I think the most important thing when you are in a competition and you have, let's say, ingredients you have to use make something you did already because none of the judges, you know, probably had it in our lifetime, so I think do something you feel confident with, not something completely new where you are not sure how many hours or how many minutes you have to cook it or if the seasoning is right or if the combinations of spices and herbs are right.

I tell everybody the same thing: You have to make every dish so when you taste it, you should remember it when you go home.

I learn more from the one restaurant that didn't work than from all the ones that were successes.

Collecting cookbooks is still my biggest passion! Believe it or not, I actually got the biggest form of inspiration from my kids. My kids do everything online. They would have their tablets in front of them watching hours upon hours of online videos. I came to understand that these videos were actually teaching my kids lots of different forms of information.

I fell in love with food because of my mother. So, I will definitely be sharing and expanding more recipes from my culture (as well as many other cultures), and will be sharing recipes that I have experienced from my whole culinary life.

The most important thing for me is to really buy the best ingredient.

The food could taste amazing; however, if you present a plate of misfortunate looking food...you would really question yourself about whether or not you should eat it.