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'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 like almonds as a snack - keeps your energy up but doesn't fill you up.

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.

People have more fun if they don't eat so much they have to be taken home in an ambulance.

I've lived in the Hamptons since 1978, when I first bought my store Barefoot Contessa.

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