After teaching, joined Mary Robinette Kowal for lunch and writing at City Winery (where her husband, Rob, is the sommelier). This is our second time meeting here — last time, Rob took us on a tour behind the scenes, where vast vats actually make wine, right here in the heart of Chicago. Wacky! I had the petite syrah last time, delicious, and the syrah this time, which beautifully accompanied my middle-eastern sausage sandwich (with grilled onions and chimichurri sauce) and a side of pita with beet-feta spread. (Tons of food; taking half of it home for Kevin’s dinner.)
The star of the meal remained the delectable burrata with roasted tomatoes and basil that we shared last time and couldn’t resist repeating — I think I was probably at least 30 before I tasted fresh mozzarella for the first time, and probably past 40 before I had burrata — I wonder how many other deliciousnesses I’ve been missing.
After lunch, we settled down to writing; I finished and sent off the revision of my Wild Cards story, and then, as if by magic, a complimentary cupcake materialized to reward me for my diligence. It was actually left over from a staff birthday celebration, but let’s pretend that the finishing of every major task is accompanied by surprise cupcakes. What a lovely world that would be.
And now — the novel. It has been waiting, so patiently, for me to finish everything else. I won’t finish the revision today, but if I start it, I actually hope to finish it this week. Along with finishing the first pass of Survivor subs. And will there be more cupcakes to follow? Quite possibly.