Right. So last week it was my birthday, and I've been trying and failing for a few years to just get some friends together for the kind of outing I've wanted: just a few of them somewhere really nice for an evening. Not a massive crowd descending on one place, not family (although my family generally rustles everyone out to the exact same restaurant whenever there's something remotely interesting happening in our ranks), just one little group.

This probably sounds really nasty to my other friends, and I don't mean for it to, God knows. It's just that the other thing I've been trying to do for the past several years is get all my Co-Writers in one room at the same time. And recently, I've wanted my publishers in there, too.

Sadly, my aim this time was 1/6 fail, as one publisher couldn't make it because she has a spore (granted, a very nice spore) and couldn't find a sitter. Nonetheless, it actually happened. Granted, I was rather frightened at the prospect of all of us in the same place at the same time. There had to be a reason why the universe had fought against it for so long.

Well, apparently not.

Guys ... I say this to Co-Writers and to all others reading at home ... I think that's really possibly the most fun I've had since I-don't-remember-when.

You know it's a good dinner when the waitress is entertained.

The five of us went to the Melting Pot, which is a fairly high-class fondue place. Several of us have been there on several occasions ... actually, I think Co-Writer here is the only one who'd never been. I think he was a bit sceptical at first, but fortunately he ended up liking it. The rest of us knew what we were in for, which might have been a bit unfair.

It's just a great reminder of why I want to work with these people. It was, as he said, 'good company.' Unfortunately, he doesn't seem to understand how to eat fondue. But we'll work on that.

Seeing the Co-Writer with the Most Books for the first time in ... what, a year? ... was great. She's always flitting off to God-knows-where, and even if she's not she lives rather far away and isn't used to long-distance driving. And I don't think I've ever hung out with the Mighty Publisher Man outside a con (not counting that one AUSA where we went to see Happy Feet the Sunday of). And I see the Co-Writer with the Bluest Liver practically every other day, but that's always to sit around and work, or eat fast food, or what have you. Rarely do we get to just do bugger-all.

Oh, right, the menu.

Well, the appetizer is yer typical cheese fondue with bread, apples, and a bunch of vegetables no one actually eats, apparently. We had two pots, so we got the Swiss (because the CWwtBL has been going on and on about her Swiss since she found out we were going) and Mediterranean (which has truffle oil and dates and all these things that sound weird but are really good).

Salad is salad. Not fondue.

The main course is kinda like sukiyaki, in that they give you broth and a lot of raw stuff and you do it yourself. We got Coq au Vin and Mojo (IN WHICH THE J IS SILENT) cooking styles and various and sundry meat-like things.

And dessert was on fire, which distressed the CWwtMB. S'mores for one, Cookies and Cream for the other, but it coulda been anything so long as it was on fire, as far as I'm concerned.

Oh, and two kinds of wine and some port at the end. White because CWwtLH wanted to try picking, red because CWwtMB always picks really well, and Tokay because CWwtBL wanted to try it because everyone was drinking it in His Dark Materials. No fear, though ... with the massive amounts of food, we got, trying a few types of wine was honestly okay.

There's a photo I haven't bothered to scan yet.

Summing up? I want to get this same group together again next year. When my various projects began to involve various people, I didn't actually think about the fact that hanging out with all of them at once would freaking kick arse.

Thanks, kids. Nearly perfect (if only because we were missing the Mighty Publisher Lady) birthday. But under the circs, pretty much as perfect as it could be.

If you have been, arigatou!