Local flavors

Put your diet on hold for another week and sample some of University City’s best restaurants during this year’s Dining Days, from Jan. 12 through Jan. 19. Twenty participating restaurants throughout the neighborhood are offering a prix-fixe three-course dinner special for $20, $25 or $30, as well as $5 parking (with validation) at the 38th and Walnut garage. Participating restaurants include Fatou & Fama, the African and soul food eatery; nouveau Mexican mainstay Zocalo and the charming Marigold Kitchen. For a complete list of participating restaurants and meal prices go to the University City District’s web site: www.ucityphila.org.

Quick turnaround

Following last month’s Penn-sponsored symposium in Washington, D.C. on the aftermath of Katrina, Penn Press has pulled a fast one, publishing discussions from that meeting in a new volume entitled “On Risk and Disaster: Lessons From Hurricane Katrina.” Edited by Provost Ronald Daniels (who organized the symposium) Political Science Professor and Director of Penn’s Fels Institute of Government Donald Kettl and Howard Kunreuther, professor and co-director of the Risk Management and Decision Processes Center at Wharton, the book gathers input from leaders in government, business and nonprofit organizations, as well as journalists, to consider what Katrina can teach us about our future. Typically, such a book would take several months to publish. Using the latest technology associated with on-demand publishing, Penn Press was able to make “On Risk and Disaster” available in a matter of weeks, an unprecedented feat. Find out more, and order a copy of the book, at www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/14002.html. 

University Club reopening

The University Club at Penn, which has been closed since Dec. 23 for renovations to its lunch buffet area, will reopen on Jan. 17. For more information, go to www.business-services.upenn.edu/universityclub.