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.

Take one flower that you like and get lots of them. And don't try to 'arrange' them. It's surprisingly hard to do a flower arrangement the way a florist does one. Instead, bunch them all together or put them in a series of small vases all down the table.

My extravagance is my garden - it's the first thing I look at every morning when I wake up. It gives me so much pleasure.

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

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

All my life I dreamed of an apartment in Paris where I could cook, and now I have one, on the Left Bank.

I love to take something ordinary and make it really special.