“I am a very talented eater, though not much of a cook.” -George RR Martin
Alright folks. It is now July, and the official release date for Dance with Dragons is quickly approaching. On July 12th, George RR Martin begins his book signing tour, right outside Boston.
To show our appreciation for all George’s hard work, we are planning to pack a basket of Westerosi goodies for the first signing, in Burlington MA. We’re putting out a call for other fans to make up baskets of edibles for George as he tours the country, so that he can really get a great taste of the world he has shared with all of us.
So, if you want to be a star and support George, as well as your favorite Westeros food blog, let us know, so we can put you on the schedule!
**We recommend making small portioned dishes, such as mini pies, and foods that can be transported easily. Baskets or boxes should be smallish, with just a few foods. Please don’t try to bring a whole honeyed chicken or roasted aurochs to a book signing! We are also affixing labels to everything, as well, so George can tell what he’s eating. :) **
Get the tour details here: http://sf-fantasy.suvudu.com/2011/06/on-tour-george-r-r-martin.html?ref=twt_Suvudu_stream
Tuesday, July 12 – Burlington, MA
7:00pm – Barnes & Noble, 98 Middlesex Turnpike
Chelsea and Sariann– lemoncakes, pork pies, cheese and olives, mulling spices
Thursday, July 14 – New York, NY
7:00pm – Barnes & Noble Union Square, 33 East 17th Street
Oshidori- Beef-and-Bacon (mini)Pie, Salad in Castle Black, Tyroshi Honeyfingers and Plum Wine
Saturday, July 16 – Indianapolis, IN
2:00pm – Barnes & Noble, 14709 US Highway 31 North, Carmel
Kristin– mini modern cheese-and-onion pies, mini fruit tarts, local mead
Sunday, July 24 – San Diego, CA
4:00pm – Mysterious Galaxy, 7051 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
Jason- assorted Dornish goodies
Tuesday, July 26 – Los Angeles, CA
7:00pm – Barnes & Noble, 189 The Grove Drive
Jack- assorted goodies
Wednesday, July 27 – Redwood City, CA
7:00pm – Fox Theatre, 2223 Broadway Street (event hosted by Kepler’s Books)
Friday, July 29 – Seattle, WA
7:30pm – Town Hall, 1119 8th Ave (event hosted by University Bookstore)
Philip- assorted goodies
Adrienne & Kia- Baked goods
Sunday, July 31 – Denver, CO
2:00pm – Tattered Cover LoDo, 1628 16th Street
Amanda– Honeyed-chicken-in-a-hand-pie-of-some-kind, some local beer, oatcakes, and pease pudding.
Mystral- Lemoncakes
Tuesday, August 2 – Lexington, KY
7:00pm – Joseph-Beth Booksellers, 161 Lexington Green Cir.
Seriously, if he were anywhere near me I’d be all in!
Any news that he might be coming to Canada?
Not that we’ve heard, but we’ll be sure to let you know!
It seems like he’s been storing up for this book tour already… WILD CARDS
I’m so totally in for the Denver stop! (I think)
Questions:
1) Is George hip to this? I don’t want to hand over food that’s just going to be thrown away.
2) What about the tour stops? Are they down? Same deal there, only I don’t want to be thrown out of a bookstore
3) We’re talking Westerosi food, yes?
Fair questions! We’re taking sort of a gamble, but counting on the fact that George has expressed an interest in trying the food, but doesn’t really cook. Getting in touch with the bookstores is a great idea, and we’ll take on the responsibility for that as fans express interest, starting with Denver. Given that the food will be presented as gift baskets, I don’t anticipate it will be a problem. :)
Also, the pictures on your blog are beautiful! Welcome aboard!
Well thanks! This is such a fun project! I’m glad to hear you guys are interested in making sure everything goes smoothly. Count me in 100%.
Hooray! Give a shout when you have chosen what to make. :)
Ok! Count me in for Honeyed-chicken-in-a-hand-pie-of-some-kind, some local beer, oatcakes, and a smallish container of pease pudding.
Brilliant! And THANKS! :)
I’m bummed that he isn’t coming to DC!
I’d be game for doing this at the Indianapolis signing. (If anyone else is interested, I’m happy to make it a communal effort, too.)
