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Winter in Hood River Like a Local: Full Sail Brewmaster Dinner
Tonight, Muir & Jenny went to the Full Sail Brewmaster Dinner with Lana & Bob who won one of the "Winter in Hood River Like a Local" prize packages from the Hood River County Chamber of Commerce.
Check how Muir & Jenny like to enjoy the winter in Hood River (they love going to the Full Sail Brewmaster Dinners every month in the winter - it's an awesome deal for $35) Also, don't forget to enter to win one of the other prize packages!
Slow-Roasted Smoked Pork, Caramelized Granny Smith Apples and Smoked Cheddar on a House-Made Brioche Bun AND a Lobster, Panko AND Asiago Cheese on a House-Made Brioche Bun paired with SESSION BLACK & SESSION
Popcorn Shrimp Cakes with Oregon Bay Shrimp, Marinated Swiss Chard, Purple Potato Fries and Popcorn paired with IPA
Grilled Duck Skewers with Quinoa Cake, Roasted Corn Madelines, Mole Sauce and Oven-Roasted Haricot Vert paired with AMBER
Coconut Cream Pie with Shortbread Crust, Bourbon Stout Ganache, Chocolate-Dipped Tuile Cookie and Coconut Chantilly Cream paired with MATHIAS’S MAIN INGREDIENT OATMEAL STOUT
Winter Institute - Kansas City: Pre-Conference
Muir and I are in Kansas City for Winter Institute 8, an annual education conference for independent booksellers. Here’s a peek into what we do at bookseller conferences.
-Jenny
Pre-Conference
We left in the wee hours on Friday morning to catch our flight at PDX. Luckily, we did not get stuck anywhere because of the winter storm that was in Kansas City. Many of our fellow booksellers left on Thursday and were on delayed planes or had cancelled flights because the Kansas City airport closed on Thursday.
The view from our hotel room. The tall skinny building is part of the World War I Museum.
We got into Kansas City and did a bit of exploring before the first event of the conference, the Opening Reception.
We can see the World War I Museum from our room, and someone recommended that we visit the museum. Unfortunately the museum was closed due to the snowstorm, so we headed to the Money Museum at the Federal Reserve Bank. Muir and I were the only visitors there since we got there right before it closed. They have a 20 minute movie on the history of the Federal Reserve and how Kansas City was chosen as one of the 10 locations when the bank was established. We had the entire theater to ourselves.
The Money Museum at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City
On the way back to the hotel, we walked around the outside of the World War I Museum and then we stopped at Union Station to take some pictures.
We ran into Suzanne from Liberty Bay Books (Poulsbo, WA) at Union Station and joined her for happy hour / dinner at Jack Stack’s BBQ. She had quizzed all the local on her flight to Kansas City about places to eat and where to go for live music. Yes, I cheated on my food allergies - the BBQ and sides were soooo good. We definitely recommend a meal at Jack Stack’s if you’re heading to Kansas City.
Inside Union Station
The sampler plate at Jack Stack's BBQ
After dinner, we headed the Opening Reception for Winter Institute (wi8) sponsored by the publisher Andrews McNeel. It was great to see other booksellers from the Pacific Northwest and to re-connect with other booksellers we only see at Winter Institute.
After the reception we mingled with some other collegues at the waterfall area back at the Westin. They had a fun book themed drink called “Good Night Moon”.
Then it was off to bed to get ready for the next few days of education & networking. Check out the schedule for wi8 here: https://wi8.bookweb.org/program
Pfriem Brewing & Belgium Beer at Volcanic Bottle Shoppe
The tasting room for the brewery was described as a pub / wine tasting room (not sure what that means) with 12 beers on tap. They are still figuring out the food for the pub,
They are going to be a community focused brewery - promoting sustainability and working with others in the community.
Wanna get more info about the brewery? Check out their facebook page and blog.
PNBA
Jenny, Muir and I were at PNBA this week! The rooms were buzzing with people from all over the Pacific Northwest. Thursday was filled with educational workshops. Jenny did a presentation on Co-op and received complements from many of the other bookstore owners. I attended a workshop presented by Gigi Rosenberg, author of “The Artist’s Guide to Grant Writing.” She was engaging, funny, and overflowing with information.
Some of our favorite authors were there:
Jane Kirkpatrick, ‘The Daughter's Walk’, ‘Barcelona Calling’
Jeffery Zaslow ‘The Last Lecture’
Lidia Yuknavitch ‘Chronology of Water’
Maggie Stiefvater ‘The Scorpio Races’
Anna Dewdney ‘Llama Llama Home with Mama’
Julianna Baggott ‘Pure’
Lisa Taylor ‘Your Farm in the City’
Lisa Dupar has a new cookbook that has the most mouth watering pictures and delicious sounding recipes, ‘Fried Chicken and Champagne’.
We also got to hang out and talk about books and book selling with lots of other really cool book store owners and book sellers. Tina and Angela from Klindt’s in The Dalles, Laura and her daughter from Rediscovered Books in Bosie, ID, and Chuck from Village Books in Bellingham, WA.
It was a great couple days! Thanks everyone for a great first PNBA experience!
Movie Versions of Books - July 15th Releases
Read the book, then see the movie! All of the movie versions of these books will be released on Friday, July 15th
Winnie the Pooh
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows
Life Above All (based on the book Chanda's Secrets)
