PNBA Nightcapper Recap

Tonight I had a blast at the PNBA nightcapper party. I signed books with 20 other authors in the room while booksellers made the rounds piling our books into their goody bags. I served pulled pork and a smoked duck salad with pears, apples, currants, and greens in a orange marmalade dressing. The barbecue scents drew in the crowd and I blew through my 100 books in no time. I loved talking to the booksellers. They seemed positive and energized for the coming season -a good indicator that our economy is starting to turn around.

In my corner of the room were other cookbook authors. Next to me was Linda Ziedrich with her two books, The Joy of Jams, Jellies, and Other Sweet Preserves, and The Joy of Pickles. Love that pickle title. It'd be a good band name too. Pickling and preserves are "hot" right now. People like to go back to basics during tight economic times. There is also something about harvest time that makes me want to pick fruit and preserve it for the winter. I make soup, too, out of all the bits in the refrigerator, because, you know, we're hunkering down for the winter. I've been on a soup kick and will put some up on the blog next week.

But I digress....

I met Lisa Schroeder of Mother's Bistro in Portland. Her new cookbook, Mother's Best: Comfort Food That Takes You Home Again, looks amazing. Her shrimp were divine. Smart gal for serving shrimp, for as we know, no crowd can resist the power of shrimp. She gave away all her books too, so we'll swap books by mail.

The best surprise was that there were two SCBWI members representing kid lit. Bonny Becker, showcasing her new bear book, Birthday for Bear, and another, The Magic Ms. Plum, and Doug Keith, for illustrating The Bored Book, by David M. Slater. Bonny's first Bear book, A Visitor for Bear, was named Amazon's Children's Book of the Year, among numerous awards.

I'm pooped. I cleaned up the mess in the hotel room from the tornado of getting ready for this event. I've twittered and blogged and checked all my e-mails. Now it's off to that blissful night of sleep I keep talking about.