“Sorry I’m not sorry,” while a funny saying on its own, is not a good way to apologize. It’s a variation on a theme that you see with celebrities and politicians on a regular basis: “Mistakes were made.” or “I’m sorry if what I said hurt some people.” Those are weasel words, insincere and grudging. A real apology takes skill, sincerity, and a willingness to redress the situation. It’s difficult to apologize, but so important to do it properly. Apologies […]
Thanks to all of you who sent in questions to America’s Table this month – there were hundreds! Many of the questions were about apples, and I’d like to try to briefly answer as many of those as I can. The best apples for baking are those that don’t disintegrate during cooking, and that have a balance of sweetness and tartness. My favorite eating apple is a McIntosh, with its white interior and shiny red-and-green peel, but it is not […]
Sometimes, while caught up in the beauty and creativity of cooking and entertaining, it’s easy to forget that not everyone can buy whatever they want to eat, or throw a party without giving a thought to whether they can afford it. Even when I was growing up and our family means were modest, we never lacked for food. One of the advantages of living on a farm was that we could grow enough vegetables to feed ourselves, and my father […]
Many years ago, my husband became friends with Senator John McCain. He worked for him on his presidential campaign, and has always admired the Senator’s independent and principled stands in the Senate. Earlier this week we gave a dinner in his honor, and I wanted to make the meal as straightforward as the honoree. Dinner was built around Senator McCain’s favorite two foods, hot dogs and chocolate. This gave me the perfect opportunity to put together a menu of easy […]
This post may not be wildly relevant to everyone, but it has a wider application: we all find ourselves introducing mutual friends from time to time, and often with a certain amount of anxiety. Will they like each other? Will they each make an effort to be friendly and find some commonality of interests? These are all things that a hostess needs to take into account when seating a dinner party. There is protocol in every dinner. It may not […]
