I have a lot of energy. I have a great desire to absorb information. I’m not a sponge exactly, but I find that something I look at — just walking around Williamsburg, for example — is a great opportunity for ideas. I’ve been here before, I’ve seen things before, but now my eye gets keener and keener. So I can pick up little things: just the pattern of a brick walk, or the way they’ve attached a light to a house.

I want you to know that I am innocent - and that I will fight to clear my name.

Larousse has a place of honor on every cookbook shelf in America.

I was the second of six kids. I wouldn't say we were poor; we had no money. That's different.

I love Champagne and I love to drink it out of any kind of beautiful glass.

I like knowing about everything, and I think that really helps me in my business.

Many of my executives have worked with me since the beginning. I can be fair and decisive and encouraging as well as demanding.