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

The thing about all my food is that everything is a remembered flavor. Maybe it's something I had as a child or maybe it's something I had in Milan, but I want it to taste better than you ever thought.

Fun is the most important. If you do stuff for money, it never works out.

I'm really a scientist. I follow recipes exactly - until I decide not to. And then I'll follow something else exactly. I may decide I could turn this peach tart into a plum tart, but if I'm following a recipe, I follow it exactly.

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.

Food is not about impressing people. It's about making them feel comfortable.