The problem for cookery-bookery writers like me is to understand the extent of our readers' experience. I hope have solved that riddle in my books by simply telling everything. The experienced cook will know to skip through the verbiage, but the explanations will be there for those who still need them.

Always start out with a larger pot than what you think you need.

People who are not interested in food always seem rather dry and unloving and don't have a real gusto for life.

A house without a cat is like a day without sunshine, a pie without fromage, a dinner without wine.

As you get older, you shouldn't waste time drinking bad wine.

How can a nation be called great if its bread tastes like kleenex?

I found that the recipes in most - in all - the books I had were really not adequate. They didn't tell you enough... I won't do anything unless I'm told why I'm doing it. So I felt that we needed fuller explanations so that if you followed one of those recipes, it should turn out exactly right.