I went in saying I wanted to be the food guy.

I cook everything. I love Mediterranean cooking, I love Asian cooking. I do lots of Japanese noodles.

I think what I do differently from a lot of TV chefs is that I break down barriers and make fine food more accessible to the regular person, who might be intimidated. I try hard, particularly with wine, to make it not intimidating. It's sort of a teaching job.

You know the great irony is that people think you have to have money to enjoy fine food, which is a shame.

I'm a home cook and love to read about food, but I'm not trained as a chef. I'm just really into cooking and passionate about it.

I am much more interested in the process than results.

People who hardly ever cook at all, suddenly at the holidays, feel like it's their responsibility to not only cook dinner for large groups of people suddenly, but to serve things that are fussy or fancy or formal. And I don't think that's what anybody really wants, especially if you're not good at it.