Hi again! I’m still in the thick of events around the Midwest for my new book, Let’s Make Cocktails! I had an amazing event in Des Moines! Niles’s family lives there, so we took an extra few days to hang out with them and our Des Moines friends, and we ate a lot of excellent food.

Forgive the sloppy illustrations, since I’m trying to get this newsletter out between events in Des Moines and St. Louis. This is by no means a huge or impressive book tour. That said, this is the first time I’ve really had anything at all even resembling a book tour, and it’s exciting and exhausting and marvelous and time consuming.

Some notes! A Dong is a Vietnamese restaurant in Des Moines that Niles’s family went to back when he was in grade school! It’s moved locations, but it’s still around, and we probably eat there at least once every time we visit. This time I had the bún chả giò thịt nướng. I absolutely LOVE a bún bowl of almost any kind, and this one was one of the best I’ve ever had.

Our friends (Hi Ian and Sarah!!!) took us to Judges, a restaurant and cocktail lounge on Court Avenue (lol). I had a Caesar salad (I also absolutely love a Caesar of almost any kind) with crispy grilled shrimp, which was excellent. But the star of the meal was the shoestring fried pickle appetizer. It was essentially spiralized pickles that were deep fried with a light panko-style crust. They were an innovation, and I desperately want them as a burger topping.

Speaking of burgers, I also finally made it to Lachele’s Fine Foods on this trip! We ate on the “Fitz” side of the Highland Park location. The Uncle Denny burger was everything I want in a smash burger: decadently juicy and delicious with crispy, lacy edges. I decided to treat myself to a chocolate shake as well, and it was rich and creamy and beautifully nostalgic.

The Des Moines Register has a lovely little writeup and video of my Des Moines event!
You can view it here.

Upcoming Things:

⭐⭐⭐May 2-3 is CAKE Chicago!⭐⭐⭐ CAKE is this coming Saturday and Sunday at the Irish American Heritage Center in Chicago. I will be at table 702-A and I’ll also be moderating a panel on Saturday at 2:00 about collaborative projects! CAKE is free to attend, and it’s honestly one of the best curated indie comics and art shows I have known. I’ll have my new book, plus some new prints and even some stickers!

What I’m Into Lately:

I’ve had There is No Antimemetics Division by qntm on my library hold list for probably two or three months, and it finally came available! I’m almost done with it and… well, it’s fine. It’s an extremely creative idea! It sprang out of the SCP foundation collaborative writing project, and it’s fun and weird and incredibly imaginative and definitely creepy at times, and I’ve had the hardest time figuring out why it’s just not working for me. I think the author spends so little time on the characters and their relationships and development that it’s hard to get emotionally invested in any of the epically bizarre things that are happening. The concepts and ideas in the book are wildly unique, and they’re enough to keep me reading to the end. But it’s a bit disappointing to wait so long for a book that doesn’t blow me away. T_T

What Toki’s Into Lately:

When Toki is denied the opportunity to sit on my lap while I’m working, he will camp out on a little bench I keep under my drawing table.