I Don't Like Sitting At A Table

My Mother Would Never Let Me In The Kitchen. I Always Wanted To Cook, But I Was Never Allowed To. Her View Of The World Was, "cooking Is My Job, And Studying Is Your Job." I Think, In Retrospect, She Didn't Like The Chaos. She Was Very Orderly. It Had To Be Her Way.

You Don't Have To Do Everything From Scratch. Nobody Wants To Make Puff Pastry!

I Think That I Had A Very Clear Vision When I Started Writing Cookbooks What I Wanted It To Be, And That You Would Open The Book, That You Would Look At The Photograph And Go, That Looks Delicious. And Then You Would Look At The Recipe And Say, I Can Actually Make That And I Can Make It With Ingredients I Can Find In The Grocery Store.

I Learned That The Hardest Party To Pull Off Successfully Is Saturday Night Dinner. This Meal Is Expected To Be Elaborate: Appetizers, First Course, Dinner, Dessert, And Coffee. People Arrive At 7:30 Or 8 P.m. And Stay For Hours - Definitely Past My Bedtime - And They All Go Home Exhausted.

The Planning Is Everything. Deciding Which Dishes You're Going To Prepare Can Turn Into The Make-or-break Decision Five Days Later, When You Actually Serve The Meal.