Save Me The Plums: My Gourmet Memoir Quotes
"The day I discovered a battered copy of The Gourmet Cookbook among the ancient issues, I begged Dad to buy it for me. 'It’s only fifty cents,' I pleaded."
"I jumped back, startled, and then did what any sensible person would do: reached for the cookbook."
"Asked what had possessed her to purchase the pig, she replied, 'I’d never seen one before,' as if that was an adequate answer."
"Dad wasn’t like American fathers—he didn’t have pals, didn’t go out drinking with the guys, had absolutely no interest in sports."
"Food became my own private way of looking at the world."
"The stars tell me that you’re going to be getting a new job very soon."
"I’m not asking you to take the job; I’m just asking you to talk with Si Newhouse."
"The stars tell me that you are going to learn a great deal. And that it will completely alter your life."
"I stood up. 'I’m flattered you’ve thought of me. I’m certainly not the obvious choice, and I wish that I could do it.'"
"The world is changing. What I want most for you is challenging work that makes you proud. It’s the key to happiness."
"You can’t be a good critic unless you’re willing to tell the truth. Nobody believes a critic who only says nice things."
"Children don’t need quality time. They need your time. Lots of it."
"The energy in that office was so potent, it was as if we’d pulled the cork on a bottle of champagne and released a vibrant explosion."
"Nothing feels as good as building a team and empowering people, watching them grow and thrive."
"Magazine-making is a collaborative process, and watching Gourmet grow and change was so enthralling that I didn’t want to miss a single day."
"I had never traveled first class in my life."
"Clothes were meant to be worn. And this dress was meant to be worn by you!"
"You must reconsider. You will forever regret it if you leave Paris without this dress."
"Just winning isn’t enough; I don’t feel good unless the other person loses."
"But we were very different people, living in a very different time. And the magazine we were trying to make was for our moment, not theirs."
"An excellent vintage, this Krug ’66. My father put down many cases; he said it was the perfect wine for caviar."
"I thought you were like a guest to yourself."
"I did not know what brought me here tonight, but now I see that I wanted to try, just for a moment, to become the person I used to be."
"Fortunate for me too, Monsieur. For you have made me, just for the moment, into the person I might have been."
"Sometimes I look at this new generation, their casual ways, their easy familiarity, and I think how much they are missing."
"For the rest of their lives, these kids will remember exactly where they were when the towers came down."
"As long as I lived, chili would be one of the ways in which I offer thanks."
"The readers need to be able to taste these meals with their eyes."
"If I had my way I’d just hand everyone a bottle of olive oil and another of vinegar and take them out to a great garden and say, ‘There it is, help yourselves.’"
"Why doesn’t he call me?" he asked, hysterical, over and over.
"We’ve got eight kitchens at Gourmet. And somebody’s got to feed the firefighters."
"The whole food world pitched in, and within a month they’d raised twenty-three million dollars."
"I hope my granddaughters will live in a better one."