If you think about a Thanksgiving dinner, it's really like making a large chicken.

Anyone who tries to make brownies without butter should be arrested.

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.

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

I think the best shortcut is to choose really simple recipes. Because I think you can make simple recipes that are as delicious as complicated ones.

I worked for the Office of Management and Budget in the White House, on nuclear energy policy. But I decided it would be much more fun to have a specialty food store, so I left Washington D.C. and moved to the Hamptons. And how glad I am that I did!

I time everything. I'm a scientist at heart.