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Well, we have made it safely...our books made it safely and all is well. We arrived on Tuesday and had the afternoon to have a wonderful late lunch at House of Nanking. I was lucky, several years ago, to have the person who first recommended it tell me to ignore the menu completely and ask that the chef just send out little things (the functional equiv. of dim sum). They ask how hungry you are (very) and they send out the right amount. We also discovered that they have a newly opened sister restaurant (see below). I also picked up three new books...woohoo.

Our first full day at RBS started with a wonderful breakfast at our inn. While they generally do not start breakfast until 8am, they were ready to serve those of us attending RBS at 740 so we could make it by our 830 start. Breakfast included a pesto and prosciutto strata, fresh melon, apple crumble muffin and peppered bacon. What a great day to start the day.

I just had the best Indian meal I've had in a very long time. If and when you are in the Brunswick, ME area, I strongly encourage you to enjoy Bombay Mahal. 

They have 15 different iterations of Nan and Paratha, they make their own yogurt, rosewater and chutneys. It was one of the most intricately spiced meals I've had, balance, layered, just wonderful. Do not miss the Moghalai Chicken (Boneless pieces of chicken, soaked overnight in a marinade of eggs, yogurt, ginger, garlic and spices and then sautéed in sweet butter, yogurt and tomato sauce and garnished with almonds). 

Day Three was long and largely uneventful. There was rather good, steady traffic, a fair number of engaged visitors. I had about a dozen people fill out newsletter/interest cards. I had two really good things offered to me and acquired. Overall, a pretty good day.

We effectively ate our way across (a very small portion) of San Francisco...we clearly need many more days and weeks there. On the recommendation of Amy Hahn and Forrest Proper, we had dinner our second night at Kokkari (where Amy's brother is the manager). It was Greek at its very best. 

Today was interesting. There was really rather good traffic and a lot of good questions and interest. I had several very good conversations...one with three young people was particularly interesting...I love new/emerging collectors. I had a several reasonably good sales...which is very nice...though I would still like at least one really good one. Hope spring eternal.

Interestingly, one of my sales was to a gentleman who called me yesterday having seen an item listed online and asking about it. I told him I was at a fair and that the item was with me...and asked him were he was...only to have him say that he was in Baltimore. I left him a ticket at Will Call, he came and purchased the item...now, does it get sourced to the internet or the book fair?

A reasonably large group of us (11) all trekked out to Salt yet again. I know there are many other good places here in town...but we had promised some friends to go there with them and...well...it is just really good . We were much better controlled tonight. Suzanne and I split orders of Duck Fat Fries and the Trio of Gazpacho...even more impressively, we split a wonderful filet (with smoked corn and wilted green polenta, onion ring, tomato relish, horseradish and bacon creme fraiche) and a honeydew melon and goat cheese salad with a fresh mint and Macadamia nut vinaigrette. We finished dinner by splitting their "sunday"...with fried wontons (stuffed with chocolate and banana, carmel ice cream, marachino cherry whipped cream and homemade carmel sauce. Needless to say, it was exceptional. The food and the company was wonderful.

Now in hotel room...not working on the presentation I need to do tomorrow .

Today was good...fairly strong traffic...many good conversations...several strong leads and follow-up opportunities and the like. Tonight was outstanding. John Wronoski of Lame Duck Books fame came to town and invited us to join us him (and two others) for dinner at SALT. As he had picked the restaurant on my suggestion (see, eg, this), I could not very well say no ("please, don't throw me into the brier patch").

We arrived at about 845 or so. The five of us sat down, reviewed the menu, could not make rational choice, so we ordered nearly everything. I was just going to list what I had...but as we shared basically every item...I thought I should just list it all:

appetizers

House Salad
Fresh mixed greens, marinated tomatoes, kalamata olives, red wine vinaigrette, shaved Parmesan Reggiano

Fried Oyster Salad
Arugula, bacon croutons, tomatoes, buttermilk dressing

Eastern Shore Corn Salad
Spicy crab and avocado ball, sweet onion vinaigrette

Trio of Gazpacho [x 2]
Amish tomato, watermelon chili and mango jicama

Gulf Shrimp Ceviche
Orange, lime, cilantro, cusco corn, red onion, aji amarillo

Foie Gras & Kobe Beef Slider
With truffle aioli and red onion marmalade

Duck Fat French Fries
With a trio of aioli

entrees

Seared Day Boat Scallops
Spicy crab topping, summer succotash of corn, peas and peppers

Coriander and Pepper Crusted Tuna
Served over seaweed salad with spicy tuna pot stickers and ginger soy glace

Grilled Petite Lamb Chops
Warm Moroccan chicpea salad, orange, onions, fresh herbs

Atlantic Wahoo Loin
Marinated in sweet chili-soy, quinoa salad, mango,chimichurri

Duck Confit Ravioli
Truffled forest mushroom broth, green onions, Parmesan Reggiano

It was a long day...busy...lots of traffic and interest. We shall see how much translates to closed sales. I was interviewed today for next years promo spots...hope my twitching was under control . Picked up some *really* good Thai food at My Thai and watched Obamarama with friends (B&B Books and Prints Charming). Fun was had by all.

