No one who cooks, cooks alone. Even at her most solitary, a cook in the kitchen is surrounded by generations of cooks past, the advice and menus of cooks present, the wisdom of cookbook writers.

Both happy and sad people can be cheered up by a nice meal.

It is always wise to make too much potato salad. Even if you are cooking for two, make enough for five. Potato salad improves with age - that is, if you are lucky enough to have any left over.

And, for an unsurpassed double whammy, there is talking about eating while you are eating with friends.

Friendship is not possible between two women one of whom is very well dressed.

Dinner alone is one of life's pleasures.

We need time to defuse, to contemplate. Just as in sleep our brains relax and give us dreams, so at some time in the day we need to disconnect, reconnect, and look around us.