I love Alton Brown's show 'Good Eats,' about the chemistry of food. It's really thoughtful.

Instead of going out to dinner, buy good food. Cooking at home shows such affection. In a bad economy, it's more important to make yourself feel good.

I use other cookbooks for inspiration. I must say I tend to cook from my own cookbooks for parties.

You don't have to do everything from scratch. Nobody wants to make puff pastry!

I love Alton Brown's show 'Good Eats,' about the chemistry of food. It's really thoughtful.

I think that I had a very clear vision when I started writing cookbooks what I wanted it to be, and that you would open the book, that you would look at the photograph and go, that looks delicious. And then you would look at the recipe and say, I can actually make that and I can make it with ingredients I can find in the grocery store.

I try to greet my friends with a drink in my hand, a warm smile on my face, and great music in the background, because that's what gets a dinner party off to a fun start.