I started cooking when I was about 10. I have memories like when I was 6 or 7 with my mom, and when I was 12 I started getting real serious about cooking.

Books make great gifts because they expand your horizons and keep you cooking.

I've been very fortunate, because I've cooked for a lot of actors and actresses and musicians. I've cooked for presidents and I've been to the White House.

My inspiration was my mom. She's a great cook, and she still cooks, and we still banter back and forth about cooking. Growing up in a mostly Portuguese community, food was important and the family table was extremely important. At a very young age I understood that.

I've always done food that can work in a set time frame. The message I'm trying to get across is, it doesn't have to take three days to do this. With planning, you can do a lot and really have quality food every day.

You go to a restaurant in the States and kids have these game boards at the table. You don't see that in Italy or Spain. It's not because they can't afford to buy them, it's because that's not what eating together as a family is about.

We're setting up an urban farm for kids on more than 20 acres in New Orleans. We want to make this a world-class educational center for the community.