In preparation for her visit, I placed an order with my favorite cupcakery, Cups and Cakes, which is located conveniently close to my office. Specifically, I ordered an assorted dozen cupcakes, to please please please include the Mudslide (slightly bitter dark chocolate cake with Bailey's and Kahlua buttercream icing). After a long day spent dreaming of cupcakes and fiddlers, I left the office and went to make the pickup, only to learn to my delight that my personal favorite flavor, the Peanut Butter and Jelly, had also been included in the assortment. (Sweet grape cake with peanut butter buttercream. Basically, these cupcakes are felony-level delicious.) Victory!
As Amy's flight was not for several hours, I also grabbed a couple of spare Mudslide cupcakes with which to bribe Jude, who was on-duty at Borderlands Books, where I intended to kill some time. Borderlands is an excellent place to sit and work, at least if you're me, and find the smells and sounds of a well-maintained bookstore endlessly soothing.
The cupcakes and I reached the bookstore without incident, and I promptly plied Jude with her delicious cupcake-y treats, thus convincing her to allow me to sit and work. (It didn't take much convincing, or really, any convincing; Borderlands is very pro-authors actually finishing books, providing we're not breaking anything while we do it.) Alas, it turned out that Ripley and Ash, the store's hairless cats, were less well-inclined toward my literary aspirations. The afternoon went something like this...
"Mow."
"No, Ripley, you can't have my lap. I'm working."
"Wow."
"Okay, you can have half my lap. But I'm still working."
"Yow."
"Just let me shut down my laptop, and I'll pet you."
"Now."
"...stop speaking English, it's creepy."
Ash, meanwhile, rode the Kitty Crazytrain around the store until it became time to groom herself, at which point she perched on my arm and licked her naked arms with blithe abandon. I think, perhaps, that I spend too much time at Borderlands, as the cats have now started to regard me as furniture.
In the "spending too much time at Borderlands" category, local folks please remember that I'll be at the store on March 9th for the A Local Habitation release party. We'll have live music from SJ Tucker, Betsy Tinney, Amy McNally, and potentially more; a raffle with some awesome, awesome prizes; a reading from A Local Habitation; and the Great Pumpkin only knows what else. It's gonna be an awesome time, and I'd love to see lots and lots of you there.
Borderlands Books. Because sometimes, we like our cats with a side-order of Nair.
March 2 2010, 19:07:53 UTC 7 years ago
I thought that was the state of all sane cats. (My mother has an insane cat that is more afraid of me than of not having heated furniture or not eating.)
March 2 2010, 20:53:08 UTC 7 years ago
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March 2 2010, 19:57:15 UTC 7 years ago
I recently tried a new cupcake store in town, Just Baked. Not as good as Cupcake Station, my current fave, but good. Your PB&J reminded me of one of their flavors, which is banana cake topped with peanut butter frosting topped with chocolate icing. They call it the Fat Elvis. (Would that anyone here had something like the Mudslide.)
March 2 2010, 20:54:45 UTC 7 years ago
Thank you for letting me know. I continue to want the tiara.
March 2 2010, 20:03:20 UTC 7 years ago
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March 2 2010, 21:17:53 UTC 7 years ago
You talking about Borderlands really makes me miss the bookstore I used to haunt in Cupertino - A Clean Well Lighted Place. I wonder if it is still in business.
I used to go in and sit on the floor in the F&SF section and read books. They allowed it because they knew that when I had the money I would be in to purchase said book and I was always very careful to not break the spine or mar the pages.
Now I have to save my change so I can get A Local Habitation, figure out a way to get you to autograph it, and put it with the rest of my collection of autographed books - including Rosemary and Rue.
March 2 2010, 22:45:25 UTC 7 years ago
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Re: Halloween Family
March 3 2010, 15:40:02 UTC 7 years ago
Yay, Marcon! Will you play with me?
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March 3 2010, 14:49:48 UTC 7 years ago
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March 18 2010, 15:51:47 UTC 7 years ago
Amazon really is your friend.
March 3 2010, 21:47:11 UTC 7 years ago
I am pondering how one makes sweet grape cake. Grape juice? Jam? Or perhaps a decent wine?
March 18 2010, 15:52:08 UTC 7 years ago