whiskey.
- much softer, and I detected a definite note of honey, but the smoothness is matched with a strong peaty flavor (not the brine-and-smoke of an Islay, but noticeable)
43% $99 SRP

#4: Highland Park 25-year-old Orkneys Single Malt Whiskey.
- much more bite to it -- bourbon casking coming through on the flavor. I like. A lot. And then I hear the price.
48.1% $250 SRP

#5: Duncan Taylor 21-year-old HP Orkney's Single Malt Whiskey.
- an outside distributor's bottling. My only comment on this was 'meh.' It really does make a difference, even if the original distillation was the same.
53.3% $175 SRP

#6: Scott's Selection 1986 HP Orkneys Single Malt Whiskey.
- I liked this one better, but still felt that the alcohol was too much present over the flavor.
54.1%, $125 SRP

#7: Highland Park 30-year-old Orkneys Single Malt Whiskey.
-- "foooking gorgeous" is my sole note. A balance of power and smoothness and smoke and sweet. If anyone ever wanted to buy me a bottle of this I would make them a very nice dinner to have before we cracked it open. Yes.
48.1% $350 SRP

#8: Highland Park 40-year-old Orkneys Single Malt Whiskey.
- Holy. Shit. I saw a few eyes roll back into heads, and happy smiles on the faces of people who had been anticipating this one. The nuances were probably lost on me [I'm much better at wine than malts], but unless you'd numbed your tastebuds entirely, you know when something perfectly crafted and aged hits them.
48.3% if you're brave... )

The thing to keep in mind when choking on the prices is that -- unlike wine -- a bottle of Scotch can be opened and enjoyed for an extended period of time -- I've had bottles last a year or more after being opened, without significant loss of taste. So it's not quite as chokingly awful as it seems at first. Just painful. Except that last one. That's just awful.


They're holding a Master Series for American Ryes in April. I'm really quite tempted to go.
lauraanne_gilman: (wine.  dude.)
I have a confession to make: I don't like Beaujolais nouveau. Beaujolais, oui. Beaujolais nouveau, that fresh-off-the-vines spectacle of November, not so much.

There is, I hasten to add, absolutely nothing wrong with it. Gamay is a perfectly nice grape. The Beaujolais nouveau is a light, fruity, easy-to-quaff wine that a lot of people really enjoy drinking, and the idea of a low-priced wine that you drink immediately is one I support -- I've spent years trying to wean people off the idea that ALL wines should be shoved into a wine rack for a year or five of bottle aging, because -- no. Really.

That said, I spent years with other people extolling the joy and fun of the Third Thursday (when Beaujolais nouveau is released) and spent a year watching displays of the stuff race out of our store, and all the while wondering why I felt so out of step with the whole mad craze. Was I missing some essential understanding of the joys of simple wines? (nope). Was I really that much of a tanin snob? (probably). Did I just resist out of contrariness being part of a long-running fad? (there is that, yeah).

Which is a shame, because there are some nice Beaujolais nouveau out there (even this year, when the harvest was smaller than usual). If you're looking for an inexpensive bottle of something perfectly acceptable for casual/festive drinking, or have to load up on Thanksgiving reds without breaking the budget, Beaujolais nouveau will do ya. It can also make a pretty nice sangria. But not all Beaujolais nouveau is equal -- ask your store manager for recommendations -- and if s/he points you toward the Georges Duboeuf*, say "no, seriously. What do you recommend?"


*GDb is the Costco of Beaujolais nouveau. Some of his product is quite drinkable. IMO, you can find more interesting offerings at an equal price.
lauraanne_gilman: (Default)
Shopping for wine recently, the following label caught my eye:

"Cheapskate Wine, the Miser Meritage." With the image of a skateboarding heraldic lion holding a glass and a bunch of grapes. Okay. I'm as much a sucker for good labeling as anyone. Then I look at the back: "A fool and his money are soon Parkered."

I'm in love. (Robert Parker: love him or hate him, you have to hate him)

"The Miser mantra:
I am my own connoisseur.
I will trust my taste.
I taste, therefore I scrimp."

