I think we all live in a world that is so fast-paced, it's threatening and absolutely saturated with change and novelty and insecurity. Therefore, the ritual of cooking and feeding my family and friends, whoever drops in, is what makes me feel that I'm in a universe that is contained.

Cooking is actually quite aggressive and controlling and sometimes, yes, there is an element of force-feeding going on.

Tension translates to your guests. They'll have a much better time having chili and baked potatoes than they would if you did roast duck with a wild cherry sauce and then had to lie down and cry for a while.

I wasn't good with authority, went to lots of schools, didn't like the fact that there was no autonomy.

I never taste the wine first in restaurants, I just ask the waiter to pour.

Sometimes...we don't want to feel like a postmodern, postfeminist, overstretched woman but, rather, a domestic goddess, trailing nutmeggy fumes of baking pie in our languorous wake.

Emotion is messy, contradictory... and true.