I didnt want to be encumbered by what anyone elses abilities were, their equipment or environment or their ability to get certain products.

One of the problems with writing a cookbook is that recipes exist in the moment.

In any restaurant of this caliber, the chefs are in the same position, building relationships.

You don't know when inspiration is going to come. But you have to be aware of what's going on around you, so that at any moment, when inspiration happens, you're ready for it and you interpret it.

I think that's the important thing - being aware of that inspiration and being able to interpret it into something that's meaningful for you.

It wasn't about mechanics; it was about a feeling, wanting to give someone something, which in turn was really gratifying. That really resonated for me.

Cooking is not about convenience and it's not about shortcuts. Our hunger for the twenty-minute gourmet meal, for one-pot ease and prewashed, precut ingredients has severed our lifeline to the satisfactions of cooking. Take your time. Take a long time. Move slowly and deliberately and with great attention.