The Food N00bs

We are stardust, we are golden...

Today the N00bs went to the Wordstock festival. As well as having lots of writer-geek fun and scoring both free and cheap books (three Palahniuk novels for a buck fifty each, and it benefited the Portland library!), we attended the "Art of Food Writing" panel, which featured Nicole Mones, Kathleen Flinn, and best of all, Michael Ruhlman. The panel was fun and informative, and afterward, we were fortunate enough to get books signed by Michael (Elements of Cooking in Kal's case, Reach of a Chef in Sorcha's) and have a moment to chat. Despite dealing with a brutal travel schedule, Michael was just as friendly and personable as his writing makes him seem, and his passion for his subject is just as infectious on a stage as it is on the page.  Food chat and cheap books -- it's been a good day for the N00bs.
 

Five Things You Wanted To Know About Me...

...but Didn't Care Enough to Ask, by Sorcha

Got tagged for this by Guilty Carnivore. Blame him.

1. I'm addicted to ink. Currently I have six tattoos, with two more planned for the near future. They were planned for now, but our PS2 died and replacing it is going to dip into my tattoo money, dammit. The things I do for my family.

2. I met Mister Sorcha online. Not on the Internet, mind you. This was back in 1991, at which time the Internet was a much more limited cultural phenomenon. This was on a local bulletin board system, one which featured several phone lines so that as many as eight people could be on at once, even chatting in real time! Believe me, this was a Big Deal. Anyway, yeah. If you didn't know I was a big ol' geek before, you know now.

3. Up until recently, I was a picky eater. Very recently. As in, within the last year or so. Don't ask me what happened. Best I can figure, something got flipped in my head. (The same thing happened with scary movies when I was in my mid-twenties, but that's another story.) I don't like everything I try, but I try just about everything at least once now. That's a big, big change.

4. I love forensic science and murder investigation programs. Even before CSI was on, I was watching the true-crime shows like Forensic Files and Medical Detectives. Mister swears I'm watching these shows so that I can kill him someday and get away with it. Shyeah. Ain't no way I'd be able to find anybody else who'd put up with me. He's safe.

5. I'm going back to school in the fall! Finally. Various factors contributed to me not finishing college when most people do, after high school. Original plan was for me to go back after Mister got his degree, but Littlest made his debut and put the kibosh on that. I've tried once or twice, but something always came up. Finally, though, I said, "Fuck this, I'm going back, full-time, and I don't care what comes up." Now begins the process of convincing the government to give me money, or at least lend me some, so that I can actually pay for it. If you know of any philanthropists who'd be interested in financing the community-college/state university education of an aspiring writer, send 'em my way, will ya?

I'm supposed to tag five other people for this, but um, well, I don't know five other bloggers, at least, not that GC didn't already tag. So I'm tagging my partner in crime Kal and anyone else who feels like doing it. If you do it, send me a link so I can get all up in your Koolaid.

Any bets on...

...how long it'll take Tony to make a "Cleveland steamer" reference/joke in Ruhlman's blog?  I'm kind of surprised he hasn't done it already, actually.

Sorcha