All right, for $15 (NYC pricing) I'm willing to give it a try. Good copywriting should always be rewarded.

So. Cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc -- a blend I'm usually fond of. The nose is warm, with dark fruit. The initial taste is rich dark berries, with a hint of cab franc's dry tobacco flavor. It turns dry in the mouth, which I like, with maybe a smidge more tannin than the fruit can support, which is a problem. Overall: for a $10 wine I'd be satisfied. At $15 it's a maybe-maybe-not.

Great label, tho.

http://www.grapecraft.com/grapecraft/catalog/view_product.jsp?product_id=1008

Tech update: phone is still cool and nifty, although I find myself turning off a lot of the 'extra' elements to save battery power (I don't need it to hunt down wifi or support bluetooth all the time). No name yet. New desktop keyboard is still stiff, which is annoying. Also, the cap lock key is in the wrong place. V. Annoying. New optical mouse rocks, tho.
lauraanne_gilman: (wine.  dude.)
on Ch du Plessis Muscadet Sevre et Main sur lie 2007

A delicate pale yellow-green color, so clear the light practically danced in the glass. The nose was also very clean, with a whiff of ripe pear [imagine the lingering scent of a pleasant skin toner]. The taste is faintly fizzy and acidic, like pear cider. If they made pear-ade, it might taste like this. A hint of grass on the finish. Went nicely with a dill mustard chicken breast, but I think this would really shine with the heartiness of a chicken stew, or shellfish.

Best of all? $11.99 in midtown Manhattan. I suspect you could find it elsewhere for under $10 (I wouldn't pay much more -- it's very good at that price but not at $15+)

(aside for geekiness: 'batonnage' is one of those words you just fall in love with....or I do, anyway.)

This morning the felines woke me up at 5:30am. No, I don't know why either. And I'm out of coffee. Just waiting until the local place opens so I can actually get the brain started again. Tea isn't going to cut it, today.

EtA: local bakery FTW, coffee-wise.
lauraanne_gilman: (wine.  dude.)
We have reached the point where I kick the manuscript across the room and sulk at it for three days. And so I took yesterday off to play with grapes.

More specifically, I answered the cry for help from City Winery and signed on as a day laborer. Hey, I figured. It'll be fun.

And it was. Okay, fun of the "oh my god my back is killing me, my fingers are purple, and I'm soaking wet" kind of fun, but fun nonetheless. We:

- helped unload and sort the new shipment of grapes, which involved a cranky destemming machine and the conveyor belt from hell (and very cold grapes. OMG)
- siphoned off the overflow from an exploding cask of chardonnay (less exciting than it sounds, although it was interesting to see how it's done)
- were part of the Great Washdown of equipment, including rinsing out a tank, helping aerate another tank [what readers of my book will learn about as 'punching'] and learning how to rethread the conveyor belt on various bits of machinery.
- learned about the unholy importance of a squeegee (okay, I knew already but got to put it into practical application)

ETA: and a shoutout to the city winery crew, from winemaker David on down, for defining grace under pressure even when the camera crew was filming while the de-stemmer had a hisy fit... they were great, and informative, and deserve all the success that flows their way)

And then, after all that, I went off to meet some friends at Uncorked, a new wine bar on 59th and 2nd. Nice place, not cheap, and about the size of a small studio apartment, so don't go in a large group! But excellent wines, and good company, and recommended if you're in the area.

This morning, I have received copies of the Australian edition for BRING IT ON. Since I never got copies of CURSE THE DARK from them, this was quite a surprise, as was the fact that they were mass market editions, not trade. So now you Aussies have no excuse -- it's there, and in an inexpensive edition! Go on, give me a reason to go down for Worldcon 2010!

I also got an e-mail from an editor asking me to revise a proposal to meet specifications that contradict the specifications I was given in the last conversation about this project. Between this, and certain other things that have been making me tear my hair out WRT publishers, I'm starting to wonder if I shouldn't go back to the wine trade job....
lauraanne_gilman: (citron presse)
Commentary on the trip: the ter-snc (rapide train) site is my most-commonly used link this week. Yes, even more than e-mail or LJ. I had been worried about spending two weeks sans car, but it's turned out pretty well using the train, velio (bike) and the ole' foot traffic. Are there places I might have visited if I'd had independent transportation that I didn't get to? Mai oui. Did it make my trip less enjoyable/interesting/informative? Non.

