Most cornmeal producers don't tell you when their cornmeal was milled, which makes it difficult to know how long the product has been sitting in the store before you bought it.

That said, there are certainly still cooks out there who make fantastic historical cornbreads, though the old recipes have often been changed to include modern techniques and ingredients.

I tested a lot of old cornbread recipes and most of them were bland or tough.

Many of America's historical cornbreads were staple breads for people who didn't have many other options.

Most cornmeal producers don't tell you when their cornmeal was milled, which makes it difficult to know how long the product has been sitting in the store before you bought it.

But since you're asking me, I'll tell you my opinion: all cornbread is authentic, as long as it's good, hot, and made with love and fresh ingredients.

If you have a busy natural foods store in your community, give their bulk cornmeal a try: high turnover means the product will most likely be fresh. And if the cornmeal is organic, all the better.

When in doubt, throw it out.

'Vanity Fair' caught me at a very exciting time in my life filled with night clubs, international fashion shows, celebrities and lots of cash to go around. Sometimes things just fall into place. 'Vanity Fair' was one of those things.

I also care that the public are getting their 12 dollars worth when they go to a movie, and that they're not coming out not wanting to ever see a movie with me in it again.

I have spent far too many years trying to make everybody like me. It's not possible. People can say or think what they want.

My mission in life is to try and get to a point where my insides world is not affected by the outside world.

Sometimes you win by losing.

Magic lies in challenging what seems impossible.

As we moved along in a little procession, I was delighted with the illumination of the streets. So many lamps, and they burned until morning, my father said, and so people did not need to carry lanterns.

I worked with some directors, and it was really collaborative, and I was sort of writing with them. I was giving so many pieces of myself to their movies, I thought, 'It's about time I use my own voice for me, and establish my own voice.' So I knew I wanted to make films.

You have to determine what you are and send the messages out to people, like, 'Hey, I'm a screenwriter - look at this.' You can't sit around, wondering why people aren't calling and asking about my writing.

Cynicism is full of naive disappointments.

Dignity: the doomed man's final refuge.

Music is one of the most beautiful things in the world. It's universal.

In any insurgency there will be people who are irreconcilable and who pose a clear and present threat to the U.S. and our allies.

For my future I have no concern, and as a true philosopher, I never would have any, for I know not what it may be: as a Christian, on the other hand, faith must believe without discussion, and the stronger it is, the more it keeps silent.

I was devastated when I got the review for my first book. The book came out a couple years before the women's movement broke through, and people were putting it down, asking, 'Why does the woman in this book need to get a divorce? Why can't she just shut up and be happy?'

The work of the individual still remains the spark that moves mankind ahead even more than teamwork.

There's something about a humid, dusky evening that's kind of sexy.

There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.

Well... you know, I love motorcycles. They're just beautiful, and there's a certain craftsmanship in older bikes, older Triumphs or BSAs or Norton. I'm just very attracted to it.

Everyone needs time to develop their dreams. An egg in the nest doesn't become a bird overnight.

We have a shotgun we inherited from my father-in-law, a paranoid Englishman living in Texas. I have a .22 Marlin rifle, similar to the one Annie Oakley had, and my husband has a .357 Magnum pistol. All those are locked up tight, of course. We have a couple of pellet guns that get more use than the real guns.

My father moved to Hawaii from Brooklyn and my mother came there as a child from the Philippines. They met at a show where my dad was playing percussion. My mom was a hula dancer.

High on the list of things I've been meaning to do since I moved to New York in 2004 is going up to a Columbia University football game.

Now I'm an old Christmas tree, the roots of which have died. They just come along and while the little needles fall off me replace them with medallions.

Dan Curry is the funniest guy in the world. I can sit in a room with him for hours, and he's just cracking me up constantly. And Kitao is the next Terry Gilliam. A lot of comedy directors are just comedic writers, but they don't have any sense of aesthetic or visual vocabulary.

If you were to ask everyone what 'Hamlet' was about, they might say, "It's about a prince, and he says, 'To be or not to be.'"

Improving efficiency on the farm is not only a risk reduction strategy its a profitability strategy.

We hate some persons because we do not know them and will not know them because we hate them.

Develop an interest in life as you see it; the people, things, literature, music - the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls and interesting people. Forget yourself.