From the Financial Times Weekend, #1

I love the Financial Times Weekend edition. If I could only read one newspaper a week, it would be the FT. There's always good, succinct coverage of both financial and political news, but there's also great cultural coverage. In the US, the NY Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today are national newspapers, available just about everywhere in the country, and covering, at least in part, most of the country. But the FT is working on becoming a WORLD paper. They cover as much of the globe as they can, particularly in the arts coverage. I think I've learned more about the rest of the world just reading the FT than any other source I've ever encountered. They make a conscious effort to report on neighborhoods in Cairo, ex-pats living in Japan, and museums in Dubai.

I found some good articles from this weekend's edition.

First, a good quote from Renzo Piano, the architect:
"Creativity doesn’t need freedom, it needs rules, then you can enjoy occasionally breaking those rules."

The wonderful wine columnist Jancis Robinson on the problems of shipping wine in trucks without adequate temperature control. Apparently this is a big problem - wine is ruined if it the temperature isn't properly when it's shipped, and not enough shippers take proper care. Good to know.

Susie Boyt on buying flowers in Covent Garden. Sounds like fun. The next time I am buying flowers in London, this is where I am going to go. Seriously, I helped my mother pick out flowers for my grandmother's funeral, so I have this on the brain of late.

Every week a writer for the FT has lunch with someone famous and fascinating. This week it's Mario Cuomo. No surprise, he would like more substance in the Democratic campaigns.

And finally, Rowley Leigh, chef and food columnist, was cooking with a fellow chef who has a very modern approach to the culinary arts. He, however, took a more traditional approach: "I was a prime example of the Neolithic [cooking] school: give me meat, give me fire and I give you food."