Friday night was very interesting. There was a really big line/group waiting to get in at 530pm and the hall was filled and busy until it closed at 9:30. People were active and engaged....asking great questions, etc. I must admit, I was a bit surprised. Tampa/St. Petersburg can field a genuinely large and sophisticated biblio-crowd. On the other hand, I did not have a single sale all evening....until the last fifteen minutes where one sale made the fair/weekend/week/month. This is, of course, often the case...but it is always nice when things fall into place. So overall, it was just a great day. An easy setup, quick dinner, great evening event and a late-night dip in the hot-tub to sooth my aching feet. Fun had by all.

Saturday started early. We had breakfast on the way. I had something wildly unhealthy that is only *really* good below the Mason/Dixon Line...made correctly, you can actually feel the major arteries in your chest as you eat it. The fair started at 10am and closed up at 5pm. Again, it was genuinely busy all day long. While actual sales were reasonably soft, I had a large number of really "engaged" conversations and am confident that several are going to either result in new material coming in and/or new clients on the development side. There were also a large number of people who were very clearly "shopping" today with the intent of coming back tomorrow to buy. We shall see.

We were on the waiting list for this show for at least two years (and, actually, I think think three). I very nearly passed when they called because I have been just straight out this spring but Suzanne convinced me that we should really take a try at it. I could not be more pleased. Much to my surprise and pleasure, this is a great town for a book fair (and having an excuse to come south in early March is not too bad, either). Oh, and the buying at this fair has been very good, as well...more on this, perhaps, as the dust settles.

Finally, dinner was just great. Our hotel is less than a block from BayWalk, an open-air shopping/dinning complex. There we found Banbu. Banbu is bascally a Mongolian grill. If you are not familiar with the concept, you get a wee bowl and make your dinner (more than once, if you are so inclined). The first stage is the "seafood/meat" station with fresh squid, shrimp, chicken, pork, lamb, several iterations of dead cow and the like. Then there is the huge veggie section with everything from fresh mango to edanami to baby corn and freshly minced garlic. Finally, you go and choose your "sauce" and again, there is a tremendous range from the expected (sweet and sour, teriyaki, and peanut sauce) to the funky and fresh (outstanding Asian ginger, stunningly fiery "Banbu Red Pepper Ginger" and too many others to even fathom (there were at least 18 different sauces).

Then you bring your wee bowl of meat and veggie and prep bowl of sauce to the "bar" around a huge circular cooking surface (think very shallow wok with a hole in the center). The cook takes your bowl and puts it out in a "line" on the surface...along with those others who are ready. You stand there chatting while it cooks, the cooks come by and shuffle things about and, at the end, drizzle your chosen sauce over the top (only at the end as most have some sugar component that will caramelize to burn if on at the start). Then they scrap it off the grill and onto a plate for you. A few shakes of roasted sesame seeds and you are off.

Everything is extremely fresh and nice. The service was great and the food was just fabulous. The trick, is fighting the urge to make a nice big bowl of whatever yummy combo you have in mind and making a lovely *small* bowl. This way, you can make several trips through the system and try all sorts of good things. Suffice it to say that I had several courses and finished with a lovely "desert" of grilled pineapple, mandarin orange and mango with a splash of asian ginger at the finish.

Back to the hotel by 8pm and two hoursish in the pool with Aidan and off to bed and blogging well sated and prune-y. Tomorrow runs from 11am to 4pm and then we pack up, pick up our car and drive to the Jupiter area to see Suzanne's parents.

Note to self, being effectively the last booth as people exit a fair is nice...as everyone pretty much has to go by you...but is not so nice as many/most are so spent by that time that they wander by, dazed and confused and wanting nothing more than to flee. This is the conclusion John and I have arrived at...such is life. It was a good day, just the same.

We started the day comfortably...leisurely morning rituals followed by a nice deli breakfast. The show ran from 12 to 6. It was supposed to be done at 5...but apparently those not in the other room near the exit thought staying there an extra hour would be great fun. It was nice for customers and I can't begrudge it at all. Eli was really great. Overall, very nice and charming and generally the best boy he could be. His reward for this exceptional behavior was a swim in the pool here at the hotel until he got good and prunny (the surest sign of a good swim).

