I wanted to come up with a hybrid show of sorts that wasn't your traditional 'dump and stir' type of cooking show.

Usually I wear my grandma's old aprons, or others I have collected in my travels. When I was young, I would sit and watch my grandma prepare stuff. She wasn't Italian, but she did really good Italian food.

I was doing an hour drama on television and a Jackie Chan movie in Toronto, so I was on a plane every three days.

I started doing makeup to make a living. Then I said, You're not supposed to be putting powder on other people. You're supposed to be powdering yourself.

When my mother was raising me, she moved us upstate to the Woodstock area. Our closest neighbor was a mile away. She planted all her own vegetables.

Thanksgiving was always a favorite holiday for me. The preparation was fun! My grandma and I would walk to the butcher on Jamaica Avenue in Queens, order the bird, and buy all the fixings at the market.

Being typecast is a great thing for an actor. I was considered one of the New York mob actors.