Whenever I attend a convention, there’s always the official con, and then the con away from the con, which typically involves at least one great meal. And that’s the way it was with Capclave, which was just held in Gaithersburg, Maryland. I took part in four panels—three to which I’d previously been assigned plus one I was added to at the last minute to replace a panelist who couldn’t make it.

I enjoyed sharing what wisdom I could on such panels as “Building Your Audience”—which ended with me invalidating all the advice I’d given during the previous hour when I quoted William Goldman’s maxim that “Nobody knows anything”—and “Food In Fiction”—during which I explained why Rene Redzepi uses ants in his New Nordic cuisine.

While I found all of that to be fun—you know me, put a microphone in front of me and I won’t shut up—the most important panel was probably the “Tiptree Retrospective,” which was captured above in a photo taken by Barbara Krasnoff. That’s Jim Freund, Julia Rios, Sarah Pinsker, me, and David Hartwell (who’d been Alice Sheldon’s editor and had actually visited her at home) reminiscing about that great writer in this, the year in which she would have turned 100.

The takeaway from that panel? READ MORE TIPTREE! And why not right now? How about “Love Is the Plan the Plan Is Death” or “And I Awoke and Found Me Here on the Cold Hill’s Side” or “The Women Men Don’t See” (my favorite of all her stories) to start?

Another thing I enjoyed doing was welcoming any con member who wore a FIRST CAPCLAVE ribbon. As I’ve said before, this is the kind of thing I believe each of us must do to make conventions better.

But enough about my official Capclave—how about my unofficial one?

On Saturday night, I went—as I’ve done each of the previous two Capclaves—to the Bryan Voltaggio restaurant Range. Last year, that resulted in devouring an 18-hour sous vide pig face. This year was no less special.

My unindicted co-conspirators Saturday were Fran Wilde …

… Carolyn Ives Gilman (seen here with Fran) …

… and A. C. Wise.

You know that thing when a photographer says you should all make funny faces, and you’re the only one that does? Yes, that was me (holding one of the rolls from the bread basket below) as we began dinner at Range.

I won’t share everything we ate, as I’ve shown you so many of them before, but there were a few dishes that cry out for special attention …

… starting with the scallops and cauliflower, curry, almond, and caraway. Massive, tender, and scrumptious!

But the star of the night was the barbecued saddle of rabbit plus Serrano ham stuffed with mushroom and glazed with an apple barbecue purée, a surprise dish whipped up by Mattie McGhee and Romeo Tivoli. (And I can’t thank you enough, chefs!)

It was not only the meal’s most mind-blowing dish, but definitely one of the best dishes I’ve had all year! (Which reminds me to remind you to check back in a few months to discover what I felt were my Top 10 Dishes of 2015. Here’s what I thought of 2014.)

If you’re in the mood for umami, you can’t go wrong with the goat cheese gnudi swimming in a beef and pork ragu.

And how good was the bronzino accompanied by cranberry beans, ham, and shiitake dash? Well, as you can see, I didn’t want any of it to go to waste.

After all of those savory courses, there was little space for the sweet. Still, we tried, sharing bites of a decadent compressed brownie topped with salted caramel topped with chocolate crispy rice …

… as well as a comforting cranberry tartine with vanilla ice cream.

After we were done with that amazing dinner, it was time to take our leave from our con away from the con and return to the con itself. So we hopped back in my Jeep and headed north, some to late-night panels, some to the bar, me to the party for the New Orleans in 2018 Worldcon bid.

I hung out as long as I could and still drive safely home that night, and then, as I headed west, my head filled with new ideas, my heart filled with friends, and my belly filled with food, I could only think … life is good.