Food, to me, is always about cooking and eating with those you love and care for.

I love chicken. I love chicken products: fried chicken, roasted chicken, chicken nuggets - whatever. And going to Japan, I would see that these chicken were smoked and then grilled and then have this amazing crispy skin.

Fine dining teaches you how to cook many different things, and it gives you the basic fundamentals, but these specialty restaurants, theyre not teaching you the broad foundation you need to become a well-rounded cook.

Cooking and gardening involve so many disciplines: math, chemistry, reading, history.

Contemporary ramen is totally different than what most Americans think ramen should be. Ramen is not one thing; there are many, many different types.

Lifes too short to just breeze on by.

I constantly think I'm a fraud, that this success is not warranted or justified.