Jennifer O Connell ( a Waterford ex-pat like myself ) has an excellent piece in the IT this morning about wisdom and turning 40.
One of her rules is:
“Never apologise, never explain
Okay, not never – this really just applies to when you’re cooking for other people. If your lasagne is dried out or your broccoli is limp, that’s because that’s the way you like it. My maternal grandmother was very firm about
this one.”

That is an excellent piece of advice. So many dinner parties have been spoiled by people mistakenly apologising for the food. This leaves one in the impossible situation when either to agree or disagree is offensive.
I do remember once this same non apology principle being well used. An American friend was giving a large Hawaiian Themed dinner party and she summonsed me into the kitchen in some panic. Her large pot of rice had adhjered into one homogenous sticky pudding. “Can you fix it?”. “Not at all” I said, go out there and explain with total confidence that this is “Poi” or sticky Hawaiian rice. The guests adored it, had seconds and demanded the recipe. She still thanks me (30 years later) every time we meet.