Here are some photos.

Here is a transcript of my "spotlight" panel (thanks Doug and Kiel and everyone who came). Note: it was not really depressing - it was supposed to be funny.

Food diary:

Day 1, Thursday, Lunch: After 12 hours of travel it was only 11 AM, so we went to Sears Fine Food on Powell street in San Francisco. I ate 18 tiny pancakes with bacon and coffee. I feel okay about that.

Day 1, Thursday, Dinner: a veggie burrito at a Del Taco on Market St. I, uh, yeah. I don't know. I was wandering around by myself (Hope was visiting with a friend) and I was tired and not that hungry, and it's hard to get "good" Mexican food where we live. This was remedied the next day, thankfully.

Day 2, Friday, Lunch: a very nice savoury crepe with potatoes and salad. Crepevine, in the Castro, on Church street I think. Jen Wang lives nearby and we ate with her, Vera Brosgol and Dylan Meconis.


Day 2, Friday, After Lunch: I got some home-made ice cream from a nearby place. Cookies and cream. It was good.

Day 2, Friday, Late Afternoon: A dessert crepe this time, from Sophie's Crepes in Japantown Center. I used to always want one, but was poor. This time I could afford it! I got a crepe with Nutella and kiwi, and a ton of whipped cream. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Day 2, Friday, Dinner: After our signing, Graeme McMillan's lovely wife (Kate?) recommended an area with lots of taquerias, and we went there and had a wonderfully bloated time. My dinner plate took twenty minutes longer than anyone else's food and was about four times the size. I was very pleased.

Day 3, Saturday, Lunch: Graeme McMillan and his lovely wife offered to get us burgers, onion rings and garlic fries from a certain heavenly place they knew nearby. I had a seared tuna sandwich that was one of the greatest things I've ever eaten. I'm sure I reeked of garlic the rest of the day and I'm sure I didn't care.

Day 3, Saturday, Dinner: Hope and I went back to Japantown with James and Randy from Oni Press and ate the most amazing sushi I've ever had. As I said in my panel the next day, I truly realize that I've never had "good" sushi until this dinner. What I had in particular was a salmon skin roll, a toro & green onion roll (toromachi?), and an eel/avocado roll - this one was kind of fancy and had a special name (edit: caterpillar roll). For round two I got some toro nigiri (this was to die for) and also split some spicy tuna roll with James, which was also to die for.


Day 4, Sunday, Daytime: There wasn't really a meal. I bought snacks in the morning because I was worried about that, so I spent the day eating Combos and Pepperidge Farms cookies. Thankfully our friend Jenne also brought some excellent pastries from the bakery where she works, in the north bay.

Day 4, Sunday, Dinner: We capped off the trip in style with a trip up to the aforementioned north bay with the aforementioned Jenne and her mate George, and we had a totally sweet Italian meal where we were all trying each other's stuff, downing a carafe of local wine, and sharing three desserts. Hope had gnocchi that were like little puffs of air. I had this rolled chicken-mozzarella-prosciutto thing that was ridiculously great.