I adore summer entertaining. For a dinner party at the farm, I might prepare homemade fettuccine with porcini mushrooms, soft-shell crabs, spinach from the garden, and lemon tarts with fraises des bois for dessert.

I - I try to do as much as I can, wherever I am. So, at the farm, I'm always thinking of some new project, some new thing I can do.

The cocktail party is probably America's greatest contribution to the world of entertaining.

Don't be embarrassed by your achievements. Being an overarchiever is nothing despicable. It is only admirable. Never lower your standards.

If you learn something new every day, you can teach something new every day

Getting over those unexpected hurdles may not be exactly enjoyable, but ultimately I believe that such challenges and the solutions we find give us more confidence.They teach us with common sense and determination we can turn what looks like a disaster into a triumph.

When I was incarcerated at Alderson in West Virginia for a five-month term, they had a ceramics class.