My son Noah calls me every day as he leaves work to sort of download the day, get things off his chest, tell me about work problems, talk things over.  The salient part of that experience for me is to see how important it is to him that he does a good job.  He really cares about that.  To him, his job is more than just work, it is a vital part of his very existence and to not do it well is anathema to him! Where did that come from?  He has often been asked why he understands so much about management, since he is a chef--and some of them are much more cooking oriented than management oriented.  He tells them that he grew up watching his mom run a business, watching his dad work really hard as a salesman, watching his grandparents work r...

I am reading a book called "a little history of the world" by E.H. Gombrich. Now and then, you stumble into something great - and this is one of them. I have been looking for a history book that is easy to digest, educational and not trying to turn you into an academic professor. This book, in its kids friendly storytelling, is perfect. It covers the history of the world from the pre-historic age to the world war 2. It has a bend towards Europe, but it touches all the key milestones in the history. It is certainly a fantastic book to buy as a gift. Imagine the stories of the Macedonia with its Alexander the Great, The Egyptians, the Roman empire, the Germanic tribes and the Franks, the Ottoman empire, the knights, crusades and the ch...

There is a good piece on the River Cottage website under the topic, ''Why Grow Vegetables''. I wish I had read this before heading off to a party in my old stomping ground in North West London. Cornered in the kitchen (it was a party after all), two guys, an old friend and a new acquaintance, were asking me how I filled my time now ''out in the sticks''. Without hesitation, I began to regale them with accounts of our new allotment venture, yet half way through it began to dawn on me that they didn't quite get it. Damning me with unintended feint praise, my good friend concluded it must occupy a good bit of my time – and money. Money? No way!, I protested. A packet of seeds is a pound-fifty, onions sets and potato chits a f...