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 ….

When I thought my professional career was over, it hadn't even started yet..

I think there are two ways of eating, or cooking. One is restaurant food and one is home food. I believe that people have started making food that is….

I absolutely adore Thanksgiving. It's the only holiday I insist on making myself..

You can be miserable before you have a cookie and you can be miserable after you eat a cookie but you can't be miserable while you are eating a cooki….

One of the great gifts that you can give people is to cook for them..

You don't have to do everything from scratch. Nobody wants to make puff pastry!.

In the summer you want fresh, light and sort of quick things; in winter you want things that are comforting, so your body really tells you you want t….

I always like to have flowers on the table. I think they make it look special..

I'm really a scientist. I follow recipes exactly - until I decide not to. And then I'll follow something else exactly. I may decide I could turn this….

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….

Creme Brulee is the ultimate 'guy' dessert. Make it and he'll follow you anywhere..

I don't like sitting at a table that's too large, where everyone is too far apart. That's a party killer..

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 flor….

I've taught myself how to use good, fresh ingredients and to prepare them as simply as possible by cooking only to enhance their intrinsic flavors..

My extravagance is my garden - it's the first thing I look at every morning when I wake up. It gives me so much pleasure..

Every once in a while, a cookbook comes along that simply knocks me out..

All my life I dreamed of an apartment in Paris where I could cook, and now I have one, on the Left Bank..

I love Alton Brown's show 'Good Eats,' about the chemistry of food. It's really thoughtful..

I get up every day, do the best that I can do, and go home and have a good time..

I try to greet my friends with a drink in my hand, a warm smile on my face, and great music in the background, because that's what gets a dinner part….