Author Archives: paul

SOMEWHERE OVER THE ATLANTIC—Flying home from Scotland, I feel two things at once—tired and thankful. Travel always does that to me. For the first half of my life, there wasn’t much travel outside of work. The only time I made it to Europe before age fifty was on a honeymoon trip paid for by oneContinue reading “The Table Is the Real Destination”

ISLE OF MULL, SCOTLAND—There are meals, and then there are journeys disguised as meals. This one began with a boat across Loch Creran, forty minutes skimming dark Scottish waters, dodging seals and dolphins, before stepping onto the Isle of Mull. From there, an hour-long bus ride on a single-lane road toward the far edge ofContinue reading “The Ninth Wave”

Before every party at our house—whether it’s a fundraiser, an engagement, or just another excuse to gather people—my wife finds a reason to rearrange the furniture, repaint something, or bring home another piece. She calls it “freshening up.” I call it “buying more stuff.” Somewhere around the W. Bush administration I figured we had reachedContinue reading “Holding On”

Vacations weren’t part of my childhood the way they were for most kids I knew. While my friends packed up for the coast or flew off on ski trips, my mother, who taught art to other people’s children, was too busy stretching her meager paycheck to dream of beaches or mountain slopes. We made oneContinue reading “Vacations Through Time”

Shelby Foote once talked about the time he went to see William Faulkner in Oxford, back when he was still a young man looking up to an older one. According to the oral history recording they wound up walking through a cemetery, past old markers and family plots. Faulkner told him, “There’s a story behindContinue reading “Regret”

I’ve eaten thousands of meals in restaurants. The ones that have stuck weren’t about the food. What I remember is the person sitting across from me. In my business, service times, table numbers, and orders all start to blur. But the moments that rise above it—the ones that last—are about people. A shared meal hasContinue reading “Who Was Across from Me”

CHICAGO— My wife’s off on a girls’ trip, and my son happened to have two days off work. That was all the excuse I needed. I booked a flight, packed a bag, and headed north. A couple of days in Chicago with him? That’s time I’ll always take. Chicago has always been one of myContinue reading “Lessons Between Courses”

Some things in life are constant. For some people it’s a favorite hymn or a favorite breed in a family dog. For me, it’s music, football, Mississippi—and pancakes. In sixty-three years, I’ve probably eaten more pancakes than any other food. They’ve been a part of my life from the beginning. My first real food memoryContinue reading “What Pancakes Know”