All posts in March 2021

  Human beings are marvelously equipped to enjoy the vast and detailed spectrum of sensations brought to them by their food and drink. Strange then, that science should maintain that our ability to taste is limited to our powers of detecting a mere five distinct and foundational elements. These are sweet, sour, bitter, salty and the recently designated umami (savory). It’s astonishing that the…

That’s Stanley Tucci (left) and Anthony Shaloub as a pair of devoted but mismatched brothers running an Italian restaurant in the 1996 film Big Night. Primo (Shaloub) is a gifted chef who longs to express himself through his mastery of classic Italian cuisine; bro Secondo (Tucci) just wants to fill the dining room with paying customers. This proves…

Yes is welcoming. Yes is affirming. In negotiations, yes is the thing we strive to get to. Sell wine in a retail venue and you quickly learn that frequent , enthusiastic applications of yes! is veryt sound policy indeed. But, from time to time,  a forthright no is what’s really called for — especially when…