Friday August 29 )

Saturday, August 30 )

Tomorrow I say farewell to Burgundy with one last day of research, and then back to Paris, and from there, home. Part of me wants to stay but...I'm ready, oui. There is much writing to be done.
lauraanne_gilman: (citron presse)
It's rare that you are given a perfect day. It's even more rare that you are aware in that moment that it is indeed a perfect day. Not in the terms of fireworks and big magic, but simply the universe giving you an endless fountain of small gifts.

That was Tuesday, when I took the train to Beaune and found myself wandering unplanned from one marvelous encounter to the next. From the woman in the information center at the Gare Dijon who was so wonderfully helpful (and got to hear me say, in near-perfect French, "I missed the damn train by that much!") to the lovely Scott family from Dover, MA who invited me to join them for lunch, to Stephanie Bouhin at La P'tite Cave and Henri Emmanuel at Cave du Cabet des Cordeliers, who gave me the respect of a fellow wine professional, to the Italian couple at the Marche aux Vins who mocked the British foursome near us until I was close to spilling my wine with laughter (alas, the foursome deserved it. Some people should not be let out of their home towns, much less their native countries). My only regret was not staying longer, but I was very tired, and Beaune will still be there at the end of the week, if I decide to return.

And yes, it being Beaune, I not only visited the Musee de Vin, but tasted as well. wine neepery behind the cut for those who are uninterested in such things )

And then I came home, used the washing machine [but not the dryer because Life's Too Short], made myself a reasonably healthy dinner, put my feet up and dug into three days' worth of notes, pressing it into comprehensive chunks of world-building and character development. My head, it hurts....

Oh, and a thing that amuses me: the coffee pot has two different sets of marking on the side; one set for how much water to use for large mugs, and the other for how much water to use for normal-sized mugs. Brilliant!

And thanks to the Internet I've been able to catch some of the Democratic Convention highlights, which is about all I'd be able to stand if I were home, too. Had to explain to someone this week that no, actually, Biden's a pretty popular Veep pick, and why. The 'news' over here seems to be that he's universally hated, which made me laugh -- and opened a discussion about how very little we ever actually lean about each other, if we rely on the media or Party-Approved Doctrine. ("all it takes for senseless hatred to end is to learn to know your neighbor...so you can hate him/her for a specific reason!")

Oh, and here's a photo for Terri...
no matter where you go, there you are... )
lauraanne_gilman: (citron presse)
Busy weekend, social and business and even some reading-for-pleasure, and now a short work week filled with Stuff To Do before I head out to Nashville on Thursday for Hypericon....

Random stuff:

Realized this weekend that I feel very awkward trying to talk about wine...when I knew nothing all right, a small amount, I could talk endlessly. The more I learn, the less I feel competent to tell anyone anything. And I wonder, when I say something like "there's a note of aged Doberman" and someone else says "oh, I taste that, yeah" I wonder if they're really tasting it, or if they just think they do because I said it was there. And that's a responsibility I'm not entirely comfortable with. *ponders*

As a related proof that even the experts sometimes don't know what they're talking about: I was short-listed by one as an urban fantasy writer still "hot" on vampires. Um. Other than the "Michal Westin" short stories, and my work on the Buffy books way back when.... what vampires? No vampires in the Cosa Nostradamus, no. Shapechangers, yes, but no living dead. That's not to say that I dislike the bloodsucking genre, I just didn't see them fitting into that universe, and haven't really had the urge to write something vamp-specific. The closest I've gotten, recently, is "Dreamcatcher," which is about (sort of) an incubus....

In other news of ego-interest, it's neat, but also kind of freaky, looking at the stats counter for the website (just installed with the new update). Who knew I had so many people checking in from eastern Europe and Asia? And South Africa? *waves to everyone*

Updates soon, I promise. Soon as I figure out the (*&^% WYSIWYG editware....

