California: Reality Check

I’m ecstatic to go back to California*. Really, I can’t express it in words. It’s not that sort of excitement: “Yay! Vacay!” No, it’s more soulful, more guttural. I can live in NYC the rest of my life, but I will always be a “West Coaster”. I will always have that friendly, relaxed, tell-you-everything-about-my-life sort of manner that West Coasters have. This trip to ALA and then to see friends and family will be a cleansing deep breath for my soul.

HOWEVER, I really have a love-hate relationship with California right now. Namely, the car culture there. Keep in mind that one of the Top 3 reasons I moved to NYC was because I didn’t want to drive again…ever (for more on this, check out Justine Larbalestier’s post on Non-Drivers). So I’m not renting a car at ALA. I refuse…because I’m stubborn…and scared. But remember I posted about all the fabu restaurants I was going to try while I was in Anaheim? Well, Google maps tells me that these are the actual distances from my hotel to each restaurant:

Café Casse-Croute: 4.3 miles
Café Contigo: 2.7 miles
Sarkis Pastry : 4.5 miles

Now, I’m certainly not opposed to walking 2.7 miles and back for good food – in fact, I’d welcome the opportunity. However, anyone who has attended any sort of major conference knows that there just isn’t time to do all that. I’ve got meetings and sessions and the exhibit floor and…

Additionally, I’m meeting with my Emerging Leaders group on Thursday night to prepare for our poster session, eat dinner, and drink wine. I volunteered to bring wine. I started searching for wine shops in the area and found some really fantastic possibilities. And then I looked up the distances:

Twisted Vine: 8 miles
Wine Exchange: 6 miles
Italia Wine Imports: 3.8 miles

I’m tempted to just pack a bottle in my suitcase but that could be bad… On principle, it seems ridiculous to pack a bottle from NYC when I should be exploring Anaheim’s local culture. Yeah, it’s CAR culture! So I’m not bringing a bottle with me. Instead, I’ll ask at the front desk of the hotel if there’s a wine/liquor store I can walk to. See what happens. I might be pleasantly surprised. I’m just lucky I discovered all this before I actually started walking to the specific stores and restaurants. That would have been bad and I most likely would have cried. And I would have received multiple blisters on my feet as a reward for my efforts.

Eat, drink, and create your own adventures


* For the record, I grew up in the foothills of Northern California where you really don't see palm trees. Evergreens were the norm and no celebrities were sighted there. I'm fiercely loyal to NoCal.

Gearing up for ALA...Anaheim-style

You may not see much of me in the next 2-3 weeks: in addition to having friends staying with us this weekend, I’m gearing up for ALA*’s Annual Conference in Anaheim next weekend. After that, it’s a week with my family in Northern Cal. Then two days in the Berkeley/Oakland area with more friends. By my account, I should be back blogging regularly about mid-July. In the meantime, here is a schizo post on a sunny Friday afternoon:

- I’ve never been to New Orleans and, until today, I’ve never really had a desire. I’ve only considered myself a true foodie in the past year and, up until 3 years ago, the ongoing joke among family and friends was that I ate only white food. So New Orleans didn’t sound like my kind of place with all that flashing-strangers-at-Mardi-Gras and okra and spicy stuff. Well, in the past three years, a new world has opened up to me….and today, Omnivore Herbivore Carnivore has expanded that world even further. Check out Kyla's culinary adventures in the city and you too will want to head on down there ASAP…or at least wait until autumn…

- I am the happiest clam! Look at the two ARCs I received this week!

- Most of my meals at ALA Annual are being very generously provided by publishers (thanks, guys!)…however, I do want to try and strike out on my own and see what Anaheim has to offer. I have very little free time so I’m going to have to schedule any foodie adventures down to the minute. Nevertheless, I have to at least try. In the latest SLJ there are some intriguing restaurant suggestions. I get into Anaheim around lunchtime on Thursday so I’m thinking of hiking to Café Contigo for Cuban sandwiches that “will change the way you look at sandwiches…promise”. I’ve got the most time on Saturday so I’m hoping to get to Sarkis Pastry for breakfast**, which is rather ambitious since it’s, you know, the morning. I also have lunch free on Saturday (how decadent!) so I’m planning on Café Casse Croute (French-Canadian cuisine, Vietnamese-owned). Anyone reading this who wants to check out any of these restaurants with me, let me know – I’m always open to hanging out with a fellow food explorer! Likewise, if you know of any great food places close to the convention center, let me know…I don’t suppose I’m going to find a farmers’ market that close, am I?

- A night of Stephenie Meyer and Blue October? Oh, how I desperately want to go! Desperately. But quite frankly, I really don’t want to compete with thronging groups of tween girls to get a ticket and to go to the event. Especially since I don’t know another librarian in her (or his) right mind who would go with me. So I’ll stay home, turn on Blue October, and imagine Justin Furstenfeld singing only to me. Just like a tween girl would do. Oh, the irony.

- Courtesy of my daily Shelf Awareness email, I leave you with this fantabulous quote from Huck Finn (as quoted by Jennie Shortridge): “I was a-trembling, because I'd got to decide, forever, betwixt two things, and I knowed it. I studied a minute, sort of holding my breath, and then says to myself, ‘All right, then, I'll GO to hell.’” That totally made my Friday.

Eat, drink, and ride the wave

* When, oh when, will I realize my dream of being on the Newbery committee?!

** Because baklava is one of my all-time favorite desserts...in those rare moments when I eat sweets.