I'm completely unqualified for any job I've ever had.

If you're preparing a dinner for friends or a holiday dinner, make sure to only prepare recipes you are comfortable with and have cooked before. Cooking for others is not the time to try out a recipe for the first time. You end up spending all your time in the kitchen instead of enjoying your company.

I think that celebrities are just people, like everybody else, and they've got the foodie bug in them too.

It only looks like I get to eat a lot of food on TV. I really just get the one bite and the crew and guests eat everything else.

Good food and a warm kitchen are what makes a house a home. I always tried to make my home like my mother's, because Mom was magnificent at stretching a buck when it came to decorating and food. Like a true Italian, she valued beautification in every area of her life, and I try to do the same.

I used to work in kitchens, doing 12 or more hours a day of physical labor, so today, eight to 12 hours of cooking, chatting or filming feels like a vacation. When I have a scheduled 'day off,' I spend several hours writing, then I clean until I crash from fatigue. I don't relax well.

I used to say I would never run unless I was being chased by someone with a gun. Now I'm a little obsessed with it!