I Don't Like Sitting At A Table

I Always Have Music. I Love It To Be Very Upbeat. When You're Having Drinks, I Like Something Like Cesaria Evora. During Dinner, I Like The Much More Traditional - Old Frank Sinatra And Things Like That.

You Can Get Bogged Down In A Recipe That's Got A Lot Of Steps And A Million Ingredients, And It Takes All Day To Make. And Then You Realize, You've Just Got One Dish. For Thanksgiving, You Want An Abundance Of Choices, And So You Want Dishes That You Can Put Together Really Quickly, But That Doesn't Mean Less Flavor.

I Love To Take Something Ordinary And Make It Really Special.

Take One Flower That You Like And Get Lots Of Them. And Don't Try To 'arrange' Them. It's Surprisingly Hard To Do A Flower Arrangement The Way A Florist Does One. Instead, Bunch Them All Together Or Put Them In A Series Of Small Vases All Down The Table.

If It's A Cocktail Party, I Generally Make Five Or Six Different Things, And I Try To Choose Recipes That Feel Like A Meal: A Chicken Thing, A Fish Or Shrimp Thing, Maybe Two Vegetable Things, And I Think It's Fun To End The Cocktail Party With A Sweet Thing.