To eat figs off the tree in the very early morning, when they have been barely touched by the sun, is one of the exquisite pleasures of the Mediterranean.

It isnt only fictional heroes to whom toast means home and comfort. It is related of the Duke of Wellington - I believe by Lord Ellesmere - that when he landed at Dover in 1814, after six years absence from England, the first order he gave at the Ship Inn was for an unlimited supply of buttered toast.

The grotesque prudishness and archness with which garlic is treated in [England] has led to the superstition that rubbing the bowl with it before putting the salad in gives sufficient flavor. It rather depends whether you are going to eat the bowl or the salad.

An awful lot of people think it's easy to lift recipes out.

I don't copy recipes without trying them out. I don't reprint without trying them again.

Even more then long hours in the kitchen, fine meals require ingenious organization and experience which is a pleasure to acquire.

Every day holds the possibility of a miracle.