She Was My First Cat Ever, And

Fake Food -- I Mean Those Patented Substances Chemically Flavored And Mechanically Bulked Out To Kill The Appetite And Deceive The Gut -- Is Unnatural, Almost Immoral, A Bane To Good Eating And Good Cooking.

We Hit It Off Immediately, Especially Helene, Who Was A 'swallow-life-in-big-gulps' Kind Of Person.

One Of The Secrets, And Pleasures, Of Cooking Is To Learn To Correct Something If It Goes Awry; And One Of The Lessons Is To Grin And Bear It If It Cannot Be Fixed.

I Always Give My Bird A Generous Butter Massage Before I Put It In The Oven. Why? Because I Think The Chicken Likes It -- And, More Important, I Like To Give It.

In France Cooking Is A Serious Art Form And A National Sport. I Think The French Enjoy The Complication Of The Art Form And The Cooking For Cooking's Sake. You Can Talk With A Concierge Or Police Officer About Food In France As A General Rule. It Is Not The General Rule Here. Classical Cuisine, Which I Hope We Are Going Back To, Means Certain Ways Of Doing Things And Certain Ways Of Not Doing Things. If You Know Classical French Cooking You Can Do Anything. If You Don't Know The Basics, You Turn Out Slop.