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Roula Khalaf, editor-in-chief of the FT, selects her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Like everyone who watched The bear As you will have understood, working in a kitchen is one of the most stressful environments: skyrocketing temperatures, micro-deadlines, insane attention to detail, not to mention the related frustrations of customers who have, like, opinions and food allergies, etc. This can make any service unbearably tense.
These tensions must get worse when you’re partners both in life and in the kitchen — I speak as someone who can’t even watch my husband cut a carrot without trying to stage some sort of intervention. But in this week’s issue we meet five couples who live and work together and run successful restaurants while trying to balance that with family life. I’m amazed that a couple can sustain such an intense schedule, but as our lovebirds attest, things work more smoothly when the business is a true partnership.
What do you think of Anthony Scaramucci? I’ve been fascinated with the Republican financier since his ill-fated 10-day tenure as White House communications director to President Donald Trump. In recent years, his reputation has largely been rehabilitated, notably thanks to his role as co-presenter of the podcast The rest is politics. That “The Mooch” is a formidable braggart is undeniable, but as the episodes went on, I became very attached to him and his outrageous taste. Naturally, then, we asked him to be our estheteand he delivers a brilliantly frank account of his obsessions with Lamborghinis, Billy Joel and superhero action figures.
Superheroes of another nature appear in Fiona Golfar’s story about Maggiethe cancer support center which opened in 1996 and now helps more than 300,000 people each year. Fiona originally came earlier this year intending to write a more detached article, but soon found her services invaluable in dealing with her husband’s cancer diagnosis, with whom they have lived for 10 years. Admitting that you need help as the partner of someone going through chemotherapy or cancer treatment remains something of a stigma. We are supposed to care for those in treatment, not need care ourselves.
Maggie’s has helped overcome this assumption, offering its services without judgment to anyone who needs them. There are now 24 Maggie’s centers in the UK, with a further four affiliated centers around the world. Fiona’s story is a moving account of how she was a savior.
Finally, we head to Miami for a 22-page real estate special, focusing on the South Florida city that is now emerging as one of the most dynamic in the United States. My favorite story describes its evolution in the wake of Michael Mann’s hit series Miami Viceand how his coke-filled neon crime fantasy still influences his mood. Detectives Tubbs and Crockett are now long retired, the pastel suits have gone through many cycles, and the lawbreakers have been cast aside. The show’s pink palaces, however, remain shining beacons of the city, forever inscribed in that brilliant Jan Hammer soundtrack, and as fashionable as ever.
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