Cooking is at once child's play and adult joy. And cooking done with care is an act of love.

When she goes about her kitchen duties, chopping, carving, mixing, whisking, she moves with the grace and precision of a ballet dancer, her fingers plying the food with the dexterity of a croupier.

Physically he was the connoisseur's connoisseur. He was a giant panda, Santa Claus and the Jolly Green Giant rolled into one. On him, a lean and slender physique would have looked like very bad casting.

He was an innovator, an experimenter, a missionary in bringing the gospel of good cooking to the home table.

Nothing rekindles my spirits, gives comfort to my heart and mind, more than a visit to Mississippi... and to be regaled as I often have been, with a platter of fried chicken, field peas, collard greens, fresh corn on the cob, sliced tomatoes with French dressing... and to top it all off with a wedge of freshly baked pecan pie.

There is nothing better on a cold wintry day than a properly made pot pie.

I am simply of the opinion that you cannot be taught to write. You have to spend a lifetime in love with words.