Italy itself has 21 different micro-regions. You go within each of those regions, there's even super-micro-regions; and the beauty is that when you go from place to place, although there's a common thread of pasta and joie de vivre - in the way that they approach their meals and the simplicity of cooking, celebrating more the product than the chef - there's still so much variety that as you go, it's always an exciting moment.

I like anchovies, and I don't tell everybody about them. Almost every time, they don't even notice.

When I was in college, I used to write little ditties and short stories and poetry for my friends. Writing a book is another thing. It is so much different from my traditional day of dirty fingernails and greasy hair and hot pans.

Look at cookbooks with your kids and ask them what sounds good.

The Italians were eating with forks when the French were still eating each other.

You have to be generous if you want to spend your time making someone else dinner. Even if you're charging, you're still giving.

If you want your kids to listen to you, don't yell at them. Whisper. Make them lean in. My kids taught me that. And I do it with adults now.