My mother is an office manager, my father a professor of economics and financial planner.

New Orleans cuisine is Creole rather than Cajun.

I believe in whatever gets you throught the night. [...] Night is the hardest time to be alive. For me, anyway. It lasts so long, and four A.M.knows all my secrets.

If you're a freelance writer and aren't used to being ignored, neglected, and generally given short shrift, you must not have been in the business very long.

I'd much rather do an obviously commercial writing project than get a day job.

I've certainly learned a great deal from my husband, though, and could never have written a book like Liquor without him and the people he introduces me to and the stories he brings home.

You hold onto what you have; you do not give it up easily, even when you know it is poisoning you.