My daughter Alexandra once told me, "Mother, you're a pioneer. Now, hardly anybody cooks, but you were one of the first to stop." After 20 years of cooking, I started to appreciate the value of other people's work. So I would, say, go get a duck in Chinatown. I always had the salad and set the table, but I didn't have to clean the pots.

When President [Barack] Obama was sworn in on the steps of Capitol, he asked for swift, bold action now for jobs and education for the 21st Century, a list, an agenda. One week and one day from that swearing in, the House passed the ARRA, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Civilization as we know it today would be in jeopardy if the Republicans win the Senate.

The fact is that a lot of the spending increases came during the Bush administration. Two unpaid for wars we got ourselves engaged in. A prescription drug plan that added enormous amounts to our spending, and the tax cuts at the high end that did not create jobs and create revenue coming.

I do trust that the president is sincere in understanding that the public supports - that overwhelmingly the public supports - not sending these young people back. It was interpreted by some that we had a deal on the deal. But that wasn't on the package. We had an agreement to move forward, in our view, with the DREAM Act as a basis for how we protect the DREAMers and for further discussions on what provisions relating to the border might be in an accompanying bill or whatever as we go forward. So I trust the president in that regard.

We can all do better. America is an entrepreneurial society. We had entrepreneurs who started our country. And they want us to think in fresh, new, different ways all of the time.

I believe in natural gas as a clean, cheap alternative to fossil fuels.