The Clarion Deadlines Approach

Just In Case You Had Nothing To Do This Summer...

I've been so busy spending my days driving through bad roads and getting my website up, I wasn't quite paying attention.

The deadline for applying to this summer's Clarion and Clarion West workshops is coming up Real Soon Now -- Saturday 1 March 2008. This is a whole month earlier than it's been in the past, probably one of the reasons I didn't know the deadline was creeping up.

What's a Clarion workshop? It's a remarkable six week experience for science fiction and fantasy writers, a bootcamp for writers if you will, where you can have a chance to do nothing but eat and breathe writing -- there's not much chance for sleep. I attended the 2004 Clarion workshop and it was amazing.

If you've ever wanted to get serious about SF/F writing, this is one way to really try it out. (grin)

Info on the Workshops Here:

Clarion (29 June - 9 August 2008 in San Diego CA, formerly in East Lansing MI for many years)

Clarion West (22 June - 1 August 2008 in Seattle WA)

Clarion South (4 January - 14 February 2009 in Brisbane Queensland AUSTRALIA)

Enjoy!

Dr. Phil

Happy Valentine's Day

Ah, Special...

The GVSU Dining Services people and the GVSU Alumni House have in the last couple of years done a number of special dinners, pairings of good food and wine. The first one was a Taste of Michigan. The last one we went to in November was Greek Food.

When they were setting up a special dinner for Valentine's Day, they decided that since they were holding these in the Alumni House, maybe they should go to the Alumni Association and invite them along. Previously there've been about 36-40 people at the dinners -- Thursday night there were about 102.

We sat at a table with three alumni couples, one 1987/1991, and two from mid-70s -- just a tad earlier than Mrs. Dr. Phil and myself. It was a fun table. And the food? Well...

Classic Pairings
**Tastes from Around the World**

Thursday, February 14, 2008
The Alumni House
5:30pm - Appetizers
6:00pm - Dinner

***

Appetizers with Social Wines

Sweet Pea Crostini with Prosciutto
Pork Pot Stickers
Greek Chicken Kabobs with Tzatziki

***
4 Course Dinner with Wine Service

Lobster & Scallop Ceviche
Marquis de la Tour Sparkling Brut

Ginger Glazed Pan Seared Salmon
Thai Coconut Risotto
Grilled Vegetable Ribbons
2006 Tall Ship Chardonnay

Classic Châteaubriand Bearnaise
Château Potatoes & Petite Carrots
2003 Château Mont Redon Chateauneuf-du-Pape

Très Lèche Cake
Beaulieu Vineyard Muscat

Truffles made by the Apprentices

Fair Trade Coffee
Tia Maria

Our chef introduced each course and let us in on some lovely information. Our lobster was Maine lobster tails caught on Tuesday and never chemically treated. The Châteaubriand had a broth which began with veal bones in a soup kettle on Tuesday morning and lovingly boiled and reduced since then. And Château Potatoes are seven-turned potatoes -- they had a potato turning party to make them just right. The cake was huge and, though I taste and not drink, all the wines were superb. The 2003 red was quite wonderful.

With so many couples, and such fine fare, it was a lovely Valentine's Day dinner -- and we're not the kind of people to "celebrate" Valentine's Day. (grin) But good food? Ah... (double-grin)

Dr. Phil