On the road again: San Francisco, day 8

I am so completely spoiled by planes that provide Internet connectivity that when I have a long flight without any bandwidth, as I did today, I feel shortchanged and frustrated. How quickly we become accustomed to new luxuries and capabilities.

The flight itself was a decidedly mixed bag. On the plus side, it was a single plane from SFO to RDU, though it stopped in ORD, so missing my connection was not an issue. I also had an exit row seat, albeit a window one, so I could work. Unfortunately, because a plane's interior wall is often cold, I had worn a long-sleeved shirt--and this plane had waves of heat rolling off the wall to my right. As a result, I overheated and soaked in my own sweat for the better part of seven hours. Couple that slow cooking with a completely full aircraft that couldn't manage to generate much air flow, and I was just one piece of meat slowly browning in a giant can of ass stew.

I'm home now, though, and nearly caught up, so that is good. Also good, excellent even, was the impromptu Andante Dairy cheese tasting that seven of us held shortly after I made it to my house. All seven of the cheeses we tasted were delicious; the amazing Acapella we had tried previously was indeed a harbinger of more great cheeses to come.

Yoga starts in eight and a half hours, so I'm going to finish working and ultimately grab a little sleep.

Tomorrow, our annual extended family trip to the North Carolina State Fair!

On the road again: Bouchercon, San Francisco, day 4

If you know me at all well, you know that I am not a morning person. I don't like being awake before the hour hits double digits, and I relish every chance I get to sleep late. It should come as some surprise, therefore, that I set a wake-up call for eight, and mere minutes later was heading into the Ferry Building Farmers Market. What could lead me to such an act?

Cheese.

More specifically, the Acapella goat cheese from Andante Dairy. We encountered this cheese Wednesday night at Coi, where it soloed as the meal's cheese course. I would normally have popped into my mouth in one bite the entire tiny wedge they served, but when they told us it was from Andante, I instead took a sliver of the piece. That was a good choice. Acapella is, hands-down and by far, the best goat cheese I have ever tasted. Period. When we learned that it might be on sale by Andante at the farmer's market, but that they brought relatively little to market and closed as soon as that was gone, I knew Saturday would be an early rising day for me.

Of course, once there, I had to learn what cheeses traveled well--Acapella does not, alas--and then had to buy them all so that I could treat those at home to them. (Cheese tasting at my house Friday night!)

As I write this, my tummy is happily digesting half a small circle of Acapella and some fine, fresh-baked bread from the stall next to Andante. Each taste was as good as the first.

Andante is something of a celebrity dairy, if there can be such a thing, and its cheesemaker, Soyoung Scanlon, a bit of a food celebrity herself. She offers her cheese to few restaurants, Coi and The French Laundry among them, but if you ever get a chance to taste one of them, take the opportunity. I'm very glad I did.

Today's Bouchercon highlight was the interview with Lee Child, the author of the insanely popular Jack Reacher series. Child makes everything he does look effortless, but after producing over a dozen consecutive bestsellers (his first book among them), he clearly possesses great skill. Each time I listen to him talk, I learn something new; if you get a chance to attend an event where he is speaking, check it out.