And one political note: to all the Democrats who caved on FISA and are now trying to tell us it's For Our On Good, and a Valid Compromise? *winds up, bitchslaps hard* You suck. And not in the mutually good fun way, either. Fuckers.

And now, back to work, me.
lauraanne_gilman: (wine.  dude.)
My favorite uppity wine store (it's wonderfully stocked but ALL high-end and NYC sleek) had a special riesling tasting tonight, billed as "The Legends of Germany," featuring either the wine-maker or American representative of the same. Damn straight I was there!

What? It was Research!

(amusingly enough, I'm starting to run into the same people at these tastings. "You're the writer! How's the book going?")

Anyway, for my own notes and in case anyone else is interested, my personal highlights, as follows:

2006 Schafer-Frohlich Grosses Gewachs Monzinger Halenberg -- lemon and slate, surprisingly fruity. $54 The other two pours they had weren't as balanced as they should have been (IMHO) for that price range. They were also pouring an unlisted Kabinett from 2007 that made me want to hug the bottle.

1993 Zilliken Saarburger Rausch Spatlesen -- Dorothee Zilliken said that if they were bottling this today it would be a Kabinett, not a Spatlesen. Nicely dry without losing any of the fruit. Probably my favorite of the night (the 2005 and 2006 Zilikens were very nice too, although the 2006 was too sweet for my taste) $28-34 (I enjoyed talking to Dorothee, who is a wonderful ambassador for the vineyard, and got her contact info for *cough* further follow-up).

2006 Monschoff Reisling Estate -- a really nice, clean, easy drinking without being insipid riesling -- a bargain at $16!

2006 Monchoff Erdner Pralat Auslese. I'm not much for dessert wines that aren't stickies, but this was a definite yum. Honey and lychee and all-around pretty. $49. Monchoff also makes a sparkling that I'm goig to have to keep my eye out for.

Interestingly enough, I didn't enjoy anything from Karthauserhof, although the '81 Spatlese was interesting in an "I can tell that craft went into this" way.

14 wines were being poured, which is nothing compared to what I used to taste at the old job during a training meeting, but by around #10 I needed to take a break and rest my taste buds. For some reason, they keep pouring me more than the usual tasting-measure... *has innocence*
lauraanne_gilman: (wine.  dude.)
An article in the New York Times about wine drinking, wine-buying, and wine perception that anyone who's ever felt even slightly uncomfortable ordering a glass or a bottle should read -- Wine’s Pleasures: Are They All in Your Head?.


My own thoughts?

* drinking wine is not consuming a product. It's a sensation, an experience, a moment of taste and smell that's intensely personal and intensely social all at once, and every person will experience it differently. An expert has the breadth of experience and the vocabulary (and the confidence) to define that moment. That does not make his or her definition definitive.

* price is influenced by scarcity and demand, not (always) quality. Judging the quality of the moment by the escalation of the price tag is to miss the craft (and the magic) entirely. Some very expensive wines are marvelous. Some very inexpensive wines are marvelous. The ones I remember the most?* Were the ones opened and shared with people I love. The moment made the wines extra-special, not the other way around.

All IMO and E, of course. Feel free to debate....



*I remember the godsawful wines, too, of course. But that's a different kind of special moment. "Oh my god, this is awful! Here, try it!" will live forever in infamy...
lauraanne_gilman: (citron presse)
wordage: about 3,000 new words out of scribbly notes. 3/4 of the way through the plot. Not 3/4 of the way through the word count. Quick, kill someone!

gymage: about an hour workout, between the elliptic and the weights. Plus Added!Bonus!Humor! of getting [livejournal.com profile] kradical to the gym with us. Yes, on the same day he had karate. I plan on calling him up tomorrow morning and asking how those shoulder muscles are feeling...

Plus added added bonus of stopping by florist on way home and coming away with big-ass frondy fern, plus a massing of celebratory flowers that Boomer is currently eyeing with evil intent....