I’m not sure what I’d make as yet, but I’m thinking perhaps some mini-loaves of bread, a couple single-size cheese-and-onion pies (the modern version, not the medieval), and some fruit tarts (medieval, but possibly some of the modern, too, if I get adventurous) might work. I could also bring a local bottle of mead. (Southern Indiana is absolutely bursting with small wineries.) These all seem at least *fairly* travel-friendly. (I’ll be driving about an hour to get to the signing.) I’ve made the cheese-and-onion pie twice now, and especially if I get some disposable tins to keep it stable, it should work in a small size, I believe.
Wonderful! Welcome aboard! That sounds like a great spread. :)
Ugh! The closest he’s getting to us is like a 13 hr drive! I hope every one who does make it to a signing has a lot of fun, and the GRRM enjoys his fan-made goodies!
Can I just bring beer? ;)
I would be able to do the La signing. Not sure on what i would bring. Have you guys gotten in contact with him? You could try his blog.
We’ve let him know through livejournal. I’d suggest versions of dishes that you have tried and love, if they can be made small. Several folks are also including some tasty local beverages, which we like the idea of. :) If all else fails, some crackers, cheese, small jars of jelly and other condiments would likely be welcome snacks.
I’m going to the Denver signing and I’d like to contribute as well. It looks like Amanda’s doing most of a meal so I’d like to bring a dessert to finish it off, perhaps some lemon cakes? I see that he’s getting some on his first stop; does it matter if there’s a little overlap? If so, I’ll pick something else to bring.
I say the more lemoncakes, the merrier! :)
Okay, then! You can count me in as wielding some lemon cakes at the Denver signing. Now I have to see which of the recipes you posted is the one I want to make. Decisions, decisions.
Yay! Welcome! We’re going to include our top secret new ultimate lemoncake recipe, so feel free to tackle any of the others!
Would you like to collaborate at all? I’d be more than willing to share the load and potential embarrassment of showing to a booksigning with fan-made food!
Just kind of a question/update thing, looking for a little clarification. I note that you say that you’ve “informed” George via LJ of this plan, but have you had any communication from George, Ty, his publishers, or the bookstores that this plan is okay? When/how do you plan on contacting the bookstores? I do not want to get in trouble for being this presumptuous without any kind of real communication from George or His People that this isn’t going to end up with the food thrown out – or *me* thrown out of the bookstore!
Point by point: We have no way other than LJ to get in touch with George Martin, or his assistant, or anyone up that chain of command. We can, however, call the bookstores to get their OK. We were camping this weekend in ME, and plan to call the bookstores, in order of signings, starting tomorrow. However, since what we are making up are essentially gift baskets, I can’t imagine anyone reasonably objecting. I mean, we’re not talking about bringing multiple course meals of dripping meat into the shops. As to the last, since we are not George, we clearly cannot guarantee what will happen to the food. We are in a very zen place about this, and view the whole operation as a form of unconditional fandom: we offer, he can choose to accept if he likes. After that, it’s out of our hands!
I stand chagrined that this is all going so well and the bookstores and George have been so welcoming. Curse my suspicious nature! I’m still cooking up a storm tomorrow for the Indy signing on Saturday.
Hey guys, I have a question for tomorrow (NYC)
A friend told me he was at the bookstore yesterday and was handed a flyer saying that people should start lining up before *noon* for the 7pm signing! So now I’m not sure what to do. I’m ok with not getting my book signed or even meeting with GRRM (although that will leave me pretty bummed I’ll admit), so I was gonna see how your experience went to figure out how to do my thing. Do I just go to a handler or store employee and hand off the gift basket to them? I’m gonna trying calling the store in a bit to see what they say, but have you called my store yet? Thanks in advance!
P.S. can’t really wait all day like that because I have a toddler and a mom who only agreed to watch her for 3 hours in the evening!
UPDATE: Ok so I just called my B&N and spoke to the manager. They basically told me to drop it off midday & include my info and they’ll pass it on to him. I’m disappointed that I won’t actually be able to hand it to him personally, but oh well, hopefully he’ll enjoy my cooking nonetheless. They told me that people are actually planning to camp out tonight!
