I love to look at my life and look at what I can do better, how I can contribute more and where I can push myself.

Keeping stationary drains your brain, but moving around shows you new things, new inspiration, and keeps the blood moving.

Standards are what you hold for yourself, too. If I don't hold those standards with friends, colleagues, and lovers, I can't hold them to their relationships.

Growing up in my family, it wasn't important that we always be the best; it was important that we were going to try to be our best and give it our all.

My mom is a great cook, and family dinners were a must growing up, even if that meant eating at 10 p.m. when my dad got home from the hospital. It's where we did our family bonding.

I have so many girlfriends in their twenties who live in a white box apartment, having mediocre meals with mediocre friends, waiting for the life they want to hit them in their forties or fifties. They are settling in the now - what's the point?

Having been to culinary school, the single greatest asset I learned there was how to cut and chop properly. It's an investment of money that will save you hours of time down the road, and hopefully some cut fingers.