A good day, yes. Despite damned tree-pollen. Dinner is chicken rotini with red peppers, and a glass of a surprisingly good sauvignon blanc -- I say surprisingly good because it cost me the grand total of $7.99. Yes, for the whole bottle. It's French, made in the New Zealand style, and I can rec it with the provision that you keep in mind you're drinking an under-10 -- there's no brilliant depth or sparkle here, just a nice, clean taste of green apple and flint. Kiwi Cuveě 2006, and you can probably find it your local winestore or better supermarket


Also, for those of you with even a passing interest, the SFWA election results are in. You can put away the swords, there will be no need to fall on them this year. Russell Davis FT(considerable)W. My only disappointment is that we still didn't have a massive turnout. How difdficult is it to send in a ballot, people? I know you guys know how to seal and mail envelopes....
lauraanne_gilman: (Default)
It's difficult to diet when you're also working on perfecting your wonton-making skills. Just sayin'... (Rabbi David used to assure me that tortillas were Mexican matzo. I wonder if I can claim wonton wrappers as Chinese matzo? Nah, probably not....)

For the wine geeks: Last night I attended a wine-tasting for several German producers. Since I'm always on the lookout for a good Riesling, I went with high hopes and a ready wallet. Unfortunately, while some of them were quite good (the 2005 Knebel Reisling Winninger Rottgen Spatlese Trocken [$23] and the 2002 Stein Reisling Bremmer Calmont Auslese [$27]), overall I wasn't knocked out by anything. I did, however, enjoy speaking to the winemakers and my fellow tasters, who ran the gamut from off-the-street to a young Frenchwoman with considerable academic and practical knowledge of wines.

One wine I can recommend is the 2005 Stein Reisling Bremmer Calmont Spatlese Trocken, at $18. Very nice, smooth and easy drinking, we agreed that this was a wine you could open over appetizers, and keep drinking through an entire Spring or Summer meal.


Why I love my editor, #438925: In the e-mail today, the preliminary copy for BLOOD FROM STONE, with more or less carte blanc to change it as needed. (considering they pay me to write copy for other people, this isn't exactly a leap of faith. But it's something she doesn't have to do, and does.)

Hrm. And now to decide: more writing, or make like a cat and curl up in the sunlight for a nap? *looks at projected schedule for rest of year, goes back to desk*
lauraanne_gilman: (wine.  dude.)
My goal for the day: keep the cats awake all day to see if they sleep through the night. I'll let you know how that goes.

And now, for the first time in a while, a new wine report from the wine wench!

Ananda di Toscana 2003

It's a SuperTuscan, which means only that it's made with a nontraditional blend [in this case, 50% each Sangiovese and Merlot] and therefore can't be referred to, by law, as a chianti. The color is beautiful, a deep but not too dark purple. There isn't much of a nose but that first sip makes up for it: Tart raspberries, full-bodied but surprisingly graceful and soft [feminine, if you like] without losing the classic chianti feel. Mouthfeel [exactly what is sounds like, how the liquid feels against the inside of your mouth] is smoooth right up to the snap at the end.

I bought four bottles, at a quite reasonable price. Wish I'd bought more.

(the family tree for this wine includes Tignanello and Solia, via winemaker Alberto Antonini. That's sort of like saying your trail pony was sired by a colt sired by Man O War...)

Buy it if you see it, drink it now, is my recommendation.
lauraanne_gilman: (Default)
Yesterday was filled with such things as playing with cats, going to the gym, watching football, making The Killer Lasagna, and having friends over for said lasgna plus a very expensive bottle of wine I've been saving for the right occasion.

Sometimes, good food and good friends is just exactly the right occasion.

Now I have a fridge of leftovers, a faint edge of a hangover (wince) and a sideboard filled with drying dishes. So it's back to work I go.

From here until the end of the year, I:

Need to finish the line edit of FREE FALL and send it back this week. Should see Draft status on BLOOD FROM STONE this week or next as well, having jogged my memory on a few things while rereading FREE FALL (the timing on this was a godsend, really) Also need to finish up the final draft of DAUGHTER OF THE SEA ('Anna's' project) by December 15. There are two short stories I've been asked to write I need to get cracking on, and another two that are tugging at my sleeve asking for some attention. Plus the New Project, which somewhere around the second or third glass of wine last night I promised to do chapters for, before January. Urk.

and after January?

