Austin Squeefest

[lady_karelia]

That gourmet/liquor store hogwarts_91 talked about? Awesome. Absolutely awesome. We were so busy admiring the wares on offer, nobody remembered the picspam promises.




hogwarts_91 distracted melenka successfully from editing her nanowrimo opus.


But dedicated writer, she soon returned to work.


After the visit to the gourmet store, we headed for the airport where Mr K arrived in time for us to kill an hour over coffee until kittylefish arrived.


Dinner, prepared by hogwarts_91, panir massala with home-made panir, and rice. It was divine.


"What do you mean, writers don't edit their chapter before sending it to their beta?" hogwarts_91 asks incredulously while kittylefish isn't quite sure if she's serious or not.


Mr K and Mr 91 enjoying Scotch.


Little Man proudly casting Imperio with his brand-new, 12-inch, birds-eye maple wand, courtesy of wand maker Mr 91, on his unsuspecting mother.


Little Man, showing off his wand.


howarts_91 enjoying Indian cooking.


Mr K figured she did a good job. She did. The food was amazing!


hogwarts_91, rdholmantx, who finally arrived this evening, and kittylefish tucking in.

That dinner was an amazing joint project. It all started when hogwarts_91 and desertwitch, who was being missed tonight--but it's her fault cuz she went to see a Spurs game--visited back in October and were subjected to Indian food, courtesy of Mr K. hogwarts_91 loves to cook (and I'll need to go on a diet when I get home! You like scones? Make friends with her. She makes them better than most English people I know!), so I volunteered Mr K to teach her. And today was the day. We all chipped in of course, but hogwarts_91 did the actual cookery. We had, and all prepared from scratch: Fruit Chaat (savoury fruit), salad (onions, tomato, mooli, cilantro, lime), chicken tikka massala, beef curry, vegetable curry, saag panir, pakoras (mostly eggplant, some chili), and chapati. Can you say food orgy?

Thus ends Day 2 of the Austin Squeefest.

Comments

[dragonsinger954.livejournal.com]

OMG pakoras and curry and panir OH MY!!!!!!!!!! *drools*

Ah another sconemaker too! Will be glad when we finally get a place with a decent kitchen and I can cook again.

Glad you're having such a wonderful time. Are you driving back? Coming anywhere near SE OK if you do?

[lady-karelia.livejournal.com]

Dang, that would be a 400 mile detour or somewhere thereabouts. :(

Are you coming past Memphis anytime soon? Pakoras and curry and panir will await you. :))

[lulabelle72.livejournal.com]

Loving the picspam! And I am inordinately fond of shots of food, which we do a lot while on vacation. Hey, helps to remember the awesome meals you had!

More please.

[lady-karelia.livejournal.com]

Thanks! :) Yeah, I love shots of food, too, for the very same reason.

[(Anonymous)]

Please, tell me how a Spurs game trumps dinner with all of you?! (A resounding thwap! to desertwitch.)

hogwarts_91 – I love that expression. Yes, dear, there is such a thing as an author who relies 100% on her beta. (*sung to the tune of Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus – at least in my head*) Those poor betas. All that stress put upon them. And then when letters come with corrections, they are the ones who the authors turn to and they are the ones who feel bad for missing them (or get annoyed at our pickiness *lol*).

You all look great, and I see Lady K does what I do – stands behind the camera taking pictures so she doesn't get in any of them. Good job, karelia!! Know that if Lady K and NSS ever get in the same room, there will be a lot of pictures of the other taking pictures just to get back at the other for taking the picture ... and a lot of underhanded picture-taking of the other too, I'm sure. *grins devilishly*

[notsosaintly.livejournal.com]

Um, that was me ... as if you couldn't tell.

[lady-karelia.livejournal.com]

ROFL I did have my suspicions!

Apparently, there will be picspam including me. Both melenka and hogwarts_91 took plenty of pics, too. ;)

I'll be driving to CA in the new year. Wanna get into the same room and prove the theory? LOL

[alabastard.livejournal.com]

... and where, Milady, are YOU?

[lady-karelia.livejournal.com]

Behind the camera. *grins* I feel much safer behind it than in front of it.

[droxy.livejournal.com]

OOH a homemade wand! ANd food pron! Looked like fun, I am stuck decorating a tree and cleaning.

[lady-karelia.livejournal.com]

It is definitely far more fun than decorating trees or cleaning!

[southernwitch69.livejournal.com]

fun, fun, fun! :)

[lady-karelia.livejournal.com]

It is! :)

[kittylefish.livejournal.com]

just got home and am now reading about all the fun we had. :)

[lady-karelia.livejournal.com]

So, was my description correct? :)

[kittylefish.livejournal.com]

pretty accurate. you didn't mention all the yummy cheeses and olives we gorged on as appetezers prior to the wonderful meals. (maybe you didn't want to make everyone too jealous?) and of course, the best part of all was the lively conversation.

[lady-karelia.livejournal.com]

Oh, I completely forgot about the cheese! Mind you, that's kind of a given when we're involved, LOL!

I agree, the best part was the conversations we had. Really need to repeat that experience!!!

[kittylefish.livejournal.com]

definitely calls for a repeat. :)

oh! also, your little man did not only imperio you! he went around trying to imperio all of us! repeatedly!

[lady-karelia.livejournal.com]

Dang! Gonna have serious words with him! *snrk*

[blue-paris.livejournal.com]

I swear I'm not jealous. I SWEAR. My hands are red from doing gun defenses for 5 hours, I pulled something in my leg and I spent an hour at dinner being made of by Sam and Mike, but I am NOT jealous. Oh no. Tell everyone hi, and gratz to hogwarts_91 on the delish Indian =D

[lady-karelia.livejournal.com]

Uhuh. I believe that you're not jealous. *laughs maniacally* Next time, come along. :P

[pyjamapants.livejournal.com]

*wipes drool off monitor*

*re-reads post*

*wipes drool off keyboard*

I absolutely cannot focus on anything but the tasty spread you've described.

[lady-karelia.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm so glad that post spoke to you this way. I should mention now that kittylefish and I have plans for you. We figured that if you're willing to travel to Nashville for a marathon, we could probably convince you to come to Memphis for a weekend of frivolities... No date set yet, but it'll be sometime between February and July. *grins*

I better email you an answer now that I can. :))

[pyjamapants.livejournal.com]

I'm actually a native to Nashville, but I can certainly be persuaded to drive the extra three hours to Memphis.

I've been in Memphis in July..... no thanks. :) I vote for February or March.

[lady-karelia.livejournal.com]

Oh, good! The timeline is because in late January/early February I'll be going to California for a few weeks, and in July is Azkatraz (also in California), which some of us will attend *tries to lure you*
So, March, April, May, June I suppose would be the most likely and best-timed months to meet up. :)

[pyjamapants.livejournal.com]

Oooooooh, Azkatraz sounds very tempting, though I certainly can't commit to it at this point. There's the small matter of divining my career to be solved.... (ick. Wish I could be paid to read fan fiction.... alas)

[lady-karelia.livejournal.com]

No hurry. You could even decide in the last minute. I went to two cons this past summer without actually attending. Sometimes, it's not worth spending the money to attend presentations you're unlikely to be interested in, and besides, the main fun is to meet other fans. :)

We should, maybe, aim to create jobs that involve fanfic reading... Sounds like a brilliant idea to me! LOL