WHAT I'VE LEARNED
Esquire|October - November 2021
Padma Lakshmi TV HOST AND AUTHOR, 51, New York City
MADISON VAIN
WHAT I'VE LEARNED

A GREAT DINNER PARTY doesn’t have anything to do with well-appointed linens or shiny silver platters. It starts with a good guest list. You want people who have some touchstone in common but don’t necessarily know each other, people who will enjoy meeting each other. __ I LIKE TO LEAVE things to the last minute. I cook most of the meal, go have a shower, have one glass of wine before anybody gets there. And then when people start arriving, have them help make a salad together—just to break the ice.

__ THERE WERE MANY aspects of quarantine I didn’t mind. The stillness was one of them. But the problem with that stillness is that it was accompanied by such anxiety.

__ I DIDN’T MISS going out. I didn’t miss a lot of the things the pandemic took away from me. I learned that I need very little, except for the people I love.

__ I WOULD LOVE to write more children’s books. I think children can understand complex things so long as you explain them in words they can wrap themselves around.

This story is from the October - November 2021 edition of Esquire.

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This story is from the October - November 2021 edition of Esquire.

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