Bonnie 1 due: August 2008
outline Bonnie 2 due: September 2008
Bonnie 2 due: May 2009
outline Bonnie 3 due: June 2009
Bonnie 3 due: February 2010

Right now, that looks like a long, peaceful stretch of road. Somehow it never actually ends up that way.

Coming up soon: A discussion of Romantic (Urban) Fantasy, off a comment in an earlier thread, and some thoughts (if desired - vote early and vote often) about setting deadlines, riffed off the above dates.

EtA: It is day six without diet coke or diet Snapple. So far, only one twitch (Saturday, when I realized I had no option other than water with my grab-and-go lunch). I need to remember to drink my usual amount of water, tho, instead of more coffee/tea.
lauraanne_gilman: (Default)
States Sue Bush Over Kid Insurance
By TOM HESTER Jr., AP

EAST ORANGE, N.J. —
Several states said Monday they would challenge the Bush administration in federal court over its new rules that block the expansion of a health insurance program for children from low-income families.

Arizona, California, Illinois, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York and Washington are joining in the litigation, either as plaintiffs or by filing supporting briefs.

The states object to rules issued by the Bush administration in August that make it harder for them to provide coverage to children in middle-income families by limiting the total income of families who participate.

The states accuse the administration of overstepping the federal government's authority to set income limits for participants in the State Children's Health Insurance Program.

read the rest of the article here


also, for those of us who are Winos, er, Wine Snobs...

A Hiccup in Screw Tops’ Acceptance
By ERIC ASIMOV

"...screw caps, it turns out, have their own issue. It can be summed up by this forbiddingly opaque bit of wine jargon: reduction. Please bear with me as I try to explain what that means."

Interesting stuff. And any article that opens with a quote from Grant Burges I'm going to pay attention to. The man makes good wine.
lauraanne_gilman: (wine.  dude.)
so we're sittin' here with a birthday present in front of us, open and poured. And we're sippin' and we're tastin' and we're reviewin'...


The Balvenie 17 Year New Wood

fragrance: at first lightly honeyed, then as you stick your nose further into the glass you get the autumnal scent of woodsmoke.

smoothness: quite sharp, actually. The kind of sip where you punch your chest, cough a little, and then go "smoooooth" with only a little irony. Third sip and on it gets easier, but it's still a knife on the tongue rather than a feather. This is not a bad thing actually.

sweetness: Spicy, with an underlaying touch of sweetness. Like a honey-glazed jalepeno.

complexity: this is definitely not a simple scotch -- the high notes are layered, and the finish is long and surprisingly smooth. A robust and full-bodied texture that some folk might prefer cut with more water, but I think that would be a shame.

Is it worth the price? Possibly not. But as a gift it is greatly appreciated.
lauraanne_gilman: (s.u.r.i.)
Thanks to [livejournal.com profile] debg and her Ripper-car, we had a lovely day in Healdsburg, up in Sonoma (even if we never did make it out to the surrounding wineries). we walked around downtown, hitting small tasting rooms and checking out wineries that don't have distribution. Yes, I blew my budget shipping bottles home. But if you know you're going to blow the budget, is it really blowing it? And for zin-girl, this was primo wine-buying territory. wine neep be here )

(and I didn't actually go wildly overboard. I didn't buy anything that I could get elsewhere, and I walked away from some otherwise quite nice wines because they were just overpriced. See? I can too have self-control.)

Dinner was at Dry Creek Kitchen which was totally fabulous -- I had a grilled lamb chop with some amazing sauce and sage mashed potatoes that were too rich to finish, and followed it up with a cheese board cheese neep ) on black bread with fig jam and honeycomb. Yum. Deb seemed to enjoy her -- salmon, I think -- equally well, based on how the plate was practically licked clean. And then she had this OMG decadent chocolate peanut butter dessert that managed to be fudgy-dense without being too heavy. Neat trick, that.

Of course, my system as told me in no uncertain terms what it thought of all this rich food and wine being dumped into my system over a four hour period, but we've sorted it all out and are on speaking terms again. *grin*

And now, off to the reading/signing at Clayton Books this afternoon....

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