Since it’ll be sitting around for a while, I think I’ll have to change my idea of Tyroshi Honeyfingers for dessert to something that’ll keep a bit better. Soggy honeyfingers are no bueno!
*sigh* sometimes it really sucks to live in such a big city ;_;
Camping out is crazy! Wow! Shouldn’t all these people be home reading aDwD?! Sorry to hear that you won’t be able to hand off the basket to George. Still, I am sure he will greatly appreciate it! Any idea what you’ll swap in for the honeyfingers?
I think the peaches in honey! Modern version :D
Are you guys on Google + yet? Just posted a bunch of pics my brother took there. Wrote a bit of what happened in the Youtube summary, although I’ll post a full write-up on my Tumblr hopefully tomorrow. Anyway, thanks again! (I’ll be thanking you guys profusely for a long time lol)
http://youtu.be/3R0zrQJrbl0
(I was hoping my brother filmed before this when I actually presented the basket and gave you guys the shoutout, but that’s when he was snapping pics. Hopefully someone will post something soon!)
I can’t reply to your comment below with the video, but that is so awesome!
Well, I just had kind of a weird conversation with the Publicity Manager at the Carmel (Indianapolis) Barnes and Noble when I called to let them know about the project and my intentions. I was told that they “generally don’t allow food to be brought in to the store because they have the cafe there” and they “can’t guarantee that (we) won’t ask you to leave and take your food with you” because “Mr. Martin has very explicit dietary needs that he has made clear to us, which we will be taking care of” but “we’ll do whatever Mr. Martin asks of us”. Oh well. I’m still going to bring the food and see what happens. She did seem to imply that if George or his people were okay with it, they wouldn’t interfere, but she sounded very annoyed by my questions and kind of lectured me a bit in a disapproving tone. If they are bothered by it in any way, I’ll just bring it back to a cooler in my car. But the attempt will be made!
Psh. That’s lame. Our NYC field operative had a similar conversation, but the Random House folks seem to be all about letting the food in. If the bookstore staff give you trouble, ask them to let the RH folks know that you’re there on our behalf. I’m sure the bookstore has to field a lot of strangeness when it comes to book signings, and they just don’t know that we are super cool!
Glad you’re still gung ho for the project- Just remember that your cause is righteous!
Of course, I’m not even annoyed with her – she’s just doing her job, and from previous stints getting stuff signed by Robert Jordan while he was still with us, and a few other mid-range fantasy authors over the years, people can be *weird* at these things. I was sweet as a berry tart with her and promised I would do whatever I was asked, if they would be so kind as to just pass on my request to George’s people, and she seemed mollified.
Cool! Sounds like you played your hand as best as possible. Best of luck tomorrow, and we’ll be eagerly awaiting (read: stalking twitter for) news of how it goes! :)
i just bought my copy of aDwD for the Kentucky signing! I’m really interested in making something but I’m at a total loss at what to do! I do want to make him something not ASOIF related (100 proof peppermint schnapps balls) but I would like to do something reasonably simple that will keep well in a 4 hour car ride to Kentucky. Thoughts or suggestions?
LOVE this blog by the by!!!
Glad you like the blog! Love the idea of the peppermint schnapps balls: just tell him they’re your suggestion for the next book! ;)
As for what else to make, and presentation, both are fairly easy. If you would just like to put together a basket, I’d suggest local favorites, whether it be from a local brewery, or a specific kind of peanut only available near you (clearly, I don’t really know Kentucky…peanuts?!). If you’d like to make something from the blog, even better! I think the baked goods travel well if they are protected from squashing on the car ride, so maybe something like the Buns from the Wall, or any of the fruit tarts. Those are definitely worth the effort for the flavor payout! If you do decide to make something from the blog, be sure to mention it’s part of Operation Keep George Fed, via the ladies of the Inn. We like the idea of our conspiracy. :)
Great ideas! I think local tidbits will go well with the balls. I actually live in South Carolina but am really looking forward to this trip to KY!
I will make sure that I mention Operation Keep George Fed :)
Keep you posted!
In addition to these stops- He;s also signing at ComicCon… (and there will be a Game of Thrones Panel… I don’t live anywhere near there- but it is another opportunity!