Lots of nice conversations and a good deal of interest in a number of things....we shall see. The highpoint, so to speak, of the day was the amazing spread put out be the fine folks at Pryor and Johnson. At the end of the day, around 4pm (who knew we would be open another 2 hours), they put out fresh fruit, a wide selection of wonderful cheeses, about 5 pounds of pate, shrimp, smoked salmon, etc....and liquor. Nice wines, very nice ports and whiskeys, etc. I had some cheese and fruit and a finger or so of Balvenie Portwood 21 Year Old Single Malt. If I ever produce a book fair, they are my first call (I will not, ever, produce a book fair...ever).

Show opens tomorrow at 12. Closes for good at 4pm (unless, perhaps, the front room decides we should stay until early evening) and then pack up and, most likely, the long drive home. Then no show until March and St. Petersburg.

So after another very nice breakfast at what is rapidly becoming our favorite hotel, we were off to the Concourse. We toyed with walking, but ended up in a cab as we had our carry-ons and show bag and misc. other bits of brick-a-braq. It is only about 1.1 miles from the venue and we were there in short order.

We arrived and found pretty much exactly what can be seen in the first image [N.B. If you right click on any of these pictures (or yesterday's, etc) and choose open in a new tab (or window) and it will open a really nice big image]. It is a big and reasonably well lit hall and the pipe-and-drape system is interesting and quite elegantly designed. Best of all, they is designed to "take" adjustable shelving. I've never seen this before, but it let us put up a "top" shelf, above the folding shelves, to display some oversized books and plate sets in a nice way. When we made it to our booth, we found our 13 big black cases waiting for us (8 of ours, 5 of Don's). Having schlepped a booth full of cases into a hall the previous week, I can not express how nice it was to see that big pile happily waiting for us.

We shoved the big cases around a little bit and figured out a way to use some of the extra tables we found stacked in our booth. We ended up with a big trophy on each "side" with a four-foot peninsula at the center and we each have one eight-foot table down the side. The center counter case is slightly off center which allowed use to tuck in a little four-foot table on Don's side (at least a picture or two tomorrow showing the entire booth...Don was not set up before we finished). We ended up pulling our big table forward a bit and staking some of the Pelican cases and covering them with the very red plastic table cloth(ish) material we found in the booth...anything for a bit more horizontal surface(s).

Once we got the tables set up and the shelves up, everything just fell into place nicely. Oh, we checked all our leg supports and shelf supports in the cases. I can not stress strongly enough how important it is to check them. I saw a table go down on someone a year go or so and never want it to be me...and did have a shelf let go (luckily, it was with the first book placed and it had not fully left my grip. I check *carefully* before each setup.

We've sold a handful of things...sadly, one of them being one of the items I was most amused to bring out to this show (more on this in a later post). The booth is set up and ready for the morning. I have had email from a half-dozen people or so who have told me they are coming and tomorrow should be really fun.

We left well before set-up finished (close to a first for us (read, "me"). We walked, uphill, to the hotel to get ready to meet some of Suzanne's friends. San Francisco is a great city...in desperate need of an ironing. We met Suzanne's friends at Bourbon & Branch, a speakeasy cocktail bar a few blocks away (down). Reservations strongly recommended, you get a password to get into the unmarked door. It is very well designed, has a great feel and you can actually have a pleasant conversation with your friends without shouting. The drinks were great, the company even better. It was really a place. We left, picked up some great Pakistani food on the way back (up) to the hotel and called it a night. Show starts at 10 tomorrow.

Good morning campers. I feel human again. It is quite shocking. I slept well and long. The water pressure here is such that it can be adjusted to "painful" (something that I wish I could do at home). Breakfast was, as promised, a treat. Great coffee, fresh pastries (the little wild blueberry and mandarin orange danishes were amazing), wild mushroom quiche, sausage and a sort of french toast strata just scratches the surface. It was very good.

We were joined at breakfast by one of Suzanne's classmates from HBS. VC, investment banking, smelt breeding research and the book trade makes for fun and strange conversation.

I checked email before heading off to do some booking hunting and found a message from a friend who is doing some work with/for the Obama campaign. I clicked the link included in his missive and was brought to the page clipped above. It is a very good sign, I think, when support for your campaign is such that it manages to overwhelm your rather robust ecomm servers. Doubly interesting that basically at the same time Hillary is having to loan her campaign $5MM, Obamerama's campaign has raised over $7MM. It is going to be a fun few more weeks... Read the rest of this post