For the Love of a Prince

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I had all intentions of watching the royal wedding this past weekend. But I slept through the alarm, woke up late and had to rush off to work. Later that Saturday night as I served a delicious 2015 Puligny-Montrachet from Jean Chartron, I was asked by the gentleman who was tasting the wine if I’d…

The Wine of Memories

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“Drink wine…Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life…” so said Omar Khayyam in his Rubaiyyat in the 11th century. Fast forward a thousand years: I was about ten years old when I had my very first sip of red wine…it was a Chateau Margaux Grand Cru Classe, 1959. I don’t remember the…

A Writer’s Mecca

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On a recent visit to Paris, I went on a pilgrimage to what I think is the mecca for writers…: the Bar Hemingway in the Ritz Hotel on the Place Vendome. It’s a small bar all the way in the back of the hotel, a bit of a walk through the long, luxurious corridors lined…

The Name Game…Kim Akhtar vs. Maha Akhtar

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Despite having lived in New York since 1982, my career as an author was launched in Spain a decade ago. It was 2008 and I remember clearly sitting in a marketing meeting with my publisher who suggested that I use Maha Akhtar as my nom de plume. ‘It’s so much more exotic,’ she said,‘and it…